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TSA Proposes New Cybersecurity Rules
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TSA Proposes New Cybersecurity Rules

The Transportation Security Administration has released a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at enhancing cybersecurity strategies for surface transportation owners and operators. 

TSA’s Proposed Cybersecurity Rule Changes

The agency said Wednesday the proposal will mandate cyber risk management and reporting requirements for particular surface transportation operators.

Under the proposal, certain pipeline, freight railroad, passenger railroad and rail transit owners and operators are required to establish and maintain a cyber risk management program. The owners and operators of the surface transportation systems also need to report cybersecurity incidents to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency previously, they were only required to report to the TSA. Finally, each high-risk pipeline owner and operator will designate a physical security coordinator to report physical security issues to the TSA.

Performance-Based Cybersecurity Requirements

TSA will continue leveraging performance-based requirements previously issued in 2021 through the annual Security Directives. The potential rule change utilizes the cybersecurity framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the cross-sector cybersecurity performance objectives of CISA.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske, stated, “TSA has collaborated closely with its industry partners to increase the cybersecurity resilience of the nation’s critical transportation infrastructure. The requirements in the proposed rule seek to build on this collaborative effort and further strengthen the cybersecurity posture of surface transportation stakeholders.”

Register now to join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Homeland Security Summit and learn more about the country’s most significant threats and what’s being done to thwart them.

TSA Proposes New Cybersecurity Rules
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NSA Releases Trusted Platform Module Usage Guidance
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NSA Releases Trusted Platform Module Usage Guidance

The National Security Agency has recommended using the version 2.0 of Trusted Platform Modules, or TPM, on the Department of Defense’s enterprise infrastructure to defend against malicious actors seeking to steal credentials and stored data.

In a TPM usage guidance NSA released on Thursday, the agency highlighted how the TPM security solution, embedded in most enterprise computing systems, protects encryption keys and passwords and verifies the integrity of operating systems and firmware.

“TPM is a vital component to mitigate vulnerabilities affecting user credentials, boot security, and static data,” said Zachary Blum, an NSA analyst of platform security.

TPMs are required for many devices, particularly those used for protecting user credentials and data at rest, across the DOD as required by the DOD Instruction 8500.01 and the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Security Technical Implementation Guides, or STIGs.

The NSA guidance identifies additional use cases in which TPMs can be integrated, including managing assets, auditing the hardware supply chain and monitoring system integrity.

NSA advises DOD components to integrate TPM into their infrastructure for use cases achievable today to further secure DOD missions. According to the agency, more TPM use cases are expected to become requirements in the future as TPM-supporting technologies mature for more complex use cases.

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NCCoE Seeks Comments on Paper About Hospital-at-Home Cyber Risks
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NCCoE Seeks Comments on Paper About Hospital-at-Home Cyber Risks

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is soliciting public comments on the draft version of National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity White Paper 34, titled, “Mitigating Cybersecurity and Privacy Risks in Telehealth Smart Home Integration.”

Hospital-at-Home Deployments

The paper discusses the cybersecurity risks associated with the various telehealth solutions that come with hospital-at-home, or HaH, deployments, the NIST Computer Security Resource Center said Thursday. HaH refers to a form of telehealth that provides patients with care and monitoring at their place of residence with the help of various medical and communication devices, including hospital-grade tools provided by healthcare delivery organizations—or HDOs—and commercial Internet of Things devices provided by patients, which would operate side by side.

Purpose of the Paper

The paper looks into the risk of attackers targeting a patient’s commercial IoT device or network to infiltrate an HDO’s environment. The paper also offers recommendations to address such risks.

Interested parties have until Jan. 6, 2025, to submit comments.

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GSA Urges Agencies to Acquire LEO Satellite Internet Service
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GSA Urges Agencies to Acquire LEO Satellite Internet Service

The General Services Administration is urging government agencies to consider low Earth orbit satellites, noting they are reliable and affordable connectivity solutions.

Recent innovations have made LEO satellites more accessible, Laura Stanton, assistant commissioner at GSA’s Office of Information Technology Category, said in a blog post on Thursday, adding that the service features faster response times and more dependable data exchange.a

Benefits of LEO Satellites

LEO satellites also offer greater scalability and flexibility, which allow agencies to configure the services based on their requirements to ensure uninterrupted operations. In addition, the service’s affordability and accessibility make it a reliable connectivity solution for agencies operating in remote areas.

