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SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour
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SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour


SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour
Heather Wilson

U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, commented on the service branch’s need for technological development as she toured the service’s facilities in Texas on June 27 through 29.

Wilson visited the AFWERX and the Pilot Training Next programs in Austin and the Randolph and Lackland sites of Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force said Monday.

The Air Force can tap the talents of technology companies to support innovation, entrepreneurship, community and university partnerships and the cooperation of local governments, Wilson said during her visit at AFWERX-Austin, which is designed as a collaboration hub for the service branch and external communities.

“We recognize that the bureaucracy doesn’t always allow innovation to happen, and that’s one of the reasons for creating things like AFWERX,” Wilson said.

During her tour of the Pilot Training Next facility at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, she noted the Air Force’s partnership with the industry and the academia to integrate modern technologies into pilots’ training environments.

“Technology has changed quite a bit, but the syllabus for pilot training had not significantly changed in about 20 years,” she said.

The Pilot Training Next program is meant to investigate and possibly prototype an immersive technology for pilot exercises.

Wilson discussed with the 12th Flying Training Wing at JBSA-Randolph fighter fundamentals, training for pilot instructors and weapons systems officer and exercises for operators of sensors and remotely piloted aircraft.

Her tour ended with a review of the Basic Military Training graduation parade of 628 new Air Force members when she visited JBSA-Lackland.

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GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security Clearance
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GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security Clearance


GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security ClearanceAn ongoing audit being conducted by the Office of Audits under the Office of Inspector General at the General Services Administration has revealed that the Federal Acquisition Service failed to ensure that all employees working under a federal task order had received requisite security clearance prior to being mobilized.

Sonya Panzo, associate deputy assistant inspector general for auditing at the Acquisition and Information Technology Audit Office, said in a memo dated June 29 that the FAS provided several employees under the Transition Ordering Assistance task order access to sensitive government information and equipment, and paid them a total of more than $675,000 for services rendered, even though the Office of Personnel Management had not given them a favorable background investigation determination.

The Transition Ordering Assistance task order was designed to help federal employees shift to new information technology and communication infrastructure.

Panzo expressed concern that the FAS had relied exclusively on assurances from the task order contractor about their employees’ security clearances instead of verifying these claims independently.

Panzo recommended that, moving forward, the FAS “enhance management controls” to ensure that security protocols are adhered to, and FAS and client agencies are not exposed to unnecessary risk.

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NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments
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NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments


NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments
Michael Lutton

The U.S. Air Force and the Energy Department‘s National Nuclear Security Administration have concluded flight tests needed to qualify the B61-12 gravity bomb’s non-nuclear functions.

A B-2A Spirit Bomber aircraft released the bomb’s non-nuclear test assembly during the two tests that took place June 9 at Tonopah Test Range, Nev., DOE said Friday.

The assembly consisted of an NNSA-designed bomb component and a USAF-procured tail-kit developed by Boeing.

The tests are part of the B61-12 Life Extension Program, which aims to bolster the bomb’s safety, security and reliability capacities, as well as extend the weapon’s service life.

The Sandia National Laboratories and the Los Alamos National Laboratory designed hardware used in the tests, while the Nuclear Security Enterprise plants manufactured the equipment.

“These qualification flight tests demonstrate the B61-12 design meets system requirements and illustrate the continued progress of the B61-12 life extension program to meet national security requirements” said Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton, NNSA’s principal assistant deputy administrator for military application.

The government intends to replace all existing B61 bomb variants with the B61-12, whose first production unit is expected to be completed in fiscal 2020.

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McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training Summit
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McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training Summit


McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training SummitMcConnell Air Force Base held the fifth KC-46 Pegasus Maintenance Training Summit to inform the aircraft’s maintainers, crews and other involved personnel on expected training schedules and requirements.

The summit generally aimed to address the KC-46’s training requirements in preparation for the aerial refueling aircraft’s expected arrival in October, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

The event also provided a discussion on the service branch’s approach to cross-train maintainers of the KC-135 Stratotanker to the newer KC-46.

Master Sgt. Ian Evans, 22nd MXG KC-46 transition team superintendent, said the 22nd Maintenance Group developed the KC-46’s training timeline that the Air Mobility Command will progressively adopt.

“After we implement the aircraft and go through the initial phases of training, we’re going to readjust our training and technical school curriculum,” he added.

The summit will reconvene to revisit and refine the KC-46 master training plan, two months after the aircraft’s delivery.

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IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’
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IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’


IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has launched a new competition that seeks to develop systems designed to predict events in North Africa and the Middle East by processing data from publicly available sources.

IARPA said the Mercury Challenge aims to encourage machine learning engineers, data scientists and technologists from industry and academia to develop new automated platforms that will forecast military activity, infectious diseases and non-violent civil unrest in the two regions.

IARPA will evaluate participants through three scoring periods based on event-type matching; data accuracy; location accuracy; and forecast lead time and will award cash prizes of up to $100,000 to developers of winning forecasting systems.

