Senate Democrats introduced a bill to increase security for citizens’ personal data on public websites and apps.

Sen. Brian Schatz, top Democrat on the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation and the Internet subcommittee, led the proposal of the Data Care Act that would require online providers to improve security of personal information and prevent misuse of user data, according to a statement posted Wednesday. 

“By establishing a special fiduciary relationship between online providers and users, companies that use or sell people’s data will be held responsible for keeping consumers safe from harm, data breaches and unnecessary invasions of privacy,” said Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., who cosponsored the legislation. 

She added the bill would enable the Federal Trade Commission to collaborate with the U.S. Attorney General “to ensure service providers strengthen personal data protections and protect the security of American consumers’ sensitive personal data.”

Under the Data Care Act, service providers will be required to:

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• Reasonably secure individual identifying data and promptly inform users of data breaches that involve sensitive information
• Avoid using individual identifying data in ways that harm users
• Ensure that the duties of care and loyalty extend to third parties when disclosing, selling or sharing individual identifying data
• Follow federal and state enforcement as a violation of the duties will be treated as a violation of an FTC rule with first fine authority
• Follow FTC’s rule-making authority

The U.S. Navy will christen the future USS St. Louis built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine on Saturday at the company’s Marinette, Wis. facility, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship can operate in open-ocean and near-shore environments and is designed to thwart threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The USS St. Louis is designated as LCS 19 and named after Missouri’s major port city located along the Mississippi River. In May 2017, a Lockheed Martin-led industry team laid the keel for the vessel at Marinette Marine’s location in Wisconsin.

Sen. Roy Blunt and Barbara Taylor, wife of Enterprise Holdings Chairman Andy Taylor will attend the christening. 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been tasked with providing recommendations to the Pentagon for establishing a proposed agency that would lead efforts to build and acquire space technologies for the military, Space News reported Thursday.

DARPA will study the process and approach for the Space Development Agency following a directive by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin. In a memo sent to top defense officials, Griffin said he expects DARPA to complete the study in 45 to 60 days and focus on the requirements for a low-earth orbit communications transport layer and on the space capabilities outlined in the Department of Defense’s Space Vision.

The main tasks of the Space Development Agency include:

• Persistent global surveillance for advanced missile targeting
• Indications, warning, targeting and tracking for defense against advanced missile threats
• Alternate positioning, navigation and timing for a GPS-denied environment
• Global and near-real time space situational awareness
• Development of deterrent capability
• Responsive, resilient, common ground-based space support infrastructures
• Cross-domain, networked, node-independent battle management command, control and communications, including nuclear command, control and communications
• Highly-scaled, low-latency, persistent, artificial intelligence-enabled global surveillance

Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, will lead the study.

McAleese & Associates reports that public shipyards are all jockeying for public shipyard recapitalization funding heading into 2019.

During the recent “Navy/USMC Readiness” hearing, Richard Spencer, secretary of the U.S. Navy, assured lawmakers the agency is drafting its master plan to modernize its public shipyards. A report from the Department of Defense states the plan could cost as much as $20B over 20 years.

The Navy delivered its “Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan” to Congress in September, which focuses on facility layout and optimization, shipyard drydock recapitalization and equipment modernization. Sen. Mazie Hirono D-HI, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-N.H., have been eager to receive immediate funding for the Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth shipyards, but Sen. Angus King ,I-Maine, is seeking a split-frigate-award. King wants to avoid a major production spike because it could create further problems with maintenance-cycles.

In addition to improving physical infrastructure at their shipyards, Spencer clarified that other improvements have being made. In a statement from the hearing, improving sailor training has become a top priority and seen great progress.

“Today’s naval shipyard training and development is a combination of class room, learning center development (hands-on in safe to learn environments) and on-the-job experience, Spenser said. “In previous years, training could take up to 4 years, as the majority of the training and development was shadowing an experienced mechanic while ‘on-the-job.’ Naval shipyards have now reduced the time it takes to train and develop a worker by a least 50%.”

Despite the immediate impact of public shipyard recapitalization, it’ll take at least two years for significant changes to become clear. During the hearing, Spencer insisted the 2020 sequestration would be a crime after stopping all the progress the U.S. Navy made to modernize its shipyards.

