The Federal Aviation Administration has released more than 200 facility maps that provide information on areas and altitudes near airports where operators can fly their unmanned aerial systems.

FAA said Thursday the facility maps are designed to help drone operators boost the quality of their Part 107 airspace authorization requests and help the agency simplify commercial drone authorization process.

The agency offered a preview into the maps on April 10 as part of efforts to help users align requests for small UAS operations with approved locations and altitudes.

Air traffic personnel will utilize the maps to manage Part 107 airspace authorization requests and FAA said it will add new maps every 56 days through the end of the year.

Requests for operations on altitudes that exceed the limits depicted on the maps will require additional safety analysis and coordination with FAA prior to the approval of such applications, the agency added.

The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology directorate, Customs and Border Protection agency and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center have created a new tool that will support impostor detection training efforts.

DHS said Thursday that the alliance has developed the Eye-dentify system, a new component for the ScreenADAPT visual search training platform, designed to help instructors detect an agent’s eye movements and determine a trainee’s eye patterns when conducting ID and face analysis tasks.

Michael Shekot, branch chief of the CBP Officer Basic Training group, said that eye-tracking technologies help boost visual search patterns previously unavailable using traditional methods.

He added that platforms such as the Eye-dentify systems helps offer feedback on trainee performance and mitigate the root causes of current training challenges.

CBP has used the Eye-dentify platform for new-hire training classes conducted at FLETC. DHS noted that the agency also plans to utilize the platform for other tasks such as pre-assault and suspicious behavior detection.

“We want to continue to engage even more stakeholders across the Homeland Security Enterprise and get the technology to our font-line agents and officers that will benefit the most from advanced, innovative and adaptive training,” said Darren Wilson, program manager at DHS S&T’s First Responders Group.

The Senate voted 60-38 Thursday to confirm Alexander Acosta, former member of the National Labor Relations Board, as secretary of the Labor Department, The Hill reported Thursday.

Tim Devaney writes Acosta is expected to deal with the fiduciary rule, policy to raise the overtime threshold and other labor regulations proposed during the Obama administration.

Acosta previously held government positions that require Senate confirmation such as head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney in Florida.

He received Senate confirmation two months after President Donald Trump nominated him for the DOL post.

Acosta is current dean of the Florida International University’s law school and former chairman of the U.S. Century Bank in Florida.

President Donald Trump will issue an executive order to establish an accountability and whistleblower protection office at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Military Times reported Wednesday.

Leo Shane III writes Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin told reporters the VA’s future Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection could help accelerate the termination of underperforming employees and reduce corporate staff across the department.

Shulkin added the office will review existing regulations on the dismissal of federal employees and recommend new legislation on VA employment rules.

VA also intends for the office to preserve whistleblower rights and investigate reports of retaliation, Shane reported.

The report said President Trump will also order the formation of a task force to examine any wasteful and fraudulent activities at VA, review its national footprint and examine if current department services are duplicative, according to the report.

NASA is planning a joint mission with the European Space Agency to study potential signs of life on Jupiter’s Europa moon, New Scientist reported Monday.

Andy Coghlan writes Michel Blanc, a scientist at France’s Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology, said at the annual European Geosciences Union meeting that the Joint Europa Mission could be deployed in mid-2020s for a more than six-year expedition.

Blanc added an orbiter craft will deliver a lander on Europa’s surface to sample and screen material for biosignatures and the orbiter will subsequently take laser, magnetic and seismic measurements of Jupiter over a three-month period.

The orbiter would crash into Europa after gathering data on the composition of the moon’s atmosphere to identify potential life-related gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen, Coghan reported.

NASA plans to design the lander and collaborate with ESA to build other mission components, according to Blanc.