A facility that aims to strengthen cybersecurity at the Department of Health and Human Services has recently opened as part of October’s National Cybersecurity Awareness month and the Trump administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy.

HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan said the department dedicated the Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center in a formal ceremony on Monday, HHS said Tuesday.

Hargan said HC3 was established to help Americans secure their healthcare data and provide cybersecurity support within the healthcare and public health sector.

“We believe that when a risk is shared across sectors, the only way to manage that risk successfully is to manage it collectively,” noted Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications at Department of Homeland Security.
 

The Defense Information Systems Agency has hosted an outreach event to help small businesses navigate through the federal government’s personnel and facility clearance procedures.

DISA said Tuesday it and the Defense Security Service unveiled their processes for clearing industry employees.

Ivory Lawrence, a personnel security specialist from the DSS’ Vetting Risk Operations Center, explained before nearly 50 small business representatives that VROC follows interim eligibility standards when authorizing access to classified information.

He added that VROC takes 18 months to complete initial secret clearances and 15 months for top-secret investigations.

Representatives from the DSS also informed the event’s participants about how it sets requirements, roles and systems for distributing facility clearances cited in the National Industry Security Program Operating Manual, which guides contractors in obtaining access to classified data.

Carlen Capenos, director of DISA’s Office of Small Business Programs, said most agencies will require firms to accomplish a FCL to propose on task orders, even if they have already won a contract without one.

“Every contracting officer makes the determination of what will be required for a particular contract,” Capenos noted.

DISA administered the informational event at its headquarters in Fort George G. Meade. Md.

The Defense Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have released the aggregate amount of congressional appropriations for their respective intelligence initiatives in fiscal year 2018.

DoD said Tuesday the total budget allocated for the department’s Military Intelligence Program reached $22.1B in FY 2018, including base and overseas contingency operations funds.

ODNI disclosed in a separate release that Congress earmarked $59.4B in total funds for the National Intelligence Program in FY 2018.

DoD sought a topline budget of $20.7B for MIP in FY 2018, while ODNI requested $57.7B in the last fiscal year for NIP.
 

The Department of Homeland Security hosted an industry stakeholder summit in August to identify capability gaps and discuss the development of new technology platforms for first responders.

DHS’ science and technology directorate collaborated with the International Forum to Advance First Responder Innovation to conduct the inaugural event, the department said Tuesday.

More than 250 industry, academic, government stakeholders attended the North American IFAFRI summit to discuss the technology requirements of at least 7.5M first responders worldwide. 

Those requirements include the capability to locate responders and determine their proximity to hazards and risks; detection of contaminants and hazardous agents; ability to integrate data from multiple sources into incident command operations; and real-time analysis and monitoring of active and passive threats at incident scenes.

Speakers at the summit include Andre Hentz, acting deputy undersecretary at DHS S&T directorate; Colin Murray, S&T’s senior adviser from the Canadian Exchange; and Aymeric Dupont, counselor from the delegation of the European Union to the U.S.
 

The Energy Department seeks public feedback on its plan to leverage its designation authority to share critical electric infrastructure information under the Federal Power Act.

The authorization will help the DOE inform stakeholders and the public about how it would disseminate and protect non-classified security information about bulk-power system components linked to national and economic security and public health or safety, among other things, the department said Monday.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry noted that the proposed CEII rule will help protect America’s energy infrastructure and sustain energy flow for communities and businesses in the U.S.

The plan will also provides the DOE a standard for labeling information and marking protocols for physical and electronic materials as CEII.

Additionally, the proposed rule seeks to integrate DOE’s CEII designation process with the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission’s existing rules for its CEII authority.

DOE will accept responses to its notice of proposed rulemaking until Dec. 31.