Karen Evans, assistant secretary for the Energy Department’s Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response office, has told House lawmakers that CESER is fulfilling its mission of mitigating energy disruptions and cyber attacks, MeriTalk reported Friday.

Evans explained to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that recent hurricanes and a natural gas pipeline incident in Massachusetts have allowed CESER to implement its emergency response plan.

She added that CESER worked and will continue to work with sector coordinating councils where interagency and international partners can address security and resilience issues, as well as where the Energy office can influence the decisions of private sector utility providers.

CESER also launched the Cyber Testing for Resilience of the Industrial Control Systems and Cybersecurity for the Operational Technology Environment programs, both of which seek to identify vulnerabilities or malicious behavior in energy technologies.

CESER will coordinate with private entities willing to have their OT components tested as part of CyTRICS.

U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy officials have said steps are being undertaken for the immediate modernization of the Lockheed Martin-built C-130 Hercules, DOD News reported Friday.

Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, told a House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and projection forces that C-130 accidents are influenced by a delay in the implementation of modernization programs concerning the aircraft.

“During this period, we prioritized safety, and then compliance, when it comes to operating, maintaining and sustaining all of our capabilities,” Harris said.

“Readiness, lethality and cost-effective modernization efforts [guide] our plans,” he added.

Lt. Gen. Donald Kirkland, commander of the Air Force sustainment center, said reviews to assess the operational capabilities of the C-130 are underway and that maintenance operations will be done by fiscal year 2022. 

Navy Rear Adm. Scott Conn, director of air warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said the service branch leverages its Navy Unique Fleet Essential Airlift aircraft, which comprise of 24 C-130T Hercules and 15 C-40 aircraft, to provide air logistics support to naval combat operations.

Conn noted the Navy completed the acquisition of the C-130Ts in 1996 and is mulling allocation of funds in the FY 2019 budget to procure three aircraft in FY 2023.
 

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The Department of Homeland Security‘s Science and Technology Directorate has launched a publicly available dashboard consisting of over 1,500 research entries on terrorism and extremism prevention.

The move is meant to support efforts seeking to counter terrorism across many disciplines such as the social and behavioral science, the department said Friday.

“[The dashboard] streamlines access to peer‑reviewed and methodologically sound research, so government partners, academics and interested members of the public can develop a sound evidence base in the field of terrorism prevention for what works, what doesn’t and why,” said Kathleen Deloughery, program manager at S&T.

The dashboard’s covered range of topics include diversion, mitigation, resilience and program evaluations, as well as transferable programs and international programs.

Interested consumers may view the dashboard’s accessibility instructions here.
 

The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration will proceed with the final production qualification activities of the B61-12 Life Extension Program after completing a final design review of a new B61 variant.

The department said Friday NNSA will initiate production qualification operations of B61-12 bomb variants at its Pantex Plant within the month, then conduct phase 6.5 first production authorization in September 2019.

The final design review involved 12 military and civilian nuclear experts tasked with analyzing three years worth of B61-12 LEP electrical, mechanical, thermal and flight-testing data at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.

The B61-12 LEP team also assessed the Pantex Plant’s operations.

The NNSA aims to replace the military’s existing stock of B61 bombs with B61-12 variants to sustain the U.S. nuclear triad. The first B61-12 production unit will commence in March 2020.

The U.S. Coast Guard has renamed its heavy icebreaker funding program to emphasize national security, USNI News reported Thursday.

The program’s rebranding as the Polar Security Cutter is intended to address funding requirements for a new class of icebreaker ships, by marketing the effort as one significant to national security.

The renewed program may involve arming the sought cutters with weapons, as hinted in recent USCG sourcing notices that requested proposals on deck-mounted weaponry, the report noted.

At a U.S. Naval Institute event in August, Adm. Karl Schultz said that the icebreaker will need to also function as a national security vessel to protect the nation’s sovereign interests.

A new report published by the non-profit organization Partnership for Public Service has criticized the federal government for failing to exert enough effort to recruit or cultivate technological talent that could help change the way agencies approach tech-intensive projects and address subsequent challenges.

The authors of the report, Jennifer Anastasoff and Jennifer Smith, emphasized not only the need to bring on board modern technical experts but also to place them in positions that would maximize their involvement in a project.

On the other hand, senior government officials need to be technologically literate as well, Anastasoff and Smith said, noting that “[familiarity] with and appreciation for modern technology in top leadership positions is so critical for success that such expertise should be no more than one step removed from an agency’s leader.”

The authors also underscored the role of chief information officers, who need to be “highly skilled technological managers who can successfully handle existing technical operations, infrastructure and services.”

The availability of such talent would benefit programs run by the government and those offloaded onto contractors.

“Without these skills, agencies will not have the expertise to fully understand the solutions they need or evaluate which contractors are best to deliver those solutions,” the authors said.

The Defense Department, NASA and the General Services Administration have released a final rule that seeks to revise the instructions for System for Award Management registration.

A Federal Register notice posted Wednesday says the final rule is set to take effect on Oct. 26 and amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require vendors to register through SAM prior to bid submission.

The regulation would direct contracting officers to use the name and address in the offeror’s SAM registration for the unique entity identifier.

The three agencies released the final policy two years after they proposed the rule and sought public comments.

The notice contains the agencies’ responses to feedback about the rule’s potential effect on competition and submission of offers as well as public burden.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed on Wednesday a bill that would authorize the White House to implement its government reorganization plan, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.

Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) sponsored the Reforming Government Act of 2018 that would allow Congress to clear reorganization proposals through a simple majority of 51 votes to accelerate passage of such plans.

Bloomberg Government reported that the bill passed the Senate panel through a voice vote after Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) drafted a compromise amendment that would permit a simple majority if five lawmakers from each party would cosponsor the reorganization plan.

The legislation includes a provision that would direct the Office of Management and Budget to guarantee that the proposed reorganization plans would actually save taxpayers’ money.