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James Mattis Urges Congress to Authorize Extra $30B in Defense Funds for FY 2017
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James Mattis Urges Congress to Authorize Extra $30B in Defense Funds for FY 2017


James Mattis Urges Congress to Authorize Extra $30B in Defense Funds for FY 2017
James Mattis

Defense Secretary James Mattis has urged Congress to approve President Donald Trump’s request for an additional $30 billion to fund defense programs, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Lisa Ferdinando writes Mattis told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee at a meeting held Wednesday the budget request is the first step in a three-part, multi-year effort to increase defense readiness.

Trump requested for $24.9 billion in supplementary military spending and another $5 billion to finance overseas contingency operations for the remainder of fiscal 2017.

“We base this request on a realistic appreciation of the capacity we need to fight and win on the battlefield,” said Mattis, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017.

He added that Congress can help the Defense Department build a “more lethal” force through the approval of additional funds and regular budgets.

Mattis told the subcommittee that global security challenges require DoD to maintain a secure nuclear deterrent and a force that can counter all threats, DoD News stated.

He testified at the defense budget and readiness hearing with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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DHS S&T Develops Training System to Aid TSA Airport Screening
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DHS S&T Develops Training System to Aid TSA Airport Screening


DHS S&T Develops Training System to Aid TSA Airport ScreeningThe Office for Public Safety Research within the Department of Homeland Security‘s Science and Technology Directorate has built a training system designed to help Transportation Security Administration personnel conduct airport screening tasks.

DHS said Wednesday the ScreenADAPT X-ray image analysis training system uses visual search research and eye-tracking technology to assess TSA officers’ visual search performance.

ScreenADAPT is built with an eye-tracking tool that works to help TSA trainers and trainees analyze if potential errors were made during bag screening as well as record trainees’ performance metrics and compare results with their peers.

DHS added the system offers diagnostic metrics on TSO performance to evaluate trainers’ and trainees’ needs.

“The different types of training address the corresponding root causes of the errors and assist in building each TSO’s mental threat image library,” said Darren Wilson, ScreenADAPT program manager at OPS-R.

TSA deployed fifty ScreenADAPT systems at airports located in Houston, Las Vegas, New York, Pittsburgh, Portland and Raleigh in an effort to assess the effectiveness of the training support tool.

Preliminary data from the assessment showed that ScreenADAPT helped increase efficiency at the research airports by approximately 45 percent, DHS noted.

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Joseph Shepard Returns to SBA as Investment & Innovation Office Associate Chief
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Joseph Shepard Returns to SBA as Investment & Innovation Office Associate Chief


Joseph Shepard Returns to SBA as Investment & Innovation Office Associate ChiefJoseph Shepard, formerly president and managing partner at investment banking services provider Archway Capital Management, has rejoined the Small Business Administration  as associate administrator for the office of investment and innovation.

Shepard’s “previous public sector experience at SBA overseeing the [Small Business Investment Company] program, as well as his private sector experience as a subordinated debt lender and private equity investor in small businesses, is the perfect fit required for this critical lending, investment and oversight position,” SBA Administrator Linda McMahon said in a statement released Wednesday.

In his new role, Shepard will oversee licensing and assessment operations for SBIC, regulatory compliance monitoring, investment policies, recovery of taxpayer capital and divestment of portfolio firms under failed SBICs.

The 20-year investment professional previously served as head of SBA’s office of investment and SBIC program and chair of the agency’s investment committee in which he led the review and selection of new private equity funds and investment managers.

Prior to Archway Capital, he worked as a director at Bank One Capital Markets, which is now part of JP Morgan Chase, and as an investment banker at Principal Financial Securities, now Wells Fargo Securities.

Shepard is a former investment analyst at Texas Capital Firm and a management consultant at KPMG.

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Army Creates Force Modernization Plan for 2020-2040 Time Frame
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Army Creates Force Modernization Plan for 2020-2040 Time Frame


Army Creates Force Modernization Plan for 2020-2040 Time FrameThe U.S. Army expects to release this summer a maneuver force modernization strategy that describes what the military branch’s warfighters should do to counter potential threats between 2020 and 2040.

The service branch said Tuesday it used data from the Army Training and Doctrine Command’s study on Russia’s utilization of artillery, electronic warfare and unmanned aerial systems to develop the strategy’s underlying maneuver concept.

The Army aims to build next-generation combat vehicles as part of its modernization plan to help address logistics challenges on the execution of missions in contested environments for extended periods.

The branch also looks to acquire a set of light infantry vehicles that offer the same amount of firepower and mobility from ground mobility vehicles and light reconnaissance vehicles.

The strategy also calls for Army soldiers to adopt technologies to manage air, cyber, land, maritime and space systems when they perform missions in contested environments.

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Ryan Dean Newman to Be Nominated Army General Counsel
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Ryan Dean Newman to Be Nominated Army General Counsel


Ryan Dean Newman to Be Nominated Army General CounselRyan Dean Newman, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department‘s legal policy office, will be nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as general counsel at the Department of the Army, the White House announced Monday.

He previously served in the U.S. Army as a captain and received a Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Newman’s legal career in the public sector also includes service as chief counsel to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and a law clerk at the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and the District Court for the District of Columbia.