The agency will officially launch the contest on Aug. 1 and close the first scoring period on Oct. 31.

The second and third scoring terms will respectively end on Jan. 31, 2019 and April 30, 2019.

IARPA will announce the winners by spring 2019.

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SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for Companies
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SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for Companies


SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for CompaniesThe Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday voted to adopt amendments to its reporting standards for operating companies and funds.

Operating companies submitting financial statement information and funds filing risk/return summaries will soon have to use the Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language format in their disclosure reports, the SEC announced in a statement.

The use of iXBRL involves embedding XBRL metadata in HTML documents, making the resulting file readable for both humans and machines.

A fact sheet accompanying the SEC statement says that the adoption of iXBRL could bring about several benefits including the faster preparation of XBRL reports and the lower likelihood of inconsistency between XBRL and HTML filings.

The rollout of the new standard will happen in phases, beginning with large accelerated filers in 2019.

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton called the amendments “part of the Commission’s continued efforts to modernize reporting and to improve the accessibility and usefulness of disclosures to investors.”

Clayton added that the amendments are reflective of the SEC’s effort “to use developments in structured disclosure technology to lower costs borne by filers and investors.”

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Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&T
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Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&T


Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&TThe Commerce Department’s inspector general has commenced a year-long audit to assess how the First Responder Network Authority oversees the development of a national public safety broadband network through a contract awarded to AT&T, Reuters reported Friday.

AT&T secured a potential $6.5 billion contract in March 2017 to build and operate the national network designed to free up bandwidth for emergency responders through pre-emptive and priority access to network.

Carol Rice, assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, said in a May 3 memo the audit seeks to evaluate if FirstNet “properly administered” a task order for the network’s implementation, maintenance and operation.

AT&T officials and the government told Reuters the audit was a routine procedure and that the FirstNet’s core is now operational in all U.S. states.

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House Panel’s Defense Policy Bill to Require DoD Briefing on Intell Support for Cyber Operations
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House Panel’s Defense Policy Bill to Require DoD Briefing on Intell Support for Cyber Operations


House Panel’s Defense Policy Bill to Require DoD Briefing on Intell Support for Cyber OperationsThe House Armed Services Committee’s defense policy bill would direct the Defense Department to conduct a briefing on intelligence support for cyber operations by Dec. 1, Fifth Domain reported Monday.

The provision in the measure seeks to advance efforts to resource intell analysis support at the U.S. Cyber Command and cyber components within service branches and standardize a common doctrine for the battlefield’s intell preparation for cyber-related operations.

The defense undersecretary for intelligence will work with service branches and the Defense Intelligence Agency to deliver the briefing, according to the bill’s provision.

Gus Hunt, cyber strategy lead at Accenture’s federal services business, said he thinks there is no difference between cyber and other domains of warfare from an intelligence support standpoint.

“I think what you’re seeing … is that people are asking the question are we appropriately structured or resourced and focused to be as effective as we possibly can in this new realm of cyber and cyber operations,” Hunt said.

“Because they’re asking the question, I think the obvious answer is … we’re not structured as effectively as we possibly can be … [but] it’s really good that people are sitting there asking,” he added.

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GSA Promotes Angela Colter to 18F Acting Executive Director
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GSA Promotes Angela Colter to 18F Acting Executive Director


GSA Promotes Angela Colter to 18F Acting Executive Director
Angela Colter

Angela Colter, formerly director of strategy at the General Services Administration‘s 18F unit, has been promoted to serve as executive director of the digital services group on an acting basis, Nextgov reported Monday.

She joined 18F in February 2016 as an innovation specialist and helped build a platform that could help GSA manage professional development programs, as well as an open-source component library and style guide intended for government designers and developers.

Her professional career has also included positions at Electronic Ink, UserWorks,  Comcast Interactive Media and University of Baltimore.

FCW reported Monday Colter succeeds Rebecca Piazza, who has led 18F over the past eight months and left the federal government to pursue a new job in the private sector.

Victor Udoewa, 18F’s senior strategist, will replace Colter as the group’s strategy director.

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Report: US Delegation to Promote Arms Exports at Farnborough Airshow
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Report: US Delegation to Promote Arms Exports at Farnborough Airshow


Report: US Delegation to Promote Arms Exports at Farnborough AirshowPeter Navarro, White House trade adviser, will lead the U.S. delegation that will attend the seven-day Farnborough Airshow in the U.K., to help promote the administration’s “Buy American” program that seeks to increase exports of U.S.-made aircraft and weapon systems, Reuters reported Sunday.

Industry sources said officials from the U.S. Air Force, Commerce Department and the Defense Department’s weapons export administration will join the U.S. delegation at the airshow that will kick off on July 16.

Andrea Thompson, undersecretary for arms control and international security at the State Department, will attend the event, according to a department official.

The State Department official said the U.S. recorded over $43.4 billion in sales in the first seven months of this year to foreign governments.

The report noted that Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics are among the defense contractors that are expected to benefit from the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy.

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