The National Governors Association picked six states to help in the development of strategies to enhance interagency operations and communications ahead of the 2020 election. Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada and Virginia will work with NGA’s Homeland Security and Public Safety division to boost cybersecurity, promote cooperation and create statewide response plans for attacks on election systems, the organization said Wednesday. 

State cabinet agencies, election officials and governors’ offices will also join the initiative. The plan comes after National Summit on State Cybersecurity in Louisiana, where NGA and representatives from 50 states discussed efforts to address common cybersecurity challenges.

Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, said cyber attacks during the 2016 election served as the “wake-up call” across the federal government. He added the incident changed how the public look at threats to elections.

The Department of Homeland Security admitted that President Trump’s plan to ban products from Huawei will be costly and complicated to implement, Politico reported Friday.

One official said U.S. companies may also face challenges to comply. Robert Kolasky, head of DHS National Risk Management Center, discussed Trump’s supply chain executive order during a webinar hosted by the USTelecom and Inside Cybersecurity. “Security can cost money,” he said. “And costs can sometimes be prohibitive to do things that might be optimal levels of security.”

Meanwhile, the supply chain task force at DHS plans to expand initiatives in the information and communications technology sector to further secure the U.S. industry.

Rick Driggers, deputy assistant director for cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity and infrastructure agency, said state and local governments should establish information sharing functions with federal cybersecurity agencies, FedScoop reported Thursday.

Driggers said at FedScoop’s FedTalks event the government does not have sufficient visibility on potential threats that may affect the local level. He also noted that local and state governments are being targeted by hackers backed by foreign entities.

“We’ve seen in the last couple years more focused attention from nation-state adversaries, particularly with ransomware to attack or cause disruption at the state and local level,” said Driggers. “At the end of the day, the state and local governments provide a lot of very valuable critical services to their populations. Those services going down causes a lot of disruption,” Driggers added.

The U.S. Navy has decided to name an upcoming Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer after a Coast Guard captain who served in the second World War. Richard Spencer, secretary of the Navy and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, announced the naming of the future USS Quentin Walsh or DDG 132 during a ceremony in Cherbourg, France, where the captain once deployed, the service branch said Thursday.

General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works subsidiary will construct the ship to measure 509 feet in length and traverse seas at speeds over 30 knots. Capt. Walsh served within U.S. Naval Forces’ Logistics and Planning Division during World War II and received a Navy Cross award for his contributions.

“Capt. Walsh was a hero whose efforts during World War II continue to inspire, and his leadership in securing the French port of Cherbourg had a profound effect on the success of the amphibious operations associated with Operation Overlord,” Spencer said.

The fourth missile warning satellite that Lockheed Martin built for the U.S. Air Force has reached operational acceptance designation from Space Command. The service said Thursday that the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit 4 satellite transmits data to the 460th space wing-run mission control station at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado.

SBIRS GEO-4, which launched in January 2018, fielded its solar array, light shade antenna wing assemblies upon reaching its intended orbit through a series of transfer orbit maneuvers. The satellite is designed to provide infrared coverage and support the service branch’s efforts to replace missile warning and detection satellites that have been in operation for over four decades.

Lockheed’s space business is the prime contractor on the SBIRS program and Northrop Grumman’s electronic systems segment serves as the payload integrator.

Patrick O’Neill, director of the U.S. Army’s command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance center, said the service has “embraced academia and industry” when it comes to modern warfare initiatives, C4ISRNET reported Thursday.

The Army is expanding its industry and academic partnerships by promoting dialogue with nontraditional companies and establishing military programs within institutions, O’Neill told audiences at the C4ISRNET Conference in Arlington, Va. Recently, the service established an artificial intelligence task force within Carnegie Mellon University.

“For every dollar in our budget, 60 cents goes to industry and 40 cents stays in-house,” he noted.

Ken Rice, deputy director for research at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, added that startups need to understand military demands and how required technologies are supposed to work in an operating environment. He added that the government is “tapping a very small potential of the data” collated through modernized software and sensor systems.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology released the updated version of its cybersecurity practice guide to secure applications used in emergencies for first responders. The document details how organizations can utilize single sign-on and multi-factor authentication tools. The Mobile Application Single Sign-On: Improving Authentication for Public Safety First Responders aims to help public safety organizations accelerate authentication of responders. 

NIST said the document includes iOS version 12, provides expanded authentication options and improves interoperability of mobile platforms, applications and identity providers. The update comes amid the growing interest in 5G and the FirstNet public safety wireless broadband network, which may soon make existing authentication services less sustainable, the agency noted.

“On-demand access to public safety data is critical to ensuring that public safety and first responder personnel can deliver the proper care and support during an emergency,” NIST said. 

Organizations can submit comments on the updated guidance through June 28.