NASA Informs Employees of Potential Personal Data Breach
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NASA Informs Employees of Potential Personal Data Breach


NASA Informs Employees of Potential Personal Data Breach

NASA discovered a potential compromise of servers storing personally identifiable information of current and former employees. The agency said it initially found that one of the servers containing Social Security numbers and other PII data of its workers was potentially affected by the cyber incident in October, according to an internal memo obtained by SpaceRef.

NASA noted the compromised information may include those from employees who entered or left the agency between July 2006 and October 2018. Bob Gibbs, assistant administrator of NASA’s Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, said the investigation is ongoing to find other affected servers. 

“NASA and its federal cybersecurity partners continue to examine the servers to determine the scope of the potential data exfiltration and identify potentially affected individuals,” he said in the memo. 

However, Gibbs noted the process “will take time” and the investigation is a top agency priority. NASA intends to provide identity protection services to those affected by the incident.

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Retired Navy Leader Joseph Maguire Confirmed National Counterterrorism Center Director; Dan Coats Quoted
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Retired Navy Leader Joseph Maguire Confirmed National Counterterrorism Center Director; Dan Coats Quoted


Retired Navy Leader Joseph Maguire Confirmed National Counterterrorism Center Director; Dan Coats Quoted
Joseph Maguire

Joseph Maguire, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral, has been confirmed to serve as the National Counterterrorism Center’s new director. He has led all levels of the Naval Special Warfare Command in his 36 years of service with the branch, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’ office said Wednesday.

“I congratulate Joe and his family on his confirmation as NCTC director,” said Coats.

Maguire succeeds Russ Travers who led NCTC as acting director and will continue to serve as the center’s deputy director.

Previously, Maguire contributed to NCTC’s mission as deputy director for strategic operational planning, and was also a member of a group within the National Security Council focusing on counterterrorism security. NCTC analyzes and shares foreign and domestic counterterrorism information with collaborators to support efforts addressing the issue.

President Trump nominated Maguire for the role in June.

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DISA Releasing New Tools to Modernize Security Clearance Investigations
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DISA Releasing New Tools to Modernize Security Clearance Investigations


DISA Releasing New Tools to Modernize Security Clearance Investigations

The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to deploy the next set of technologies to help the defense community modernize security clearance investigations by the end of December. DISA said Tuesday, it looks to unveil a new information technology system built by the agency’s National Background Investigation Services program office, an interface that connects background investigation systems and a position designation tool.

Heidi Cotter, the NBIS program manager, said her office will release a new technology every three months starting in late December. The NBIS system will support end-to-end vetting of federal civilians, military personnel and private contractors working on government missions. DISA will test the system with nearly 1,000 individuals undergoing security investigation within the Department of Defense. 

The agency plans to deploy NBIS across the government to support suitability, security and credentialing background investigations. DISA released the first batch of security clearance technologies for the DoD in October. 

“We look forward to delivering a comprehensive capability that will modernize the entire background investigation system that can support not only the DoD but also all other federal agencies,” Cotter said.

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SEC Appoints Daniel Kahl Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations
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SEC Appoints Daniel Kahl Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations


SEC Appoints Daniel Kahl Deputy Director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations

Daniel Kahl, chief counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission‘s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, will assume an additional role as the office’s deputy director. He joins Kristin Snyder, OCIE’s current deputy director, in overseeing the office’s strategic efforts, the agency said Tuesday.

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Kahl, as chief counsel, also makes policy recommendations to leaders regarding the SEC’s National Exam Program. The registered lawyer has been serving with the SEC for more than 17 years, having led the Office of Investment Adviser Regulation within the agency’s Division of Investment Management prior to joining OCIE.

Previously, Kahl worked for organizations including the Investment Adviser Association and the North American Securities Administrators Association. OCIE is charged with the inspection and examination of investment practitioners and firms registering under the agency.
 

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DHS Preps Next Phase of Smart City, IoT Tech Initiative
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DHS Preps Next Phase of Smart City, IoT Tech Initiative


DHS Preps Next Phase of Smart City, IoT Tech Initiative

The Department of Homeland Security plans to launch the second phase of an initiative that gathers industry and government experts to build Smart City and Internet-of-Things technologies for U.S. critical infrastructures and first responders.

The DHS said Tuesday the next stage of the Smart City IoT Innovation Labs will focus on testing the prototypes built in the first phase of the initiative and on commercializing the products. 

The agency initially picked 12 developers to receive funding to build unmanned aerial systems, in-building sensors, and a sensor and communications SmartHub. 

SCITI Labs participants gathered in Chicago in October to demonstrate their final prototypes to the DHS. The department will collect feedback from stakeholders about how each of the technologies will contribute to daily and emergency operations.

Half of the group will then be picked for the second phase of SCITI Labs to get another budget for additional enhancements on their products, for operational tests and to bring their technologies to the market. 

The DHS hopes to see the new Smart City and IoT technologies commercially available for industry, the public and its national security partners by 2020.

