The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been tasked with providing recommendations to the Pentagon for establishing a proposed agency that would lead efforts to build and acquire space technologies for the military, Space News reported Thursday.

DARPA will study the process and approach for the Space Development Agency following a directive by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin. In a memo sent to top defense officials, Griffin said he expects DARPA to complete the study in 45 to 60 days and focus on the requirements for a low-earth orbit communications transport layer and on the space capabilities outlined in the Department of Defense’s Space Vision.

The main tasks of the Space Development Agency include:

• Persistent global surveillance for advanced missile targeting
• Indications, warning, targeting and tracking for defense against advanced missile threats
• Alternate positioning, navigation and timing for a GPS-denied environment
• Global and near-real time space situational awareness
• Development of deterrent capability
• Responsive, resilient, common ground-based space support infrastructures
• Cross-domain, networked, node-independent battle management command, control and communications, including nuclear command, control and communications
• Highly-scaled, low-latency, persistent, artificial intelligence-enabled global surveillance

Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, will lead the study.

McAleese & Associates reports that public shipyards are all jockeying for public shipyard recapitalization funding heading into 2019.

During the recent “Navy/USMC Readiness” hearing, Richard Spencer, secretary of the U.S. Navy, assured lawmakers the agency is drafting its master plan to modernize its public shipyards. A report from the Department of Defense states the plan could cost as much as $20B over 20 years.

The Navy delivered its “Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan” to Congress in September, which focuses on facility layout and optimization, shipyard drydock recapitalization and equipment modernization. Sen. Mazie Hirono D-HI, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen D-N.H., have been eager to receive immediate funding for the Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth shipyards, but Sen. Angus King ,I-Maine, is seeking a split-frigate-award. King wants to avoid a major production spike because it could create further problems with maintenance-cycles.

In addition to improving physical infrastructure at their shipyards, Spencer clarified that other improvements have being made. In a statement from the hearing, improving sailor training has become a top priority and seen great progress.

“Today’s naval shipyard training and development is a combination of class room, learning center development (hands-on in safe to learn environments) and on-the-job experience, Spenser said. “In previous years, training could take up to 4 years, as the majority of the training and development was shadowing an experienced mechanic while ‘on-the-job.’ Naval shipyards have now reduced the time it takes to train and develop a worker by a least 50%.”

Despite the immediate impact of public shipyard recapitalization, it’ll take at least two years for significant changes to become clear. During the hearing, Spencer insisted the 2020 sequestration would be a crime after stopping all the progress the U.S. Navy made to modernize its shipyards.

McAleese & Associates reports Congress allowing the upcoming 2020-2021 sequester to return would be ill-advised, according to expert remarks made during the “Navy/USMC Readiness” Hearing in Washington, D.C.
 
Richard Spencer, secretary of the U.S. Navy, discussed the urgency of avoiding a 2020 sequester and conveyed how devastating it would be for the branch. According to the hearing’s transcript, Spencer suggested the sequester could result in a $26B loss in funding, hindering readiness and lethality heading into 2019.
 
Pointing to advancements in these areas, Spencer insisted strides have been made by enhancing private-public partnerships and making calculated investments in weapons platforms and munitions. According to him, the Navy’s existing fleet readiness has been improving due to an additional $1.1B in funding for ship maintenance, an increase from $8.7B to $9.8B during fiscal years 2017 to 2019.
 
“This additional funding enables ships to begin deployment training on time with improved material condition and modernized combat, communications and engineering systems,” said Spencer. “We have partnered with our shipyards, public and private, to improve efficiency, reducing the maintenance backlog and increasing productivity vital for future naval growth.”
 
Spencer argued that every dollar must generate a return of lethality and consistent funding is necessary to fix these problems. He urged that any break in funding or a significant cut resulting from the 2020 sequester would have significant consequences on the Navy’s readiness.
 
John Pendleton, director of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, believes the readiness problem is quite complex because the Navy can’t bring forces home to reset. Navy ships require rotational-forward presence. As a result, Pendleton argued that shipboard training standards are being waved at an alarming rate because the Navy trains ship crews before they deploy. Navy ships have been left without enough sailors to handle the workload. Due to ship and submarine depot maintenance delays, 27,000 days have been lost since 2012, added Pendleton.
 

Reps. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., praised the Senate’s decision to advance their bill, which would digitize government processes and establish new standards for all public federal websites to improve user experience and accessibility. 

