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DHS Sets Approach to National Cyber Risk Management Through New Strategy
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DHS Sets Approach to National Cyber Risk Management Through New Strategy


DHS Sets Approach to National Cyber Risk Management Through New StrategyThe Department of Homeland Security has issued a new strategy that outlines measures to detect and manage cybersecurity risk and address changing threats to critical infrastructure and functions.

DHS said Tuesday the new cyber strategy was released in compliance with the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and seeks to prioritize and harmonize the department’s programming, planning, operational and budgeting efforts across its cyber mission areas.

The strategy aims to manage cyber risks through a five-part approach that includes risk identification; vulnerability reduction; consequence mitigation; enablement of cyber outcomes; and threat reduction.

“Our strategy outlines how DHS will leverage its unique capabilities on the digital battlefield to defend American networks and get ahead of emerging cyber threats,” said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

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CBO: House Panel’s FY 2019 Defense Bill Would Affect Direct Spending Over 10 Years
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CBO: House Panel’s FY 2019 Defense Bill Would Affect Direct Spending Over 10 Years


CBO: House Panel's FY 2019 Defense Bill Would Affect Direct Spending Over 10 YearsA Congressional Budget Office report says that enactment of the House Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2019 defense appropriations bill would affect the Defense Department‘s direct spending by less than $500,000 over the next decade.

CBO said Monday multiple provisions under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, or H.R. 5515, would also have “insignificant” effects on direct spending.

Those provisions seek to increase military retirement eligibility, change the timing of outlays from current appropriations and authorize DoD to spend contributions for certain purposes.

The proposed NDAA would increase penalties and impose sanctions on entities that transact with Russia, the report noted.

CBO added that such fines are classified as revenues and would amount to less than $500,000 over a 10-year period.

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National Guard Stages Nationwide Cybersecurity Exercise for 2018
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National Guard Stages Nationwide Cybersecurity Exercise for 2018


National Guard Stages Nationwide Cybersecurity Exercise for 2018The National Guard has hosted the Cyber Shield 2018 exercise as part of an effort to establish itself as a versatile service supporting the cyber defense of 54 states and territories.

The reserve force component is working with partners from other agencies and industry with the aim of bolstering cybersecurity and technological capacities for national defense, the U.S. Army said Monday.

The two-week exercise is divided into two phases. Participants are given the chance to acquire and bolster cybersecurity skills through learning sessions with military, government and industry leaders during the first week.

The second week tasks participating National Guard members to defend networks against trained opponents through the use of skills developed in the first week.

A volunteer staff consisting of National Guard and reserve soldiers and airmen planned and administered the seventh Cyber Shield over an 11-month period.

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Paul Lawrence Named VA Undersecretary for Benefits
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Paul Lawrence Named VA Undersecretary for Benefits


Paul Lawrence Named VA Undersecretary for Benefits
Paul Lawrence

Paul Lawrence, former public sector vice president of Kaiser Associates, has been appointed to serve as the Department of Veterans Affairs‘ undersecretary for benefits, effective today.

He holds decades of accounting experience, having held leadership roles at several companies, including Ernst & Young, Accenture, MITRE, PwC and IBM, VA said Monday.

Lawrence also formerly served with the U.S. Army as a captain and is a graduate of the Army Airborne School.

“VA now has two of three undersecretaries in place, with both assuming office more than a year before their counterparts in the previous administration,” said Robert Wilkie, the department’s acting secretary.

President Donald Trump nominated Lawrence for the position in February.

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John Gibson Explains DoD’s JEDI Cloud Single-Award Contract Plan to Congress
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John Gibson Explains DoD’s JEDI Cloud Single-Award Contract Plan to Congress


John Gibson Explains DoD's JEDI Cloud Single-Award Contract Plan to Congress
John Gibson

The Defense Department has sent a letter to Congress to explain its decision to pursue a single-award contract for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud procurement program instead of a multiple-award contract, Fedscoop reported Monday.

Adopting a multiple-award contract for the JEDI cloud program “could prevent DoD from rapidly delivering new capabilities and improved effectiveness to the warfighter that enterprise-level cloud computing can enable” and could lead to “additional costs and technical complexity” on the Pentagon, John Gibson, DoD chief management officer, wrote in the letter obtained by FedScoop.

Gibson noted that DoD intends to implement multiple measures to address issues related to the vendor lock-in arrangement and limit the base term to two years.

Nextgov also reported that DoD aims for the JEDI cloud platform to host nuclear weapon design data and other classified information.

The department would require the winning contractor to secure the Energy Department’s “Q” and “L” clearances that seek to facilitate access to restricted nuclear information and other top-secret security clearances, according to new contracting documents.

Heather Babb, a spokeswoman for DoD, told Nextgov that the department intends for cloud services under the procurement program to be “offered at all classification levels” and would provide defense and military clients leeway to identify data and applications they want to move to the cloud.

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Mark Geyer Appointed NASA Johnson Space Center Director
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Mark Geyer Appointed NASA Johnson Space Center Director


Mark Geyer Appointed NASA Johnson Space Center Director
Mark Geyer

Mark Geyer, acting deputy associate administrator for technical for the human explorations and operations mission directorate at NASA, has been appointed director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston in a move that takes effect May 25.

