The Defense Department is halfway through a cross-government review of the national security industrial base and expects working groups to come up with draft recommendations this month, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

An administration official said Peter Navarro, a White House adviser, and his staff will analyze, synthesize and assemble those recommendations into a report that is slated for submission to the president by April.

DoD’s office of manufacturing and industrial base policy led by deputy assistant secretary Eric Chewning and principal deputy chief Jerry McGinn oversees the review in collaboration with the departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Interior and other federal agencies.

The official noted that the industrial base review will cover vaccine production, shipbuilding, strategic minerals, microchips and the U.S. workforce.

The review is part of an executive order Trump signed in July that seeks to evaluate the U.S. manufacturers’ capacity to support the defense industrial base and assess the availability of skilled labor to keep factories running.

The U.S. Navy has decided to deploy Littoral Combat Ships and Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport vessels instead of reactivating Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates to support U.S. Southern Command operations, USNI News reported Monday.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer asked Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, to send at least four LCS and T-EPF units to aid anti-trafficking missions of Southcom’s Joint Interagency Task Force South in 2018.

Spencer wrote the request in an internal memo obtained by USNI News.

“We discussed the idea of reactivating FFG-7 ships, but the process of evaluating alternatives identified better solutions using LCS and T-EPF ships,” Spencer noted.

SOUTHCOM conducts monitoring and armed support operations to stop illegal trade in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

The U.S. Army has announced the deployment of the second Security Force Assistance Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina scheduled for January 2018.

The particular SFAB is the second out of six specialized units trained to take part in advise-and-assist operations with allied forces and nations, the Army said Friday.

“It is my assessment, and the assessment of the secretary and the assessment of the Army staff, that we are likely to be involved in train, advise, and assist operations for many years to come,” said Gen. Mark Milley, chief of staff of the Army.

Fort Bragg was selected as the SFAB’s location due to the area’s open schedule for training, composition of qualified personnel and facility costs.

SFABs consist of 800 Army officers who are experienced in training and advising foreign military and security forces; and are trained to operate through the brigade combat team model.

SFAB soldiers undergo Military Advisor Training Academy programs to polish skills and knowledge in language, foreign weapons and joint fire observation; and will be armed with the most advanced military equipment available.

Army officials have begun developing policies for SFAB soldiers to receive promotion rates and boards, selection boards and special pay.

The Government Accountability Office has urged the Defense Department to establish priorities among objectives under the European Reassurance Initiative and provide comprehensive estimates of ERI sustainment costs.

GAO said in a report published Friday that DoD has not evaluated ERI initiatives against missions funded under the department’s base budget, which could lead to a lack of understanding of the relative importance of ERI activities that are financed using overseas contingency operations funds.

The U.S. government launched ERI in 2014 to show commitment to the security of European allies following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

DoD has extended ERI objectives from short-term support for allies and partners to the long-term deterrence of Russian aggression, and the department will have requested a total of about $4.5 billion for ERI’s posture enhancements through the end of fiscal year 2017, GAO noted.

The congressional watchdog also found that the U.S. European Command and military services have yet to fully estimate the long-term costs of equipment maintenance and construction under ERI.

The lack of comprehensive sustainment cost estimates limits DoD’s capacity to evaluate affordability and plan for future spending, GAO reported.

DoD also restricts Congress’ view into resources needed to achieve ERI objectives because the department’s ERI budget request does not include future costs, the report said.

GAO recommended DoD to prioritize ERI posture initiatives against base budget initiatives; create cost estimates for sustainment initiatives; and inform Congress on future costs.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has established a new office in San Francisco, California, as part of an effort to hire professionals who possess skills in the science, technology, engineering and math fields, Nextgov reported Friday.

The Outpost Silicon Valley office will support three new recruitment initiatives under NGA’s Data-Enabled Workforce strategy, which is designed to address the agency’s human capital gap.

Andy Brooks, chief data scientist at NGA, said at a Nextgov-sponsored event that NGA plans to recruit up to 100 full-time data scientists and analysts through the Data Corps initiative “to solve the big data problems within the agency.”

The strategy also includes the Developer Corps program that seeks to form an in-house software development team comprised of up to 200 full-time software engineers, developers and coders.

NGA also launched the Explorer program to hire about 50 technically-skilled individuals for one- to three-year terms.

“Explorers” will be assigned to various projects across NGA based on skillset and interests, and they may work on unclassified projects remotely if they pass an initial security vetting, the report noted.

Anthony Vinci, associate director for capabilities at NGA, said the agency is considering expansions into other technology hubs such as Austin, Boston and New York City.