Jeanette Manfra, a cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security, told Federal News Network in an interview published Tuesday that DHS prioritizes efforts to build up its cyber workforce through education.

Manfra, assistant secretary for the national protection and programs directorate at DHS’ office of cybersecurity and communications, said her office will assess this month whether personnel need to undergo the Federal Virtual Training Environment and other courses.

She noted that she wants to ensure that chief information officers have access to cyber tools and cited the need for collaboration with the private sector.

“And so the government needs to lean further forward in how we work with private companies, how we work with the public, how we work with our own systems and then we’re asking everybody, from the individual consumer all the way up to CEOs, to make cybersecurity a priority in everything that they do,” she added.
 

The Department of Homeland Security has released a new strategy aimed at protecting the country from electromagnetic pulse and geomagnetic disturbance threats.

The strategy highlights the department’s approach to addressing potential threats that may arise from electromagnetic incidents, and embodies the intelligence community’s assessment on the matter, the DHS said Tuesday.

The department notes that these incidents hold the potential to damage electrical grid, communications, transportation assets and other components of U.S. critical infrastructure.

The strategy encourages collaboration with officials at federal, state, local, tribal and territorial levels to better support EMP and GMD risk management.

The DHS is now working on an implementation plan.

Thomas Modly, undersecretary of the U.S. Navy, has crafted a business operations plan to help the Department of the Navy concentrate on fulfilling the Defense Department’s National Defense Strategy, Federal News Network reported Friday.

He said the plan will develop a long-term mission that outlines goals in six-, 12-, 18- and 24-month intervals to address audit, cybersecurity, and data fidelity and integrity concerns.

The announcement comes six months after Modly combined DoN’s management undersecretary and chief information officer positions and moved the roles under his jurisdiction.

The plan aims to adhere to the tenets of the National Defense Strategy and prioritizes creating a more lethal force; boosting relationships with alliances and fostering new ones with other partners; and reorganizing the department for more streamlined operations.

The DoN hopes the plan can serve as a communication platform for contractors to integrate their ideas with the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

Modly said the department is considering the establishment of a chief data officer post, which must integrate its work with the Digital Warfare Office.

Email security company Valimail reports that roughly half of federal government domains have implemented an email security protocol in compliance with a directive that the Department of Homeland Security issued nearly a year ago.

Valimail’s recent study reveals that the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance standard has been deployed to cover 655 out of 1,315 government domains and has been configured to “enforcement status”— meaning the security protocol is set to reject fake emails.

DMARC is a cybersecurity protocol that helps determine whether an email is authentic. It blocks fake emails and generates reports of such encounters.

The DHS on Oct. 16, 2017 required federal agencies to adopt DMARC — along with multiple other web and email security policies — through the issuance of Binding Operational Directive 18-01.

To be fully compliant, agencies had to activate DMARC’s automatic reporting to the DHS and configure the system to automatically block fake messages.

The automatic reporting was due in January, while the automatic blocking of emails is due on the 16th.

U.S. Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, has unveiled the name USS Beloit for the next Freedom-class littoral combat ship and USS Santa Barbara for the future Independence-variant vessel.

The service said Tuesday USS Beloit or LCS 29, which will be built by a Lockheed Martin–Fincantieri Marinette Marine team, is named after Beloit, Wis.

Meanwhile, USS Santa Barbara or LCS 32, which will be constructed by Austal USA, is dubbed in honor of Santa Barbara, Calif.

Both ships will be designed to travel at speeds over 40 knots.

USS Beloit is also the first ship to bear its name, while USS Santa Barbara is the third successor of the designation.

The Navy has purchased 32 littoral combat ships, with 10 vessels under construction and 16 already delivered.

Two military heads have said adopting a modernized logistics process will help speed up the delivery of aviation parts to aircraft maintainers and provide cost savings, USNI News reported Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Steven Rudder, deputy commandant for aviation at the U.S. Marine Corps, noted during the U.S. Naval Institute and Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Maritime Security Dialogue that additive manufacturing will accelerate the spare part logistics system.

He believes 3D printing will help contractors develop small aircraft components onsite, making more replacements available when they are needed instead of going through various lengths to produce them.

However, Rudder explained that additive manufacturing is still limited to non-air-worthy components, which can hinder vendors from supplying parts that still need to be assessed for flight suitability.

Meanwhile, Vice Adm. DeWolfe Miller, commander of the Naval Air Forces, said understanding and strengthening the aviation parts supply chain is critical in maintaining aircraft and reducing expenses.

The U.S. Navy has started following a new logistics sustainment system that aims to modify the acquisition and development process for replacement parts, as well as focus on assigning parts that will return to the military after they arrive.