According to Stanton, government agencies can acquire LEO or software-defined wide-area network services through GSA’s enterprise infrastructure solutions and multiple award schedule IT contract vehicles. With EIS, customers will enjoy a simplified procurement process and potential savings due to aggregated federal buying and increased competition among suppliers​​​.

Meanwhile, agencies will discover more acquisition options through MAS-IT, thanks to its broad offerings of products and services, including managed network services and cloud-based solutions​​​.

Stanton said that the GSA Federal Acquisition can help the agencies select the best solutions that suit their needs. GSA solutions brokers provide technical support for an efficient procurement process​​​​.

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DLA Aviation Presents Annual Operating Plan for FY25
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DLA Aviation Presents Annual Operating Plan for FY25

Leaders of the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation presented their organization’s annual operating plan, or AOP, for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday at Defense Supply Center Richmond in Virginia. Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth, commander of DLA Aviation, said the plan will keep his team accountable and guide future actions. 

“It won’t just be a plan that goes on the shelf … at any time, we can say this is where we stand,” he told DLA Director Lt. Gen. Mark Simerly and other agency officials. 

DLA regularly reviews the AOP of its major subordinate commands.

DLA Aviation’s Workforce Challenges

During the presentation, Martha Tuck, director of procurement process support at DLA Aviation, discussed the command’s strategy to improve recruitment, retention and training of personnel. 

She shared that the overall attrition rate for the MSC in fiscal year 2024 is 10 percent, which seems good, but about 40 percent of the employees who stepped down from their roles were from the contracting field. Tuck also warned that GS-13 employees are also leaving at a higher rate, with some directorates seeing 30 percent attrition at the GS-13 level. 

Agency-Wide Objectives

As part of his presentation, Ellsworth discussed how the Aviation MSC’s plan complies with the objectives and expected timelines for the agency’s recently released 2025-2030 Strategic Plan. The plan is designed to address military logistics challenges across the land, sea, air, space and cyber domains. 

Simerly noted during Tuesday’s meeting in Virginia that cross-function integration is crucial to meet the objectives of the strategic plan and commended Ellsworth for the detailed presentation. 

“Our necessity to think differently, to act differently and to operate differently is embedded in our strategy,” the agency director commented. 

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MDA Seeks Vendors to Support Radar Surveillance System
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MDA Seeks Vendors to Support Radar Surveillance System

The Missile Defense Agency is conducting market research to identify qualified vendors that can support future requirements of the Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance and Control Model-2 system.

The upcoming MDA requirements include development services, which cover software maintenance and upgrades, system hardware modernization, system engineering, and modeling and simulation, according to a Thursday notice posted on SAM.gov.

The AN/TPY-2, a mobile defense radar system designed to detect, track and intercept ballistic missiles, also requires manufacturing support. They include production components, system engineering, integrated logistics, program management, test functions, radar operations and logistics services, and sustainment engineering services.

Interested parties are invited to submit responses that address all or portions of the specified project requirements. MDA’s Ground Sensors Directorate also calls on businesses to provide recommendations on contracting strategies, such as the potential advantages of offering the opportunity exclusively to small businesses.

Submissions of white papers and capability statements will be accepted no later than Jan. 7, 2025.

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Navy Conducts Flight Test With Lockheed, General Atomics
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Navy Conducts Flight Test With Lockheed, General Atomics

The U.S. Navy has conducted a flight test to demonstrate its Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station’s ability to command different types of unmanned aircraft.

The Unmanned Carrier Aviation Program Office—a.k.a. PMA-268—conducted the exercise with Lockheed Martin in California to showcase connectivity between the control station, dubbed UMCS, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-20 Avenger, the Naval Air Systems Command said Thursday.

During the Tuesday test flight, Navy air vehicle pilots at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland controlled the MQ-20 through the UMCS, which enabled beyond-the-line-of-sight connection to unmanned aircraft using a low Earth orbit satellite constellation. The control station also relayed flight control commands and received mission systems data.

