The Defense Department has decided to withdraw its proposed rule to regulate payments to contractors based on performance, Defense News reported Monday.

“Recently, proposed amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) were prematurely released, absent full coordination,” Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan wrote in a statement obtained by the publication.

Shanahan said DoD will work with industry to draft an updated rule to enforce section 831 of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said in a recent interview that the Pentagon plans to use performance payments as an incentive to contractors that meet the requirements under the proposed rule.

The report said the Professional Services Council, Aerospace Industries Association and the National Defense Industrial Association raised objections to the proposed policy.

DoD’s move came a week after Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) wrote a letter to Shanahan expressing concerns over the proposed rule.

The Air Force has confirmed the appointment of Eileen Vidrine, a 10-year U.S. Army veteran, as chief data officer, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

The service formally announced Vidrine’s appointment four months after she took the position.

Vidrine succeeds Maj. Gen. Kimberly Crider, who now serves as mobilization assistant to the undersecretary of the Air Force.

Prior to joining the Air Force, Vidrine worked as a temporary detail to the White House for nine months. She also held various leadership positions in the Department of Defense, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Defense Intelligence Agency and Carney Interactive.

In addition, Virdine previously taught information systems at Northern Virginia Community College from 1999 to 2002.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has recommended that corporations partner with the federal government to protect their data and computer systems from cyberattacks, NextGov reported Monday.

During an address at a National Association of Corporate Directors event, Wray said if companies discover a breach in their cyber platforms or evidence of online file tampering, they should inform federal agencies.

Wray added that corporate boards should work to see that information security is taken seriously and limit the amount of people who can access their firms’ sensitive data.

He also advised that American companies should avoid mergers, joint ventures and other transactions with Chinese firms to hinder the latter from obtaining intellectual property and trade secrets.

 

The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology directorate has selected a consortium led by Texas A&M University to help run a center of excellence for cross-border threat screening and supply chain defense.

The DHS said Monday the directorate will award up to $3.85M to fund the new CoE’s first year of operation as part of a 10-year grant program.

William Bryan, DHS acting undersecretary for science and technology, said the center will research and develop systems to identify biological threats that could affect the department’s ability to safeguard the infrastructure supply chain, as well as bring harm to people, agriculture and the economy.

The CoE will partner with DHS-aligned agencies such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection to conceptualize and deliver technologies that contribute to safe trade and travel in the nation.

The S&T CoE will also be tasked with conducting personnel training on biological threat preparedness and response.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine recently commented on the possibility of collaborating with the China National Space Agency by sharing scientific data as well as space situational awareness information, Space News reported Monday.

Bridenstine told the press at the 69th International Astronautical Conference in Bremen, Germany, that sharing scientific data with the Chinese would lead to greater knowledge for both parties, pointing out the “amazing scientific experiments” that the China National Space Agency plans to carry out.

NASA’s administrator also underscored the value of exchanging space situational awareness information, stating that “[there] is no issue related to space more important to for all of us to get right than that issue.”

Bridenstine’s remarks are a response to statements made by CNSA chief Zhang Kejian, who had proposed during an earlier panel that teams from the U.S. and Chinese sides prepare a kind of “cooperation list.”

“We can dash out those that cannot be implemented now, or are above our pay grade, and then we can start cooperating on the substantial part, including scientific and space situational awareness data,” Kejian said.

The U.S. Air Force has selected Carnegie Mellon University to operate a center of excellence that will conduct foundational research on human-machine teaming.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base said Monday researchers from the Air Force Research Laboratory and CMU will jointly assess human cognitive states and intent, machine learning and complex adaptive behavior to support team processes.

The University Center of Excellence aims to integrate intelligent systems in the operations of airmen to make the Air Force’s vision for autonomy become a reality.

The UCoE also seeks to understand how mutual intelligibility, machine adaptability and trust correlate to autonomous systems and humans.

John McIntire, chief of the 711 Human Performance Wing Applied Neuroscience branch, noted that the UCoE will help the Air Force employ experts, initiate collaborations and encourage participation in human-machine efforts.

AFRL’s 711HPW hosted the launch of the UCoE on Sept. 28.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law an appropriations package that would allocate $674B in fiscal 2019 funds for the Defense Department, USNI News reported Friday.

The defense spending bill represents a $19.8B increase from the enacted fiscal 2018 budget and earmarks $24.2B in funds for 13 new combat ships that include three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, two Virginia-class attack submarines and three littoral combat ships.

The measure authorizes $250M in funds for the procurement of materials for the construction of an additional Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in 2020 and another $225M to boost the capacity of the U.S. submarine industrial base.

DoD will get a budget increase of $1.7B to purchase 16 more F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for the service branches and receive $468M in funds to provide the Navy and Marine Corps with additional V-22 aircraft.

The Pentagon said the bill is part of a minibus measure that would appropriate fiscal 2019 funds for the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Education.

The DoD appropriations bill supports the National Defense Strategy’s lines of effort including the need to restore readiness; strengthen alliances; and modernize the department.
 

Robert Cardillo, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, has said NGA works to process and analyze huge volumes of satellite-based imagery data through technology adoption, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

“As the computer gets better at that, it can help us to understand where there are changes in not just from day to day, but in what we call patterns of life — hostile threat, adversarial capability that we seek to understand, employment of a missile system,” Cardillo said Thursday at the George T. Kalaris Intelligence Conference at Georgetown University.

He noted how NGA has relied on commercial platforms to meet its mission’s unclassified aspects and works to support its analysts with advances in data science.

“So yes, we’re pushing hard, we’re recruiting hard our data science component, and our skillset on our staff, but we have not let up to ensure that we have the right number, the right balance of those people that can drive that data science to help us understand that human intent,” Cardillo added.
 

The Defense Health Agency has taken over the policies and processes of various military hospitals and clinics as part of a phased program to reorganize military healthcare facilities.

The agency has started managing medical facilities in military installations such as at Fort Bragg, N.C., Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., and Joint Base Charleston, S.C., the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

Seymour Johnson AFB also expects its clinic to operate under the DHA’s leadership in the first phase of the effort, according to Col. Craig Keyes, commander of the 4th Medical Group.

He added that his group is coordinating with the DHA, the Air Force Surgeon General’s team and other sites to implement a standardized healthcare system across the Defense Department.

The transition satisfies a 2017 National Defense Authorization Act provision, which redefines the roles of military medical departments and the DHA, to develop a new system of readiness and healthcare for warfighters.

The DHA is now authorized to address the readiness requirements of military medical personnel and support partnerships with civilian institutions, the Department of Veterans Affairs and other organizations.