A group of five senators has asked the State Department to state the actions it has implemented to address the underutilization of multifactor authentication for accounts with “elevated privileges.”

The lawmakers said Tuesday in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that they want to know the measures adopted by the department to address the “high-risk” status the Office of Management and Budget gave to its cyber readiness efforts.

The department should also provide the Senate with statistics about attempted and successful cyber attacks against the agency’s overseas systems by Oct. 12.

The senators made the inquiry after the General Services Administration’s 2018 federal cybersecurity assessment found that only 11 percent of the State Department’s required devices were equipped with “enhanced access controls.”

The letter was signed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
 

President Donald Trump has released an executive order that aims to protect U.S. elections from potential foreign interference.

A White House fact sheet published Wednesday says the executive order would authorize sanctions and other measures against foreign individuals found to have engaged in election interference.

Possible sanctions include prohibitions to bar financial transactions with individuals involved in election intrusions, export license restrictions and exclusion of an individual’s alien corporate and principal executive officers from the U.S.

The policy would direct the administration to work with local and state officials to create a process that would help determine if an intrusion occurs and would require the generation of interagency reports of interferences after every federal election.

The fact sheet cited the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department and other federal agencies to ensure the security of U.S. elections.

Those include the plan of DOJ and FBI to conduct an election day watch to track election-related activities and the inaugural National Election Cybersecurity Table Top Exercise that DHS hosted in August.
 

A congressional conference committee has proposed adding $458M more for nuclear weapons to the 2019 spending bill, with a total $44.6B allocated to the Department of Energy, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The bill will provide $11.1B to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s nuclear warhead management operations, and $1.9B to sustain U.S. nuclear warheads to comply with the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, released in February.

The compromise funding plan additionally allocates $65M for the development of a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile and the modernization of a nuclear warhead for the U.S. Navy‘s Trident II D5 weapon.

The bill aligns with President Trump’s plan to refresh and expand America’s nuclear arsenal.

Congress will review the proposed nuclear weapons budget along with other government-spending bills before September ends.

Defense Innovation Unit Partner Mike Madsen has announced that the DIU will appoint a new managing director in the coming weeks, MeriTalk reported Tuesday.

Madsen said during a Professional Services Council-hosted event that the DIU is nearing the end of its six-month search for a new managing director to lead operations.

He explained that the DIU is working on coordinating with commercial entities to help address national security issues.

Madsen also disclosed that the DIU is working on rapidly awarding prototype “other transaction” authority contracts. This is meant to address the concerns of CEOs who are hesitant to enter the defense marketplace due to its complicated and slow process.

The Defense Department‘s Defense Acquisition Regulations System intends to hold a public meeting on Friday to gather feedback from government and industry professionals regarding the implementation of a policy for issuing performance-based contract payments.

The event will tackle section 831 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 and take place at the Mark Center Auditorium in Alexandria, Va., according to a Federal Register notice posted Monday.

The Pentagon also plans to discuss a proposed amendment of progress and performance-based payment systems under the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement.

The proposal would help small businesses to qualify for higher rates on customary progress payment and maximum performance-based payment.

Potential presenters may email proposed presentations to osd.dfars@mail.mil.

Kelly Olson, acting director of the General Service Administration’s Technology Transformation Service, told FedScoop in an interview published Tuesday that GSA intends to provide updates in October on transformation efforts at the Department of Agriculture that serves as the “lighthouse” agency for the IT Modernization Centers of Excellence.

Olson, who took over as interim chief of TTS in August, said GSA is still awaiting data about some of the changes at USDA and how those initiatives would impact service delivery efforts at the department.

She cited her office’s plans as GSA prepares to announce the next agency under the CoE initiative.

“I think that as we move from agency to agency, it is very important to capture what are we learning, what are the best practices, ensuring that what we’re learning at USDA transfers to agency two and agency three,” Olson said. 

Olson also mentioned some of her priorities such as talent recruitment, support to the leadership team and sustainment of momentum for modernization.
 

House and Senate conference members have passed a package of three bills that would appropriate fiscal 2019 funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs, military construction, energy and water infrastructure and legislative branch.

The minibus measure would allocate $86.5B in discretionary funds for VA’s health records system modernization effort, Mission Act programs and claims backlog work, the House Appropriations Committee said Monday.

Military construction projects, such as infrastructure upgrades to support deterrence operations, would get $10.3B in fiscal 2019 funds.

The energy and water appropriations bill would earmark $15.2B for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons security initiatives; $7B for the Army Control of Engineers’ flood control and navigation efforts; and $13.5B for electrical grid security and related energy programs.

The legislative branch spending measure would appropriate funds for the Capitol Police, office of employee advocacy and paid internships.