Lockheed’s Multi-Domain Combat System powered the UMCS during the demo, which Lt. Steven Wilster, an MQ-25 pilot, described as a significant advancement for unmanned naval aviation. “The team is paving the way for integrating critical unmanned capability across the joint force to combat the high-end threat our warfighters face today and in the future,” he explained.

The exercise is part of ongoing efforts by the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps to develop and advance technologies for their envisioned collaborative combat aircraft platforms.

The flight test data will help PMA-268 to improve the program’s requirements and develop key command and control capabilities. More tests are lined up to demonstrate autonomy, mission systems, crewed-uncrewed teaming and advanced communications.

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NASA, Ohio State to Study In-Space Use of Laser Beam Welding
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NASA, Ohio State to Study In-Space Use of Laser Beam Welding

NASA has partnered with The Ohio State University to enhance in-space manufacturing through laser beam welding.

The agency said Thursday the collaboration aims to boost the capabilities of manufacturing in space with the goal of eventually building large structures and doing repair work on the Moon and possibly paving the way for bringing humans to Mars and beyond.

Laser Beam Welding in Space

The two organizations are working together to better understand how welding works in space, particularly the effects of laser beam welding in low gravity and in a combined vacuum. Researchers are evaluating the effects of simulated space conditions, including temperature and heat transfer in a vacuum, on welding.

A joint team from Ohio State’s Welding Engineering and Multidisciplinary Capstone Programs and Marshall’s Materials & Processes Laboratory was able to perform fiber laser beam welding while onboard a commercial aircraft that simulated reduced gravity and did parabolic flight maneuvers. During the test, researchers managed to complete 69 out of 70 laser welding experiments while floating in microgravity.

Andrew O’Connor, Marshall Space Flight Center materials scientist, said, “The ability to weld structures in space would also eliminate the need to transport rivets and other materials, reducing payloads for space travel.”

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Air Force, Navy Demo Minuteman III ICBM
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Air Force, Navy Demo Minuteman III ICBM

The Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen and Navy aircrew have conducted a demonstration of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile on Nov. 5 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The Air Force said Wednesday the joint team launched an unarmed Minuteman III ICBM from the Airborne Launch Control System, or ALCS. The test launch was conducted to determine the ICBM’s operational capability and the reliability and effectiveness of the ALCS. It was also intended to assess the effectiveness of the United States’ nuclear deterrent in tackling modern threats.

Minuteman III ICBM Test

During the test launch, members of the 625th Strategic Operations Squadron based at Offutt Air Force Base were aboard the U.S. Navy E-6B Mercury. The Minuteman III missile, equipped with multiple targetable re-entry vehicles, traveled approximately 4,200 miles to the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

Reagan Test Site sensors were utilized during the demonstration to collect radar, optical and telemetry data in the terminal phase of flight. The data were then used to assess the system’s performance. Furthermore, the collected data collected will be used by the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and U.S. Strategic Command to evaluate force development.

“These tests are demonstrative of what Striker Airmen bring to the fight if called by the president,” said Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, commander of AFGSC. “An airborne launch validates the survivability of our ICBMs, which serve as the strategic backstop of our nation’s defense and defense of allies and partners.”

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US Army Purchases Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s Solar Drone
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US Army Purchases Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s Solar Drone

The U.S. Army has purchased $20 million worth of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s solar drones after using a small number of the systems in regions like the Philippines and Guam.

The K1000 ultra long-endurance unmanned aircraft system aims to develop aerial tier network extension for communications, electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, Kraus Hamdani Aerospace said in an Oct. 30 statement.  

Fatema Hamdani, CEO and co-founder of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, said, “Over time, we have matured our technology in line with the requirements of the U.S. Army and continue to align the K1000ULE to meet the needs of the warfighter in a dynamically changing environment.”

K1000ULE Details

The K1000ULE reportedly fits inside a standard case and takes operators about 10 minutes to assemble and launch. The aircraft currently lacks landing gear and uses 3D-printed skids that can be switched out after they can no longer operate. 

The aircraft, which features two solar panels on its wings, flew for 75 hours and 53 minutes at Pendleton UAS test range in Oregon, breaking the endurance record for class 2 unmanned aerial systems.

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