The House plans to combine the subcommittees that handle information technology oversight and government operations to help in technology modernization across the government, FCW reported Tuesday.

The decision comes amid the growing number of government operations relying on IT, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said in a statement. 

“Federal IT is helping us deliver some of the most important functions and services our government provides to the public,” he said. 

The new panel will work under the House Oversight and Reform Committee. In an earlier interview with Government Matters, Connolly noted that the combined subcommittee will handle efforts modernizing how the government deals with IT and procurement of technologies.

The Directed Energy Combined Test Force of the U.S. Air Force‘s 704th Test Group plans to conduct experiments intending to inform the branch on the use and development of DE technologies. The plans support the Directed Energy Experimentation Campaign and follow the effort’s first experiment that concluded in October 2018 at White Sands Missile Range, USAF said Tuesday.

The 704th TG Directed Energy Combined Task Force, operating at Kirtland Air Force Base, will continue the campaign under orders from the Air Force Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office. The task force, a unit of Arnold AFB’s engineering development complex, is part of the service branch’s plan to transition directed energy weapons to airmen.

John Cao, director of the DE CTF, said the effort’s initial experiment aimed to understand capacities and limitations of existing high power microwave and high energy laser systems. He added that the experiment demonstrated DE weapons’ capacity to address threats, but transitioning the technology would be a different matter.

“We must also understand concept of operations, tactics, techniques and procedures along with the potential implications to doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities and policy,” he said.

The Department of Homeland Security has released an emergency directive to guide federal agencies how to address Domain Name System tampering activities.

Attackers compromise DNS by targeting user credentials, altering DNS records and accessing valid encryption certificates that allow them to decrypt the redirected traffic, Christopher Krebs, director of DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, wrote in the directive released Tuesday.

To mitigate risks, CISA recommends that agencies audit DNS records, change account passwords, add multifactor authentication feature to DNS accounts and track certificate transparency logs within 10 business days.

Krebs, a 2019 Wash100 winner, wrote that CISA will offer technical support to agencies that report vulnerabilities in DNS records and evaluate submissions from organizations that cannot implement multifactor authentication on DNS accounts.

Agencies should submit status reports by Jan. 25 and completion reports for all actions by Feb. 5, according to the directive.

Starting Feb. 6, Krebs said he will work with agencies’ chief information officers and senior risk management officials that have not completed implementing the required measures to ensure the security of federal information systems.

He added that CISA will submit by Feb. 8 a report to the secretary of DHS and the director of the Office of Management and Budget about outstanding security issues at agencies.
 

The U.S. Navy is exploring how it can utilize the BAE System-built 155mm advanced gun systems equipped on Zumwalt-class destroyers, USNI News reported Monday. The service branch has identified a hyper velocity projectile, primarily designed for an electromagnetic railgun, as a potential candidate for use with the dormant gun, the report noted.

During the Surface Navy Association Symposium, Capt. Kevin Smith, DDG-1000 program manager, said the branch is considering the hyper velocity projectile’s affordability among other factors.

“There are a lot of things that we’re looking at as far as deeper magazines with other types of weapons that have longer range,” Smith said.

BAE Systems designed the AGS to fire Lockheed Martin-made Long Range Land Attack Projectiles, munitions that were not implemented due to cost issues.

The U.S. Air Force performed a demonstration showcasing the applications of virtual reality and augmented reality to the branch’s training activities. The demonstration was held on Jan. 8 showing how these applications may help in preparation for aircraft combat operations, USAF said Friday

The demonstration primarily catered to aircraft armament and munition systems airmen, personnel in charge of managing an aircraft’s launch devices and non-nuclear munitions. It also featured the use of a head-mounted display coupled with an immersive VR environment.

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“We can build our skillsets and proficiency faster, by not having an aircraft break to perform the training,” said Chief Master Sgt. John Jordan, 2W1 aircraft armament career field functional manager.

AFWERX, a USAF technology development program, awarded a grant to Vectrona Innovative Systems and Technologies for a VR/AR applications demonstration. Technology firm Ario then helped Vetrona develop a backend platform supporting VR/AR applications. Vectrona will report its findings to AFWERX in February after the conclusion of the effort’s first phase.