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Report: DoD Says Contractors Must Have ‘System Security Plans’ by Year’s End
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Report: DoD Says Contractors Must Have ‘System Security Plans’ by Year’s End


Report: DoD Says Contractors Must Have ‘System Security Plans’ by Year’s EndA spokesman for the Defense Department has said defense contractors must have “system security plans” in place by Dec. 31 to comply with the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s federal data protection regulations, Defense One reported Wednesday.

“We are not delaying the deadline,” the DoD spokesman said in an email statement to the publication.

“Contractors must document the state of their information system in a ‘system security plan’ and document how and when they will implement any ‘not yet implemented’ requirements in associated plans of action,” the spokesman added.

NIST’s Special Publication 800-171 requires contractors to protect controlled unclassified data stored and processed in nonfederal information systems as well as comply with 110 security controls.

Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, also reiterated at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that companies should have that plan by the end of this year.

“We said that clearly the only requirement for this year is to lay out what your plan is,” Lord said during the Dec. 7 hearing.

This story was originally published on December 15, 2017. 

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DoD IG Evaluates Quality Mgmt Practices at EELV Contractor Production Facilities
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DoD IG Evaluates Quality Mgmt Practices at EELV Contractor Production Facilities


DoD IG Evaluates Quality Mgmt Practices at EELV Contractor Production FacilitiesThe Defense Department‘s Office of Inspector General has called for a root cause analysis and implementation of corrective measures to address contractor nonconformities identified during a review of quality management practices under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.

DoD OIG made the recommendation to the heads of the EELV System Program Office and the Defense Contract Management Agency in a report published Dec. 20.

The OIG said it discovered a total of 181 nonconformities with the Aerospace Standard 9100C at multiple production facilities operated by EELV contractors.

The department’s EELV System Program Office procures launch services from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to launch U.S. military and intelligence space vehicles.

Aerojet Rocketdyne provides the RL-10 engine that ULA uses on the latter’s Delta IV and Atlas V rockets.

DoD OIG asked EELV SPO and DCMA leaders to develop a corrective action plan meant to help all three companies comply with AS9100C requirements.

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Kenneth Pirman to Retire From DLA at End of Year
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Kenneth Pirman to Retire From DLA at End of Year


Kenneth Pirman to Retire From DLA at End of YearKenneth Pirman, director of the Defense Logistics Agency‘s distribution unit in Sasebo, Japan, is due to retire from his position by the end of 2017.

With his retirement, Pirman concludes 41 years of combined service with the U.S. military and federal government, DLA said Thursday.

He joined the agency in 2000 as a transportation officer for the distribution unit in Corpus Christi, Texas and elevated to the role of operations manager three years later.

Before that, he served as a contractor at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio from 1998 to 2000.

Pirman contributed traffic management work during his tenure as a U.S. Air Force master sergeant between 1974 and 1998.

His DLA career also includes time as deputy commander and transportation and receiving director at DLA Distribution Yokosuka.

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Steve Jurczyk: NASA Open to Potential Use of Suborbital Vehicles in Human Spaceflight
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Steve Jurczyk: NASA Open to Potential Use of Suborbital Vehicles in Human Spaceflight


Steve Jurczyk: NASA Open to Potential Use of Suborbital Vehicles in Human Spaceflight
Steve Jurczyk

Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for space technology at NASA, has said the agency is open to the possibility of permitting researchers to fly aboard commercial suborbital spacecraft to conduct experiments as part of the Flight Opportunities program, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

“As principal investigators propose, both internal to NASA and external, we’ll do the same kind of process that we do with Zero G,” he told the publication in a Dec. 19 interview after his speech at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Colorado.

Zero G is a company that operates a Federal Aviation Administration-regulated Boeing 727 aircraft to provide parabolic flights to researchers and their experiments through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

Jurczyk noted that NASA is willing to consider developing a process for the evaluation of suborbital vehicles that could potentially be used to transport researchers and experiments funded under the program.

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Congress-Approved Bill Seeks to Make Federal Websites Accessible on Mobile Tech
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Congress-Approved Bill Seeks to Make Federal Websites Accessible on Mobile Tech


Congress-Approved Bill Seeks to Make Federal Websites Accessible on Mobile TechCongress has passed a bill that would mandate federal agencies to make all public-facing government websites accessible through the use of mobile devices.

The Connected Government Act was approved by senators five weeks after the legislation was cleared by House lawmakers, according to an article published Friday on Rep. Robin Kelly’s (D-Illinois) website.

“We have a responsibility to keep pace with technological innovation and make it easy for citizens to engage with their government,” said Kelly, the bill’s sponsor.

She added the bill aims to increase the online government service accessibility for people in urban, suburban and rural locations across the U.S.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation found during a study that more than 40 percent of agency websites, such as federal student aid application and government contract bidding portals, are not designed as “mobile-friendly.”

The Congressional Budget Office reported that the bill, which awaits the president’s signature, will not have a significant impact on taxpayers.

