NASA‘s advisory council recommends the agency review existing policies on preventing extraplanetary matter from contaminating earth and Earth-based spacecraft from contaminating foreign planets, Space News reported Friday.

Following a two-day meeting, the council advises NASA to establish a committee to conduct this review on planetary protection and formulate policies that balance exchanges between Earth and other planetary bodies. The council urges NASA to form this group of experts from industry, science and government communities. The recommendation aims to scientifically, socially and economically support the country’s space missions, the report noted.

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA, said he supports the formation of the recommended task force for a more balanced planetary protection policy.

The Department of Defense inspector general office has recommended that DoD enforce the use of multi-factor authentication methods to secure classified systems that store, process and transmit technical information about the country’s Ballistic Missile Defense System.

The OIG issued the recommendation after it found during an audit that department officials lack consistency in efforts to implement BMDS data security processes and controls, the office said in a Dec. 10 report.

The report called on DoD to craft and adopt a plan to mitigate known system vulnerabilities, encrypt technical data on removable media and install security cameras at facilities where personnel manage the information.

Authorized government or contractor personnel manage BMDS data that include military or space research, engineering drawings, source codes and specifications.

Disclosure of such details may increase the country’s risk to adversarial long-range missile attacks, the OIG noted.

The White House has issued a draft policy that would require the Department of Homeland Security to come up with use cases for how federal agencies can ensure the security of internet connections, Nextgov reported Friday.

The updated Trusted Internet Connections policy seeks to build up network security across the government and eliminate barriers to adoption of cloud and other modern technology platforms.

“The TIC use case documentation will outline which alternative security controls, such as endpoint and user-based protections, must be in place for specific instances where traffic is not required to flow through a physical TIC access point,” according to the draft policy.

The policy would direct DHS to work with the General Services Administration to develop a process to collect comments from agencies and industry on TIC use cases and other related reference architecture documentation.

DHS and GSA will also work together to update acquisition vehicles within six months of the approval of new use case requirements related to TIC.

The updated policy aims to help “streamline agency efforts to move to multicloud environments where we need to look at a different approach to security and storage,” Suzette Kent, federal chief information officer, said Thursday at a Center for Strategy and International Studies-hosted event.
 

St. Louis transferred 97 acres to the federal government to build a new headquarters worth $1.75B for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, STLToday reported Thursday. City representatives expect the construction of the campus in the St. Louis Place area to create 1,500 additional jobs and establish over 3,100 permanent employees within six years.

The acquisition and preparation of the land has cost the city $114M. The debt will be repaid through state and local incomes taxes from NGA employees. Otis Williams, Executive Director of the St. Louis Development Corporation, said the campus is a “transformative project” to establish St. Louis as a “hub for geospatial excellence.”

During Thursday’s transfer ceremony in the St. Louis Public Library auditorium, officials declared the project to be the largest investment the city has ever made, reports STL Public Radio. NGA director, Robert Cardillo affirmed the new campus ensures the NGA’s future success.

“The nation made a bet on this city and this region. We’re making the next installment on that. You’ve already returned on that investment through the talented employees, teammates, that we have today,” said Cardillo. “We couldn’t be prouder that we’re going to reinvest now in the community.”

On July 8, 2014, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the NGA selected six possible sites in the St. Louis area to replace its downtown headquarters. In 2016, the Obama administration’s push for urban renewal and the NGA’s desire to be near universities and employment hubs gave northern St. Louis the advantage over the other locations. It still took another two years of negotiations with landowners and countless hours of labor before the deal could be finalized, reports STLToday.

“Otis’ expertise and his prepared, tenacious and professional leadership have led us to today,” Lyda Krewson, the Mayor of St. Louis, said. “Without them and the hard work they put in throughout the process, this project would not have come together.”

Federal officials said the White House is likely to establish its proposed government modernization research center in 2019, with funding to be released in the current fiscal year to support the project, Nextgov reported Thursday.

The Trump administration aims for the Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center to increase partnerships between the government, the industry and academia to accelerate deployment of new technologies and services. White House officials said they’re exploring ways to incentivize industry and academic experts to help establish the GEAR Center. 

“We want to do this quickly. We want to seed a center and start work in 2019,” said Margaret Weichert, deputy director of Office of Management and Budget. “I believe we can actually stand something up and actually deliver benefits in 2019 to showcase that there’s a way forward, in part because there are things like this that already exist,” she added. 

Weichert noted initial work at the center would focus on workforce reskilling, data management and information technology modernization within the government. However, the White House has yet to finalize the structure of the GEAR Center, whether it will run as a centralized, government-run enterprise or a dispersed collection of industry and academic experts with limited presence from federal leaders.