The Office of Management and Budget is launching the government’s first cyber reskilling academy to train employees who aren’t in the information technology field to become cyber defense analysts, Government Matters reported Sunday.

Jason Gray, chief information officer at the Department of Education, said the Federal Cybersecurity Reskilling Academy will provide participants with the latest cyber practices and problem-solving skills to protect their networks. The department began registration for the program in late November and plans to name 25 participants from across the government by end of January. Gray said over 700 people have applied for the pilot cyber training program.

Alan Paller, founder and director of research at the SANS Institute, said FCRA would also teach participants the “language” to understand IT processes. 

“You can’t train someone to be a cyber person if they don’t have the language,” Paller said. “It would be like training a surgeon who doesn’t know anatomy. There’s networking, the internals of the computers, Linux, Python; if you don’t know how to do that, all you can do is talk about security.”

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., will assume leadership of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee next month following the recent appointment of Robert Wilkie as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, MilitaryTimes.com reported Tuesday.

During an interview with Military Times, Takano said he aims to provide “more vigorous oversight” on the VA and foster bipartisanship as the House committee’s new chairman. His focus is on monitoring the progress of efforts such as veteran suicide prevention programs, GI Bill payouts, anti-homelessness initiatives and a new electronic system for medical records. Takano’s other goals include receiving funding for facility upgrades, increasing staff at VA hospitals and improving access to healthcare.

“Solving staffing problems at VA is also going to mean solving the medical workforce development issues for the country,” he said.

During a hearing with Wilkie held last December, Takano noted that the department is “slow-walking” efforts to fill over 41K vacant VA positions. Wilkie previously announced that a new community care system will be detailed to lawmakers in early 2019.

The delivery of the first Boeing-built KC-46 tanker aircraft to the U.S. Air Force was postponed following the resignation of Defense Secretary James Mattis, Defense News reported Monday.

A source said the service branch was scheduled to receive the first tanker on Monday but leadership changes at DoD stalled the decision on KC-46.

“KC-46 remains a top priority and we look forward to delivering tanker aircraft in partnership with the Air Force,” said Kelly Kaplan, a spokeswoman for Boeing, told the publication in a statement.

The report noted the decision on the tanker delivery may fall to Ellen Lord, undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Pentagon, or Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson since Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan is a former executive at Boeing.

Mattis announced that he would leave his post by the end of February but President Donald Trump tapped Shanahan days after to serve as acting DoD secretary starting Jan. 1.

President Donald Trump on Friday released an executive order that imposes a freeze on the salary of federal employees, CNN reported Wednesday.

The policy cancels a proposed 2.1 percent salary raise and “locality pay increase,” which are scheduled to take effect in January.

The report said approximately 420K federal personnel go to work without pay and about 380K employees have been furloughed due to a partial government shutdown.

The Washington Post reported that the new policy does not cover military personnel, who are set to get a 2.6 percent salary increase this year.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he plans to propose a measure that would push for the pay increase once the new Congress holds its first meeting on Thursday.

House Democrats are set to assume control of the lower chamber on Thursday and are likely to support the pay raise, the report added.
 

House Democrats have proposed a package of six appropriations bills to put an end to a partial government shutdown that started on Dec. 22, CNBC reported Monday.

They also introduced a separate continuing resolution that would fund that Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8.

House Democrats are expected to vote on the bills once they assume control of the lower chamber beginning Thursday, Jan. 3.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), incoming chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure does not cover border wall funding and is similar to bills that cleared the Senate with bipartisan support.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement published Monday the legislation aims to resume government services and allow personnel to receive their paychecks.

“It would be the height of irresponsibility and political cynicism for Senate Republicans to now reject the same legislation they have already supported,” Pelosi and Schumer added.
 

Congress provided the chief information officer at the Department of Defense with additional authorities and responsibilities through new provisions that took effect Tuesday, Jan. 1, as part of the fiscal 2018 defense authorization measure, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

The amendments would direct the DoD CIO to develop, publish and adopt standards for all cyber and information technology capabilities that operate on networks of service branches and defense agencies.

The law requires the CIO to carry out in-depth reviews of each defense agency’s five-year budget request prior to submission to the comptroller’s office for final assessment to determine whether spending plans meet the cyber and IT requirements of agencies.

The measure would also require the DoD CIO nominee to undergo Senate confirmation, according to the report.

The report noted that some of the amendments correspond to the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, which seeks to build up the role of CIOs across agencies.