Reps. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.) and Bob Latta (R-Ohio) have introduced two bills that aim to protect the U.S. electric infrastructure from cyber threats.

The Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act would require the Department of Energy to advance public-private partnerships and facilitate data collection and sharing of best practices to build up the cybersecurity posture of electric utilities, according to a joint release published Wednesday.

The Cyber Sense Act would establish a voluntary program within DOE to help promote the use of cyber products in the bulk power system and create a testing process for those offerings.

McNerney said the electric grid serves as the U.S. economy’s backbone and the bills seek to strengthen the electric infrastructure and promote partnerships between industry and DOE.

“Improving cooperation is key to ensuring the best information, products, and practices are being used to guard against cyberattacks, and these bills will foster a collaborative relationship between DOE and utilities that will help accomplish this goal,” Latta said.

Latta and McNerney serve as co-chair of the Grid Innovation Caucus, which aims to offer a forum to discuss ways to address challenges facing the electric grid.
 

Jeffery Green, president of Washington, D.C.-based government relations firm J.A. Green & Co., has said lawmakers should advance bipartisan cooperation to support the defense industrial base.

Green wrote in a Defense News commentary published Friday about the non-security benefits of the Defense Production Act of 1950 and other industrial base initiatives.

“For instance, a strong defense-industrial base expands opportunities by assisting women and minority-owned businesses to establish a presence in the market, diversifying local economies across the U.S. and indirectly sustaining a large number of jobs outside of the defense industry,” he noted.

He said the gaps identified in the defense industrial base report and mine permitting reform provide Congress an opportunity to pursue bipartisan action in support of the industrial base.

“In conclusion, both Democrats and Republicans have common ground in the area of industrial-base policy and should seek to cooperate to advance their goals,” wrote Green, who previously worked at the Department of Defense and the House Armed Services Committee.

“This cooperation should include commitments from both sides to not intentionally create legislative gridlock in order to advance partisan political agendas that stand little chance of becoming law.”
 

The U.S. Army’s assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology has said that the service will soon deploy an air defense system that can address increasingly complex airborne threats, Military .com reported Friday.

Bruce Jette said during a Defense Writers Group meeting on Jan. 10 that, by “next December,” the service expects to roll out the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, which Northrop Grumman developed.

Jette explained that the system will make it possible to integrate command-and-control mechanisms, sensors and different types of missiles, allowing warfighters to respond to various types of airborne threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles, artillery and combat aircraft.

The Army official added that, down the road, the service intends to augment air defense with artificial intelligence.

Jette noted that AI would enable warfighters to respond to threats at greater speed.

The House has passed the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act that will provide back pay for furloughed employees and enable workers to take previously scheduled leaves without consequence, Government Executive reported Friday.

The bill, introduced by Maryland’s Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, was created to guarantee back pay for furloughed federal workers in future shutdowns.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., introduced a similar legislation called the 2019 Low-Wage Federal Contractor Employee Back Pay Act which will provide compensation to retail, custodial, food and security personnel working during the shutdown.

Thirty-three Democratic senators sent a letter to Russ Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, requesting him to mandate agencies to coordinate with contractors to ensure that the firms’ workers receive back pay when the partial government shutdown ends.

President Donald Trump has previously stated that federal workers will have to “make an adjustment” and take actions such as asking their landlords for payment relief.

The U.S. Air Force Network Integration Center aims to complete cloud migration of USAF enterprise services soon, following the first phase’s conclusion in November. AFNIC intends to move all USAF enterprise services within continental the U.S. to Microsoft Office 365, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

The first phase, that concluded on Nov. 8, 2018, involved the transition of 555K accounts to the cloud. Military components including the 24th Air Force, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and the Defense Information Sytems Agency worked with Dell and Microsoft to address newly discovered vulnerabilities.

“We didn’t create these issues, but it was our responsibility to work with experts across the Air Force to correct them before moving ahead,” said Dennis Polansky, lead program manager at AFNIC.

The integration center also expects to implement SharePoint Online and OneDrive in the foreseeable future, and is working to extend the same cloud services to USAF commands outside the country. AFNIC, AFLCMC and industry partners are developing a roadmap to guide future collaborative activities.