He also worked as a lawyer at law firm Jones Day.

CSIS’ Mark Cancian: DoD Should Stop ‘Auxiliary Activities’ to Reduce Spending
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CSIS’ Mark Cancian: DoD Should Stop ‘Auxiliary Activities’ to Reduce Spending


CSIS’ Mark Cancian: DoD Should Stop ‘Auxiliary Activities’ to Reduce SpendingMark Cancian, a former budget manager at the White House, has said the Defense Department should put an end to its “auxiliary activities” and instead focus on how to meet its combat requirements, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

David Thornton writes Cancian, who is now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, made the suggestion as DoD is set to get a 10 percent or $52 billion funding increase under President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2018.

Cancian told Federal Drive host Tom Temin in an interview that one of those “auxiliary activities” is operating a school system in the U.S.

“Everyone agrees that for overseas bases, you need American schools, but in the U.S., the need for these schools has long faded,” he said.

Cancian also cited other initiatives that DoD should get away from in order to reduce spending and those include medical studies that are not related to warfighting, commissaries and exchanges, as well as facilities maintenance, public relations and other commercial-type activities.

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Mike Pence: White House to Relaunch National Space Council
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Mike Pence: White House to Relaunch National Space Council


Mike Pence: White House to Relaunch National Space CouncilU.S. Vice President Mike Pence has said President Donald Trump will issue an executive order to revive the National Space Council, Space News reported Tuesday.

Jeff Foust writes Pence said Monday at a ceremony for the presidential signing of a NASA authorization bill that Trump asked him to chair the space council that last operated under the George H.W. Bush administration.

Trump signed the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 into law to fund the space agency’s deep-space human exploration, science, technology and aeronautics programs.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) said the White House will need time to select members for the National Space Council.

Bridenstine added the interagency council, if relaunched, could help the government address issues such as the transfer of space situational awareness responsibilities from the U.S. Air Force to a civilian agency; use of commercial weather satellite data to support government systems; and the creation of an “America first” space launch policy, according to the report.

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President Trump Signs Bill to Fund NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Programs
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President Trump Signs Bill to Fund NASA’s Deep Space Exploration Programs


President Trump Signs Bill to Fund NASA's Deep Space Exploration ProgramsPresident Donald Trump has signed into law a bill that authorizes funding for NASA’s deep-space exploration and discovery missions in the 2017 budget cycle.

The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 requires the space agency to develop and implement a deep space human exploration plan and invest in science, technology and aeronautics programs, the White House said Monday.

The bill also seeks to ensure that astronauts who participate in space exploration missions will have access to healthcare services.

Congress’ passage of the legislation represents the first comprehensive NASA authorization approved in the last six years.

“NASA would like to thank President Trump for his unwavering support of the agency and express our gratitude to a bipartisan Congress for its thoughtful consideration of NASA’s future,” said Robert Lightfoot, acting NASA administrator.

Lightfoot added the agency “stands ready to meet the challenge of pioneering new frontiers in space.”

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NASA Develops Folding Robot for Rugged Terrains
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NASA Develops Folding Robot for Rugged Terrains


NASA Develops Folding Robot for Rugged TerrainsNASA has developed an origami-inspired robot designed to fold itself and explore rugged areas deemed “too risky” for rovers.

The agency said Tuesday the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot has been tested in various terrains such as the Mojave Desert in California, a ski resort in Colorado and an active volcano in Antartica.

The solar-powered PUFFER robot works to fold its two wheels over the main body to crawl into spaces where rovers cannot fit, NASA added.

PUFFER’s developers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory aim to launch the robot for planetary expeditions such as the Mars mission.

“If Curiosity had a stack of PUFFERs on board, each of them could go to separate spots, and the rover would just go to the most interesting one,” said Kalind Carpenter, a robotics engineer at JPL.

JPL scientists look to add various instruments into PUFFER which could allow the robot to sample water for organic material as well as study the chemical composition of its environment.

PUFFER could also become as large as a breadbox and feature smart technology such as autonomy, NASA said.

JPL manages PUFFER as part of NASA’s Game Changing Development program which aims to explore ideas and approaches that could address technological issues and support future space missions

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Navy Updates Tomahawk Weapons Control System for Surface, Subsurface Platforms
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Navy Updates Tomahawk Weapons Control System for Surface, Subsurface Platforms


Navy Updates Tomahawk Weapons Control System for Surface, Subsurface PlatformsThe U.S. Navy has added an updated a Lockheed Martin-built weapons control system to the service branch’s fleet that includes Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and nuclear powered cruise missile submarines.

The Tomahawk Weapons System Program Office, designated as PMA-280, updated the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System‘s processors and software in an effort to avoid hardware obsolescence as well as secure and simplify the user interface of the system, the Navy said Tuesday.

TTWCS is designed to retarget and redirect missiles in flight and compute missile routes to direct units towards its intended target to offer offensive strike firepower for the Navy’s combatant ships .

Lt. Cmdr. Paul Rotsch, co-lead for the Weapons Control System program, said the PMA-280 team updated the system’s interface in a move to streamline workflows and address potential human error.

The Navy noted that it will also incorporate TTWCS hardware upgrades on the branch’s ships and nuclear powered cruise missile submarines.

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