The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced a new effort to help former servicemen prepare for computer-focused careers, and is seeking professionals who would serve as trainers. The Veteran Employment Through Technology Education Courses program intends to help veterans enter workforces in the areas of information technology, information science, media application, data processing and other computer-related fields, VA said Wednesday.

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The department will pay for 25 percent of the tuition upon the beginning of the veteran’s VET TEC program course, and recompense another 25 percent upon graduation. VA will then pay the remaining half of the tuition once the veteran secures a job in the industry corresponding to the course.

“We are invested in ensuring Veterans make successful transitions into their post-military career,” said Robert Wilkie, VA secretary.

The U.S. Navy has set a commissioning ceremony for LCS 16, the Independence-class littoral combat ship to be named USS Tulsa on Saturday at Pier 30/32 in San Francisco, Calif. Kathy Taylor, former mayor of Tulsa, Okla., will order the activation of the vessel as the ship’s sponsor. Sen. James Lankford will administer the ceremony’s principal address, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

The ship is the second combat vessel to carry the name Tulsa following a commissioned Asheville-class PG-22 gunboat in 1923. The future USS Tulsa will deploy in San Diego, Calif., along USS Coronado, USS Fort Worth, USS Gabrielle Giffords, USS Independence, USS Jackson, USS Manchester, USS Montgomery and USS Omaha.

LCS vessels are designed to use modern capabilities and technology to perform countermeasures, surface and anti-submarine warfare missions.

The Department of Justice and Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum Tuesday calling on federal agencies to ensure their Freedom of Information Act request platforms are interoperable with the centralized National FOIA Portal.

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The directive comes as part of the efforts to comply with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 which called for the creation of a consolidated online portal enabling the public to request any federal agency for records covered by the FOIA. OMB and the DOJ noted that they are responsible to ensure the interoperability between the new system and current FOIA interfaces.

According to the memo, agencies with a large number of requests expect to use an API to connect their automated platforms to the centralized portal. Smaller agencies who use non-automated capabilities to process a lesser volume of requests must create a formal, structured e-mail to designate the e-mail inbox for FOIA requests.

Agencies under the Chief Financial Officers Act must submit a plan to achieve full interoperability to the OMB by May 10, with a hard deadline set for August 2023. Agencies with an automated case management system must submit their plans within two fiscal years, and smaller agencies are required to submit “as soon as technically feasible.”

The memo also stated that agencies must coordinate with the applicable OMB Resource Management Office if additional resources are needed.

Kevin Fahey, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition, said the Pentagon expects to face challenges implementing the acquisition reforms suggested by a new panel established by Congress, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday. Congress established the Section 809 Panel in 2016 to guide the Department of Defense in the changes to how it buys new technologies. 

In a report released in January, the panel increased its recommendations to nearly 100 for acquisition reforms across DoD with 58 new proposals. The proposals aim to create a new acquisition system at the Pentagon. Fahey said DoD agreed with the panel’s proposals. However, the agency said it would be difficult to implement many on the list. 

“There is a lot of good stuff” in the report, he said. “But to go through and prioritize and figure out how we can actually implement it is challenging.” 

But Fahey also said the agency plans to launch some programs and initiatives to improve the acquisition process. DoD intends to test a portfolio management initiative this year focusing on the military’s nuclear command, control and communications enterprise. The agency also looks to rewrite certain defense acquisition guidelines known as DoD 5000 to update the instructions for following Pentagon acquisition rules.

Wayne Monteith, the Federal Aviation Administration’s new associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said during the Commercial Space Transportation Conference that the government shutdown impacted the release of proposed legislation, Space News reported Wednesday. Monteith noted that the five-week shutdown delayed the release of proposed rules on licensing commercial launch and re-entry activities, including launches from multiple locations.

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The Space Policy Directive 2 issued in May 2018 scheduled the proposed regulations to be released by Feb. 1. The FAA official said he promises “transparent and open” leadership seeking to “over-communicate” with industry as part of the efforts to propose new regulations. Monteith is the only FAA representative that spoke during the conference due to the agency’s decision to catch up with licensing backlog and related operations following the partial shutdown.

The Government Accountability Office has called on Congress to create new legislation on internet privacy to better secure user data and give the government flexible authority to address evolving consumer concerns and digital threats. GAO issued a report on Wednesday that highlighted the lack of comprehensive internet privacy laws in the U.S.

The agency said the government needs legislation to govern how private companies collect, use or distribute user data. The call comes amid growing online privacy incidents in the U.S., including a 2018 report from Facebook revealing that personal data for 87M users was potentially improperly disclosed. 

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The Federal Trade Commission leads government efforts to oversee internet privacy and protect consumers from unfair and deceptive trade practices. However, GAO found the FTC’s existing policies focus on protecting the financial and internet privacy of children. To help address more online privacy concerns, stakeholders are suggests the federal government provides clarity about prohibited online behaviors, potential new regulations to improve oversight and give FTC a civil penalty authority. 

“Comprehensive internet privacy legislation that establishes specific standards and includes traditional notice-and-comment rulemaking and broader civil penalty authority could enhance the federal government’s ability to protect consumer privacy,” GAO said.