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The 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act will help reduce the burden in interacting with federal agencies by eliminating the need for phone calls or in-person visits to government offices, the lawmakers said in a statement posted Wednesday.
Ratcliffe and Khanna introduced the bill in an effort to provide easier and more secure interactions between citizens and federal agencies online. 

“The 21st Century IDEA will help bring us up to speed with the vast majority of the private sector by allowing us to meet the public’s needs with a few simple clicks online rather than drawn out phone calls or in-person visits with agency representatives,” the lawmakers commented. The bill received House approval in November and will now be sent to President Trump for a signature.

“We’ve got major room for improvement when it comes to the services we provide online,” Ratcliffe and Khanna added. “We’ve been grateful for the strong bipartisan support this legislation has received from our House and Senate colleagues, and we’re looking forward to its swift signature into law.”

A new report by the Government Accountability Office shows the federal government has been failing to properly manage cybersecurity and information technology acquisitions and operations.  

The GAO said Wednesday of the more than 1,200 recommendations on IT management it provided to agencies since 2010, only 510 were implemented, while 688 recommendations on cybersecurity remain floating across the government. 

The watchdog said most unfulfilled recommendations focus on the areas of chief information officer responsibilities, IT contract approval, consolidating data centers, managing software licenses and improving the security of federal IT system. 

“Many agencies continue to be challenged in safeguarding their information systems and information, in part, because many of these recommendations have not been implemented,” the GAO said in the report. 

In fiscal year 2018 alone, the agency said the government’s more than $96B in IT investments had “failed or contributed little to mission-related outcomes.” 

The GAO plans to continue monitoring agencies in the implementation of its recommendations. 

The Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management plan to establish a joint office in 2019 to handle all security clearance investigations for the defense community, Nextgov reported Wednesday. The partnership comes amid the growing backlog of security clearances at the Department of Defense that reportedly reached 725,000 in April.

The DoD will merge its Defense Security Service office with OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau to consolidate background investigations and maintenance of the National Background Investigations Services system. The agencies plan to establish the office in October of next year and expect to employ up to 2,000 federal workers. 

Garry Reid, director for Defense Intelligence, said the DSS and the NBIB already started to strategize, particularly on how to use physical resources, such as real estate, computers and office supplies, as well as human resources.

“We are integrating two organizations into DSS while simultaneously automating and changing operational processes and procedures,” said DSS Director Dan Payne. “Everyone at this table recognizes these complexities and are resolute in ensuring it is done successfully.”

U.S. Air Force Space Command has assumed responsibility for the acquisition of satellite communications services in support of the Department of Defense and the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, AFSPC said Wednesday.

AFSPC commander will handle enterprise satcom operations, oversee the integrated delivery of satcom services and manage the procurement of almost all military and commercial satcom technologies.

The command will also have operational control of 70 support contractors and 36 civilian and military personnel working on commercial satcom efforts.

A formal transfer of personnel will take place in October 2019 ahead of a full operational capability authorization scheduled for October 2020.

The move comes as part of efforts to comply with the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.

The U.S. Air Force expects to install Boeing’s KC-46 refueling tanker aircraft at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas by the end of 2018, Kansas.com reported Thursday.

The service branch selected McConnell AFB for the first round of deliveries along with Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire and Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

McConnell AFB will receive 18 tankers for the first increment and is slated to expand the fleet to 36.

The air base invested $267M for 16 construction projects in preparation for the KC-46 tankers, which are expected to replace the KC-135 aircraft housed in its two air refueling wings.

The first KC-46 tanker was initially scheduled for delivery to McConnell AFB in March 2017.

The departments of Energy and Homeland Security have started testing prototypes of a new tool designed to help medical responders monitor multiple patients and share information in real time during a mass casualty. 

The agencies are exploring the VitalTag Technology that uses multiple sensors to detect the vital signs of patients and share data to responders’ mobile devices. Medics could use the patient data to see those in need of urgent care, the DHS said Wednesday.

Ongoing tests of the tool focus on the accuracy of patient vitals. Existing VitalTag prototypes work to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen, shock index and single-lead electrocardiogram, among other metrics

The DHS said the devices appear able to transfer patient data in real time to laptops, phones and tablets at the disaster site, as well as ambulances and hospitals.

“An attractive feature of the VitalTag system, which allows all of this to happen, is its multi-platform user interface, which displays all the important information in neat, comprehensive, interactive tables,” the agency said.