He will succeed Ellen Ochoa, who will retire from the space agency after a 30-year career there, NASA said Tuesday.

Geyer will oversee the center that conducts human spaceflight activities and employs approximately 10,000 civil and contractor personnel.

“Mark brings with him almost three decades of NASA leadership experience at the program, center and headquarter levels,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

In his current position, Geyer assists HEO Mission Directorate Associate Administrator William Gerstenmaier in developing strategies for human spaceflight exploration missions.

He joined the agency in 1990 and served as program manager in many of the space agency’s initiatives, including the International Space Station Program from 1994 to 2005, the Constellation Program from 2005 to 2007 and Orion Program from 2007 to 2015.

He also briefly contributed to the Johnson Space Center efforts after leading the Orion project.

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VA Finalizes Rule to Expand Veteran Telehealth Services Nationwide
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VA Finalizes Rule to Expand Veteran Telehealth Services Nationwide


VA Finalizes Rule to Expand Veteran Telehealth Services NationwideThe Department of Veterans Affairs has finalized a rule for VA clinicians to provide medical services to former military personnel with the use of virtual technology.

VA said Friday the Authority of Health Care Providers to Practice Telehealth will override state telehealth laws and licensing restrictions that prevent healthcare providers from delivering care to veterans.

The federal rule is meant to expand veterans’ access to mental healthcare and suicide prevention support virtually.

Robert Wilkie, acting secretrary of the VA, said that implementing the policy is critical to the department’s ‘Anywhere to Anywhere’ initiative.

The White House’s Office of American Innovation and the Justice Department collaborates with the VA to implement the rule.

Providers can use the VA Video Connect application and other telehealth tools to serve patients nationwide, including those who stay in the veteran’s home.

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NASA’s Autonomous Rotorcraft to Launch as Part of Mars 2020 Rover Mission
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NASA’s Autonomous Rotorcraft to Launch as Part of Mars 2020 Rover Mission


NASA’s Autonomous Rotorcraft to Launch as Part of Mars 2020 Rover MissionA small unmanned rotorcraft is set to take off with NASA’s Mars 2020 rover aboard United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket in July 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The agency’s Mars Helicopter is an autonomous aircraft that aims to demonstrate controlled flight on the red planet’s thin atmosphere in support of future Mars exploration missions, NASA said Saturday.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory initiated the aircraft in August 2013 as a technology demonstration project. The rotorcraft has solar cells and a heating platform and will take a 30-day flight test.

“We don’t have a pilot and Earth will be several light minutes away, so there is no way to joystick this mission in real time,” said Mimi Aung, Mars Helicopter project manager at JPL.

“Instead, we have an autonomous capability that will be able to receive and interpret commands from the ground, and then fly the mission on its own,” Aung added.

The Mars 202 rover and the aircraft are expected to arrive at the red planet by February 2021 in order to carry out geological assessments and evaluate natural hazards and resources as well as collect rock and soil samples.

The Mars 2020 Project at JPL oversees rover development work for the science mission directorate, while the agency’s Launch Services Program manages launch management efforts.

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Nuclear Weapons Council OKs NNSA’s Recommendation to Address Plutonium Requirements
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Nuclear Weapons Council OKs NNSA’s Recommendation to Address Plutonium Requirements


Nuclear Weapons Council OKs NNSA's Recommendation to Address Plutonium RequirementsThe Nuclear Weapons Council has validated the National Nuclear Security Administration‘s strategy to help the country meet the Defense Department‘s plutonium requirement of 80 pits per year by 2020.

NNSA recommended to repurpose the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina to generate more plutonium pits, while fully utilizing the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for pit production, Ellen Lord and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a joint statement published Thursday.

They added the “two-prong” approach calls for the MFFF to produce a minimum of 50 pits annually and the LANL to make at least 30.

The approved strategy is a result of collaboration between NNSA and the Defense Department.

Lord serves as the chair of NWC and defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, while Gordon-Hagerty serves as administrator of the NNSA and a member of NWC.

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GSA Signs 15-Year Lease for CBP’s Consolidated IT Office in Virginia
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GSA Signs 15-Year Lease for CBP’s Consolidated IT Office in Virginia


GSA Signs 15-Year Lease for CBP's Consolidated IT Office in VirginiaThe Customs and Border Protection‘s Office of Information of Technology will move to consolidate its 11 separate locations into one facility through a 15-year lease agreement signed by the General Services Administration.

CBP OIT will occupy a 444,595-rentable-square-foot office space at 22001 Loudoun County Parkway in Ashburn, Va., GSA said Thursday.

The facility will also house CBP’s Office of Trade, Border Patrol and Laboratory and Scientific Services Directorate.

“The new lease will reduce its footprint, improve the utilization rate, and save taxpayers approximately $8 million in annual leased cost avoidance versus non-consolidation,” said Chris Wisner, director of portfolio management and real estate at GSA’s Public Buildings Service.

CBP aims to reduce real estate footprint of its IT operations by more than 191,000 RSF.

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