The Defense Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have released the aggregate amount of congressional appropriations for their respective intelligence initiatives in fiscal year 2018.

DoD said Tuesday the total budget allocated for the department’s Military Intelligence Program reached $22.1B in FY 2018, including base and overseas contingency operations funds.

ODNI disclosed in a separate release that Congress earmarked $59.4B in total funds for the National Intelligence Program in FY 2018.

DoD sought a topline budget of $20.7B for MIP in FY 2018, while ODNI requested $57.7B in the last fiscal year for NIP.
 

The Department of Homeland Security hosted an industry stakeholder summit in August to identify capability gaps and discuss the development of new technology platforms for first responders.

DHS’ science and technology directorate collaborated with the International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation to conduct the inaugural event, the department said Tuesday.

More than 250 industry, academic, government stakeholders attended the North American IFAFRI summit to discuss the technology requirements of at least 7.5M first responders worldwide. 

Those requirements include the capability to locate responders and determine their proximity to hazards and risks; detection of contaminants and hazardous agents; ability to integrate data from multiple sources into incident command operations; and real-time analysis and monitoring of active and passive threats at incident scenes.

Speakers at the summit include Andre Hentz, acting deputy undersecretary at DHS S&T directorate; Colin Murray, S&T’s senior adviser from the Canadian Exchange; and Aymeric Dupont, counselor from the delegation of the European Union to the U.S.
 

The Energy Department seeks public feedback on its plan to leverage its designation authority to share critical electric infrastructure information under the Federal Power Act.

The authorization will help the DOE inform stakeholders and the public about how it would disseminate and protect non-classified security information about bulk-power system components linked to national and economic security and public health or safety, among other things, the department said Monday.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry noted that the proposed CEII rule will help protect America’s energy infrastructure and sustain energy flow for communities and businesses in the U.S.

The plan will also provides the DOE a standard for labeling information and marking protocols for physical and electronic materials as CEII.

Additionally, the proposed rule seeks to integrate DOE’s CEII designation process with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission’s existing rules for its CEII authority.

DOE will accept responses to its notice of proposed rulemaking until Dec. 31.

Adm. Karl Schultz, commander of U.S. Coast Guard‘s Atlantic area, has said the service will extend the service life of its aging MH-65 Dolphin aircraft fleet due to budget constraints, USNI News reported Monday.

Schultz explained at the 2019 Military Reporters and Editors conference that the Coast Guard will continue operating the Dolphins until 2030.

He added that the service will also continue using its legacy MH-60 Jayhawks to sustain its inventory of short-range search and rescue helicopters while it awaits more funding.

The Coast Guard is still waiting for an approved budget, which will be included in the Department of Homeland Security’s appropriations bill.

The U.S. armed forces branch requested $11.65B in funding for procurement, operations and personnel, among other things.

Schultz said he expects the Coast Guard to receive $2B to purchase new systems or maintain existing assets.

Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, recently said that U.S. assets in space are now more vulnerable than at any other time in the past, National Defense Magazine reported Monday.

Speaking at the MILCOM conference held in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, Thompson described the space domain as congested and contested.

He went on to say that the U.S. must deploy space architecture that is more secure, agile and resilient to protect critical space-based infrastructure.

During the conference, Thompson also talked about the need for the military to collaborate with industry, government and academic partners to acquire new space technologies.

Thompson noted the military’s interest in doing business with traditional and non-traditional companies to achieve this very goal.