McAleese & Associates reports Congress allowing the upcoming 2020-2021 sequester to return would be ill-advised, according to expert remarks made during the “Navy/USMC Readiness” Hearing in Washington, D.C.
 
Richard Spencer, secretary of the U.S. Navy, discussed the urgency of avoiding a 2020 sequester and conveyed how devastating it would be for the branch. According to the hearing’s transcript, Spencer suggested the sequester could result in a $26B loss in funding, hindering readiness and lethality heading into 2019.
 
Pointing to advancements in these areas, Spencer insisted strides have been made by enhancing private-public partnerships and making calculated investments in weapons platforms and munitions. According to him, the Navy’s existing fleet readiness has been improving due to an additional $1.1B in funding for ship maintenance, an increase from $8.7B to $9.8B during fiscal years 2017 to 2019.
 
“This additional funding enables ships to begin deployment training on time with improved material condition and modernized combat, communications and engineering systems,” said Spencer. “We have partnered with our shipyards, public and private, to improve efficiency, reducing the maintenance backlog and increasing productivity vital for future naval growth.”
 
Spencer argued that every dollar must generate a return of lethality and consistent funding is necessary to fix these problems. He urged that any break in funding or a significant cut resulting from the 2020 sequester would have significant consequences on the Navy’s readiness.
 
John Pendleton, director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, believes the readiness problem is quite complex because the Navy can’t bring forces home to reset. Navy ships require rotational-forward presence. As a result, Pendleton argued that shipboard training standards are being waved at an alarming rate because the Navy trains ship crews before they deploy. Navy ships have been left without enough sailors to handle the workload. Due to ship and submarine depot maintenance delays, 27,000 days have been lost since 2012, added Pendleton.
 

Reps. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., praised the Senate’s decision to advance their bill, which would digitize government processes and establish new standards for all public federal websites to improve user experience and accessibility. 

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The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act will help reduce the burden in interacting with federal agencies by eliminating the need for phone calls or in-person visits to government offices, the lawmakers said in a statement posted Wednesday.
Ratcliffe and Khanna introduced the bill in an effort to provide easier and more secure interactions between citizens and federal agencies online. 

“The 21st Century IDEA will help bring us up to speed with the vast majority of the private sector by allowing us to meet the public’s needs with a few simple clicks online rather than drawn out phone calls or in-person visits with agency representatives,” the lawmakers commented. The bill received House approval in November and will now be sent to President Trump for a signature.

“We’ve got major room for improvement when it comes to the services we provide online,” Ratcliffe and Khanna added. “We’ve been grateful for the strong bipartisan support this legislation has received from our House and Senate colleagues, and we’re looking forward to its swift signature into law.”

A new report by the Government Accountability Office shows the federal government has been failing to properly manage cybersecurity and information technology acquisitions and operations.  

The GAO said Wednesday of the more than 1,200 recommendations on IT management it provided to agencies since 2010, only 510 were implemented, while 688 recommendations on cybersecurity remain floating across the government. 

The watchdog said most unfulfilled recommendations focus on the areas of chief information officer responsibilities, IT contract approval, consolidating data centers, managing software licenses and improving the security of federal IT system. 

“Many agencies continue to be challenged in safeguarding their information systems and information, in part, because many of these recommendations have not been implemented,” the GAO said in the report. 

In fiscal year 2018 alone, the agency said the government’s more than $96B in IT investments had “failed or contributed little to mission-related outcomes.” 

The GAO plans to continue monitoring agencies in the implementation of its recommendations. 

The Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management plan to establish a joint office in 2019 to handle all security clearance investigations for the defense community, Nextgov reported Wednesday. The partnership comes amid the growing backlog of security clearances at the Department of Defense that reportedly reached 725,000 in April.

The DoD will merge its Defense Security Service office with OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau to consolidate background investigations and maintenance of the National Background Investigations Services system. The agencies plan to establish the office in October of next year and expect to employ up to 2,000 federal workers. 

Garry Reid, director for Defense Intelligence, said the DSS and the NBIB already started to strategize, particularly on how to use physical resources, such as real estate, computers and office supplies, as well as human resources.

“We are integrating two organizations into DSS while simultaneously automating and changing operational processes and procedures,” said DSS Director Dan Payne. “Everyone at this table recognizes these complexities and are resolute in ensuring it is done successfully.”