Marine Corps Looks to Build New Platform to Conduct Large-Scale Wargames
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Marine Corps Looks to Build New Platform to Conduct Large-Scale Wargames


Marine Corps Looks to Build New Platform to Conduct Large-Scale Wargames

The U.S. Marine Corps is seeking advanced analytics, visualization, models and simulation technologies to build a new virtual environment where the service can conduct large and complex wargames, Marine Corps Times reported Tuesday.

The service wants to develop a platform that will enable senior leaders and forces to test operational plans, develop concepts of operations and collect information to prioritize resources.

To further discuss the program, the Marine Corps will hold an industry day on Dec. 20, where the service will also seek industry input to identify technical concepts and requirements, according to a FedBizOpps noticed posted Monday.  

In 2017, the service branch announced a three- to five-year plan to establish a wargaming simulation center at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. 

The service hopes to use the facility to conduct 20 wargames a year, including two large-scale, 250-participant exercises. 

Interested parties can submit white papers for the new program through July 2019.

New Army Signal Unit Deploys Comms Kit for Expanded Data Exchange
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New Army Signal Unit Deploys Comms Kit for Expanded Data Exchange


New Army Signal Unit Deploys Comms Kit for Expanded Data Exchange

A newly-established U.S. Army unit started deploying commercial-off-the-shelf equipment providing tactical network communications supporting both small and large units even in contested environments. The new Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced unit employed the communications tool for the first time at a recent live training mission at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the Army said Monday.  

The equipment is designed to be scalable and fully interoperable with other systems to enable troops of any size to coordinate from initial entry to full scale operations.

“The ESB-E’s new equipment allows us to be a lot more flexible and expeditionary in nature,” said Lt. Col. David Short, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment, 108th ADA Brigade. “We can tailor defense design, and our network nodes can go wherever we need to go.” 

The ESB-E equipment includes tactical network transport technologies providing signal pathway diversity and expanded data exchange, including: 

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  • Small, medium and large triband satellite dishes and network baseband equipment packages
  • The transit case-based Terrestrial Line of Sight Radio
  • Wi-Fi
  • A Network Operations package
  • The Army’s Global Agile Integrated Transport network architecture

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GSA Introducing Robotic Process Automation at Governmentwide Forum
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GSA Introducing Robotic Process Automation at Governmentwide Forum


GSA Introducing Robotic Process Automation at Governmentwide Forum

The General Services Administration plans to hold a governmentwide forum on robotic process automation on Jan. 19 to discuss with federal employees the advantages of using machine learning technology across agencies, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. 

The event will focus on “building, testing and deploying” RPA and addressing concerns that the technology might soon take jobs away from the federal workforce. RPA works to reduce or eliminate rote tasks from the daily workloads of employees, such as copying and pasting data on forms. GSA plans to introduce the new organizations and efforts that would help promote the use of automation across the government. 

The agency aims to establish a governmentwide RPA community, executive council and new public-private partnerships in 2019 to manage and speed up federal agencies’ adoption of emerging machine learning technologies. GSA is also working on a process improvement competition with Challenge.gov that it hopes to launch during the RPA forum.

DOE Announces Second Wave of Small Business R&D Funds
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DOE Announces Second Wave of Small Business R&D Funds


DOE Announces Second Wave of Small Business R&D Funds

The Department of Energy announced $37M available in funding to support small business innovation research and small business technology transfer efforts. This is the second SBIR/STTR funding opportunity announced for fiscal 2019 that finances multiple small business-led research and development efforts in support of nine DOE offices, the department said.

The fund program’s first phase covers 6 to 12 months with up to $200K in awards. Entrants able to complete proceed to develop prototypes in fiscal year 2020 under the second phase with up to $1.6M in grants for each depending on research needs.

“U.S. small businesses are a crucial aspect in driving innovation and creating jobs in our economy,” said Rick Perry, secretary of energy.

DOE components to receive support from the SBIR/STTR projects include:

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  • Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response
  • Office Of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
  • Office of Electricity  
  • Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
  • Office of Environmental Management
  • Office of Fossil Energy
  • Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
  • Office of High Energy Physics
  • Office of Nuclear Energy

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John Edwards: CIA Should Update Tech Platforms to Expedite Data Collection, Analysis
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John Edwards: CIA Should Update Tech Platforms to Expedite Data Collection, Analysis


John Edwards: CIA Should Update Tech Platforms to Expedite Data Collection, AnalysisJohn Edwards, chief information officer at the CIA, has said the agency should update its technology platforms and optimize its workforce to accelerate data collection and generate insights from gathered information, FedTech Magazine published Tuesday.

“Increasing the edge over our adversaries, our operational advantage will be determined by the speed at which we sense, collect, ingest, condition, analyze and characterize data of the representative threat,” he said in his speech at the FedScoop Public Sector Innovation Summit held Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C.

“Computing at the edge, the point of mission execution, is increasingly important,” he noted.

Edwards cited a platform of shared services delivered through a private cloud, dubbed Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise, and the IC’s effort to migrate ICITE to a common reference architecture.

He called on the IC to implement agile development models and the CIA to adopt agile procurement vehicles in order to keep pace with industry innovation.
 

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