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4-Week Stopgap Funding Bill Allocates $4B for Missile Defense Programs
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4-Week Stopgap Funding Bill Allocates $4B for Missile Defense Programs


4-Week Stopgap Funding Bill Allocates $4B for Missile Defense ProgramsPresident Donald Trump on Friday signed another continuing resolution to keep federal agencies operational through Jan. 19 at current spending levels, Military.com reported Friday.

Trump approved the four-week government funding extension a day after Congress passed the measure to avert another government shutdown.

The new CR provides $4 billion in funds for the Defense Department’s missile defense initiatives that include $200 million for the construction of a new missile base in Alaska.

The measure also sets aside $2.1 billion for the Veterans Choice Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs and another $674 million for repair work on the U.S. Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers – USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain.

Defense One also reported that the $4 billion in funds for missile defense projects seek to help the Pentagon counter North Korea’s ballistic missile threat and appear to support the emergency budget request that DoD issued in November.

The Pentagon’s November request includes $884 million in funds for the U.S. Army to procure 147 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors and fund updates to ATACMS missiles and Patriot launchers.

The emergency spending request also covers $256 million in funds for the U.S. Air Force’s research and development work; $60 million for the Navy’s “classified programs” R&D efforts; and $1.2 billion for the Missile Defense Agency’s 50 more THAAD interceptors and 16 additional SM-3 interceptors.

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Marines Conduct 12-day Airfield Construction Exercise
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Marines Conduct 12-day Airfield Construction Exercise


Marines Conduct 12-day Airfield Construction ExerciseTroops from Marine Air Control Squadron 4 and other marine groups have gathered in Okinawa Dec. 4 to participate in a 12-day exercise on airfield construction.

The Voodoo Magic exercise trained marines’ skills in operating without an airfield and taking over an already established airfield, the Defense Department said Friday.

Teams of six to eight marines underwent 72-hour exercises wherein they helped construct a runway for aircraft can refuel.

“In all the prerequisites and everything required of them, MACS-4 accomplished everything,” said Lt. Chris Danforth, air traffic control officer at the U.S. Marine Corps.

The exercise marks MACS-4’s first assessment under the Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation.

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Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden Assigned as Deputy Commander for Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan
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Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden Assigned as Deputy Commander for Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan


Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden Assigned as Deputy Commander for Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan
Patrick Burden

Brig. Gen. Patrick Burden, formerly program executive officer for U.S. Army enterprise information systems, will transition to a new role as deputy commander for the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, the Defense Department announced Friday.

The service branch assigned Burden to the position as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, a U.S.-backed coalition effort to increase stability and security across Afghanistan.

OFS falls under NATO’s Resolute Support Mission and works to train, advise and assist Afghan forces in support of counterterrorism efforts against Al-Qaeda remnants.

Burden joined the military in 1987 and was initially assigned to Army Field Artillery.

He served as deputy PEO for ammunition and senior commander at Picatinny Arsenal before he took on the PEO EIS position, as well as previously held multiple acquisition roles within the Army.

Burden holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Alabama A&M University and a master’s degree in management information systems from Florida Institute of Technology.

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Report: Trump Administration Halts Defense Industrial Base Survey Plans
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Report: Trump Administration Halts Defense Industrial Base Survey Plans


Report: Trump Administration Halts Defense Industrial Base Survey PlansThe Trump administration has halted plans to survey multiple U.S. contractors that would have been part of a broader defense industrial base review, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The report said the U.S. government now intends to use information that federal agencies already gather instead of seeking proprietary data from defense companies to identify market gaps and weaknesses.

Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesperson, was quoted as saying by Defense News that the poll may still occur under the second phase of the cross-government data collection initiative.

The decision stems from the challenge of drafting a non-invasive questionnaire and obtaining approval from the Office of Management and Budget, the report noted.

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GAO: Navy Columbia-Class Submarine Tech Requires Additional Development & Tests
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GAO: Navy Columbia-Class Submarine Tech Requires Additional Development & Tests


GAO: Navy Columbia-Class Submarine Tech Requires Additional Development & TestsThe Government Accountability Office has said the U.S. Navy needs to perform additional development and test activities to validate the maturity of multiple technologies on the future Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines.

Components that require further development and tests include the integrated power system, nuclear reactor, common missile compartment, propulsor and related coordinated stern systems, GAO said in a report issued Thursday.

According to the report, it is unclear whether the technologies will operate as intended, face delays or necessitate more costs than planned.

GAO added that unexpected delays could push the deployment of the first Columbia-class submarine past the 2031 target date.

The Navy plans to build 12 Columbia-class submarines to replace 14 Ohio-class vessels, which currently serve as the sea-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad and will retire starting 2027.

The report revealed that the Navy did not classify the underdeveloped technologies as critical in the service branch’s 2015 Technology Readiness Assessment.

GAO noted that the failure to identify the technologies as critical may limit Congress’ view into the program’s technology risks and their potential impact on cost, schedule and performance goals.

Congress does not require the Navy to deliver progress reports on the program until fiscal year 2020, when lawmakers are scheduled to authorize $8.7 billion for the lead submarine construction.

GAO said regular reports on technology development activities could inform decision makers on remaining technical risks as the Navy requests for increased funding levels.

The government watchdog initially recommended additional reports on the Columbia-class program, but removed the suggestion because of a new law that implements the requirement.

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