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House Panel-Approved FY 2019 Spending Bill to Allot $9.4B for F-35 Procurement
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House Panel-Approved FY 2019 Spending Bill to Allot $9.4B for F-35 Procurement


House Panel-Approved FY 2019 Spending Bill to Allot $9.4B for F-35 ProcurementThe House Appropriations Committee voted 48-4 on Wednesday to pass a $675 billion defense spending bill that would authorize $9.4 billion in fiscal 2019 funds to purchase 93 Lockheed Martin-built F-35 fighter jets, the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday.

“To maintain air superiority we provide increases for key platforms such as the Joint Strike Fighters,” said Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), chairwoman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

The proposed legislation would allocate $623 million in fiscal 2019 funds to support the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System replacement program.

USNI News reported that the House measure includes a $22.7 billion budget for shipbuilding programs, including three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (DDG-51), three Littoral Combat Ships and two Virginia-class attack submarines (SSN-774).

The appropriations bill would also allocate $1.9 billion in funds for 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft, $1.8 billion for 10 P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes and $2.9 billion for the Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile program, the report added.

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Sen. Mark Warner Proposes Cyber, Security Clearance Amendments to FY 2019 Defense Bill
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Sen. Mark Warner Proposes Cyber, Security Clearance Amendments to FY 2019 Defense Bill


Sen. Mark Warner Proposes Cyber, Security Clearance Amendments to FY 2019 Defense Bill
Mark Warner

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has suggested provisions to a fiscal 2019 defense policy bill in a move to address cybersecurity and security clearance challenges the federal government faces.

He re-introduced a proposal to update a national doctrine on how the government should respond to a foreign cyber attack on the country’s election systems, Warner’s office said Monday.

“I have offered an amendment that would require a direct response by the U.S. should a foreign adversary attempt to intervene and undermine the integrity of local, state, or federal elections,” the senator noted.

Warner also proposed implementing measures to reduce the current backlog of 700,000 security clearance applications and increase transparency in the background investigation process.

He also introduced a provision to amend tax reform legislation approved by Congress last year that subjects federal employees to additional levies for work-related relocation.

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USAF Demonstrates New Sensor Pod With MQ-9 UAS
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USAF Demonstrates New Sensor Pod With MQ-9 UAS


USAF Demonstrates New Sensor Pod With MQ-9 UAS

The U.S. Air Force demonstrated a new sensor system during three test flights with a General Atomics-built MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft system.

The AgilePod is an Air Force-owned open architecture system designed to provide sensor pods in varying sizes for different missions, Wright Patterson Air Force Base said Tuesday.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Sensors Program Office and the Medium Altitude Unmanned Aerial Systems Program Office partnered to conduct the tests.

“The AgilePod program began with a desire to bring agile manufacturing practices to the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance enterprise, culminating in a wholly government-owned, open architecture ISR capability that was both payload and platform agnostic,” said Andrew Soine, a program manager at AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate.

Under the Information Transfer Agreement, the Air Force shares AgilePod technical data with development partners including Leidos, AdamWorks, General Atomics and the University of Dayton Research Institute.

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GSA Unveils Changes to SAM.gov User Info Verification, Login Procedures
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GSA Unveils Changes to SAM.gov User Info Verification, Login Procedures


GSA Unveils Changes to SAM.gov User Info Verification, Login ProceduresThe General Services Administration has established new controls for its online registration platform for government contractors and federal assistance requests in an effort to build on measures implemented earlier this year to address alleged fraudulent activity.

GSA said it will no longer require entities creating or updating their registration in the System for Award Management website to submit before activation a notarized letter naming the authorized entity administrator.

The agency previously mandated a notarized letter before registration is activated in order to validate information such as the entity’s electronic fund transfer details, in light of reported third-party fraudulent activity on SAM.gov.

Entities are still asked to submit the said letter within 30 days of activation, with the change applied to federal assistance requests effective Monday and to all non-federal entities on June 29.

GSA added it will also instate multifactor authentication for SAM.gov users via Login.gov by the end of the month to further bolster security and anti-fraud measures on the registration platform.

The agency noted it will continue to work with the GSA inspector general and law enforcement to investigate the fraudulent activity that impacted SAM.gov.

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Senate Subcommittee OKs $21.3B Fiscal 2019 NASA Budget
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Senate Subcommittee OKs $21.3B Fiscal 2019 NASA Budget


Senate Subcommittee OKs $21.3B Fiscal 2019 NASA BudgetA Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday passed its fiscal 2019 spending bill that would authorize $21.3 billion in funds for NASA, representing a $1.4 billion increase from the president’s budget request for the agency, SpacePolicyOnline.com reported Tuesday.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) led the markup of the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice and science subpanel’s bill that rejects the Trump administration’s proposal to put an end to NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, four Earth science programs and initiatives under the agency’s office of education.

Earth science, astrophysics, planetary science and heliophysics programs would get approximately $6.4 billion in funds.

The proposed legislation would allocate $5.3 billion for space exploration initiatives such as the Space Launch System, Orion, Exploration Ground Systems and Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway projects.

The measure would also earmark $933 million in funds for space technology, $725 million for aeronautics and $110 million for NASA’s education programs, according to the report.

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Research Finds DOE Sponsorship Facilitates Modern Tech Development; Rick Perry Comments
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Research Finds DOE Sponsorship Facilitates Modern Tech Development; Rick Perry Comments


Research Finds DOE Sponsorship Facilitates Modern Tech Development; Rick Perry Comments
Rick Perry

A study by an Energy Department committee has found that DOE-funded basic research and scientific programs have led to some technological advancements over the past four decades.

The Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee’s report, titled A Remarkable Return on Investment in Fundamental Research,” explores the link between department-sponsored fundamental research efforts and modern technology platforms in areas such as combustion, communications, information and vehicles, DOE said Tuesday.

“The technological revolutions that we have witnessed in our lifetime all have their roots in basic discovery science,” said Energy Secretary Rick Perry, adding that he believes federal support can help the U.S. maintain a technological edge.

DOE funded more than 200 research projects on light-emitting diode technology, which resulted in the award of more than 270 patents, the report noted.

The department also sponsored combustion modeling efforts that helped facilitate the development of internal combustion engines, as well as established scientific user facilities that many government and industry researchers use.

BESAC is composed of outside experts who provide research advice to DOE’s Office of Science and produced the report to commemorate 40 years of BES research support.

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Air Force Plans to Expand Nuke-Sniffing Aircraft Fleet With Modified C-130s
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Air Force Plans to Expand Nuke-Sniffing Aircraft Fleet With Modified C-130s


Air Force Plans to Expand Nuke-Sniffing Aircraft Fleet With Modified C-130sThe U.S. Air Force will soon expand its nuke-sniffing aircraft fleet with the addition of Lockheed Martin’s modified C-130 Hercules planes, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The service currently has two WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft in its nuke-sniffing arsenal, which Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein believes is too few to address the demands of the Defense Department.

Goldfein added the existing Constant Phoenixes are “too old” to monitor the nuclear activities of U.S. adversaries such as Russia, North Korea, China and Iran.

The Air Force can utilize the C-130s, which can be equipped with Harvester Particulate Airborne Collection Systems kits, when the Constant Phoenixes are not available for nuke-sniffing missions.

The service aims to operate the modified C-130s and retire its two WC-135 planes in 2019.

L3 Technologies will replace the two Constant Phoenixes with three KC-135R aircraft to increase the number of nuke sniffers by one aircraft.

The Air Force proposed $208 million of funding in 2019 and $8 million in 2020 for the Constant Phoenix modernization effort.

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Maj. Gen. John Jansen Nominated to Serve as Marine Corps’ Top Budget Officer
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Maj. Gen. John Jansen Nominated to Serve as Marine Corps’ Top Budget Officer


Maj. Gen. John Jansen Nominated to Serve as Marine Corps' Top Budget Officer
John Jansen

Maj. Gen John Jansen, commandant of the National Defense University’s Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, has been nominated to be deputy commandant for programs and resources at the U.S. Marine Corps.

President Trump also endorsed Jansen’s appointment to the rank of lieutenant general, the Defense Department said Monday.

Jansen would serve as principal financial adviser to the USMC commandant and the service branch’s principal spokesperson on budget and program matters across the Department of the Navy and DoD.

In his current role, he supervises 380 personnel and implements senior-level courses focused on national security and resourcing strategy.

He has logged more than 3100 flight hours, including 2800 hours with the F/A-18 aircraft and more than 480 arrested carrier landings.

USMC commissioned Jansen in 1986 and designated him as naval aviator for VMFAT-101 at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, Calif.,  in 1990.

Jansen also worked for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in Darmstadt, Germany, and completed a joint assignment as an arms control inspection team chief and a unit executive officer there.

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Jim Reavis: Cloud Security Alliance, GSA’s FedRAMP Partner to Develop ‘FedSTAR’ Cloud Certification
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Jim Reavis: Cloud Security Alliance, GSA’s FedRAMP Partner to Develop ‘FedSTAR’ Cloud Certification


Jim Reavis: Cloud Security Alliance, GSA’s FedRAMP Partner to Develop ‘FedSTAR’ Cloud Certification
Jim Reavis

The Cloud Security Alliance and the General Services Administration have teamed up to establish a new cloud security certification through the combination of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program with the alliance’s STAR certification, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

“The idea is actually to create some synergy here … To create compatibility between the auditor network and to create compatibility so we can get to a level of mutual recognition so that you are compliant with one, you are compliant with the other,” said Jim Reavis, co-founder and CEO of the Cloud Security Alliance.

The report said the alliance expects FedSTAR to help reduce duplicate requirements in order to bring efficiencies for companies in the private sector.

Reavis noted that GSA will oversee program and project management efforts for FedSTAR.

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Report: DISA Plans to Issue Final Solicitation for $8.2B DEOS Cloud Procurement Contract in June
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Report: DISA Plans to Issue Final Solicitation for $8.2B DEOS Cloud Procurement Contract in June


Report: DISA Plans to Issue Final Solicitation for $8.2B DEOS Cloud Procurement Contract in JuneThe Defense Information Systems Agency intends to release in June the final solicitation for a potential 10-year, $8.2 billion contract that seeks to procure a commercial cloud service to accommodate all of the military’s office productivity and email platforms, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

DISA said it is in the process of responding to a set of industry questions for the single-award Defense Enterprise Office Solutions contract that will have a five-year base term and five option years and expects companies to submit their offers within 45 days following the release of the final request for proposals.

The DEOS contract will cover office suite, collaboration and online meeting tools, email platform, content management software and internet protocol-based replacement for the Defense Department’s video and voice teleconferencing systems.

DISA plans to initially transition approximately 1.5 million DoD users to a single cloud software-as-a-service offering within 18 months of the contract award, according to the report.

Brian Hermann, portfolio manager for unified capabilities at DISA, said DoD believes awarding the DEOS project to a single vendor would help facilitate interoperability and collaboration among Pentagon personnel.

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