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Romania’s Air Force Gets Certification to Refuel From US Tankers
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Romania’s Air Force Gets Certification to Refuel From US Tankers


Romania's Air Force Gets Certification to Refuel From US TankersRomania’s air force has obtained certification to receive fuel from U.S. tankers through an air-to-air refueling mission between the European country’s F-16 Fighting Falcon and the U.S. Air Force‘s KC-135 Stratotanker.

USAF said its 100th Air Refueling Wing sent 14 personnel and a KC-135 tanker to Romania for a five-day training operation and a refueling mission held Feb. 28.

The service branch said Romania had to undergo familiarization training and certification to refuel from a U.S. tanker and advance their NATO integration.

Lee Adkins, superintendent of the 351st Air Refueling Squadron, said the event builds on the interoperability efforts between the U.S. and Romania and shows continued cooperation with partner nations in Europe.

Romania began its F-16 program in 2016 and has previously refueled from an Italian Airbus A330 aircraft.

The 100th ARW is based in England and is the only U.S. air refueling unit in the European and African theater.

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David Shulkin: VA Should Focus on Commercial Software Adoption
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David Shulkin: VA Should Focus on Commercial Software Adoption


David Shulkin: VA Should Focus on Commercial Software Adoption
David Shulkin

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has said that VA should focus on the adoption of “commercially tested” software platforms for use in acquisitions, electronic health records and other business processes, FCW reported Friday.

Shulkin, who received Senate confirmation in February, made the remarks Tuesday at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Adam Mazmanian wrote.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that VA building its own software products and doing its own software dev inside is not a good way to pursue this,” he said.

“We should focus on the things veterans need us to focus on and work with companies that know how to do [IT systems] better than we do,” Shulkin added.

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ITIF: 92% of Top Federal Websites Fail to Meet Security, Speed, Accessibility Standards
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ITIF: 92% of Top Federal Websites Fail to Meet Security, Speed, Accessibility Standards

ITIF: 92% of Top Federal Websites Fail to Meet Security, Speed, Accessibility StandardsA new study from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation says 92 percent of the U.S. federal government’s most popular websites do not meet basic standards for security, speed, mobile friendliness or accessibility.

ITIF said Wednesday it analyzed 297 U.S. government websites in the top 1 million websites worldwide and assessed them on criteria such as security, speed, mobile friendliness and accessibility.

“Considering that many constituents rely on federal websites to interact with government, it is incumbent upon the new administration, supported by Congress, to make websites more convenient, accessible, and secure,” said Alan McQuinn, an ITIF research analyst.

The foundation identified healthdata.gov, healthfinder.gov, consumerfinance.gov, whitehouse.gov and usembassy.gov as the top five highest-performing websites under the current administration.

ITIF’s report also ranked usphs.gov, fmc.gov, osti.gov, trade.gov and ipcc-wg2.gov as the lowest performing websites among those studied.

Ninety-two percent of the reviewed websites failed in at least one of four categories while 33 percent failed the test for Secure Sockets Layer certificates, ITIF said.

SSL is a standard technology for encrypted internet communications that executive branch websites are required to use.

The study revealed that 14 percent of surveyed websites lacked SSL certificates while 19 percent had SSL but failed the test due to substandard implementation.

Websites of the Defense Department, International Trade Administration and U.S. Courts are among those that failed the test for SSL certificates.

Ten percent of federal websites failed to deploy a set of protocols called Domain Name System Security and used to secure domain name system lookup and exchange processes.

ITIF also found that 22 percent of websites failed the speed test for desktops; 64 percent failed the mobile device speed test; 41 percent were not mobile-friendly; and 42 percent were not accessible for users with disabilities.

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GAO: Defense Agencies’ Spending on Contracts Dropped 32% in Fiscal 2015
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GAO: Defense Agencies’ Spending on Contracts Dropped 32% in Fiscal 2015


GAO: Defense Agencies’ Spending on Contracts Dropped 32% in Fiscal 2015The Government Accountability Office has analyzed governmentwide contracting data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation database and found that spending on contracts at defense agencies declined by about 32 percent from $399 billion in fiscal year 2011 to $274 billion in FY 2015.

GAO said in a report released Thursday that civilian agencies’ spending on goods and services obligated through contracts stayed stable over five years, while the percentage of obligations for competitive contracts remained steady at approximately 64 percent.

The report showed that agencies allocated at least $430 billion on contracts for products and services in FY 2015, a figure that accounts for nearly 40 percent of the total discretionary spending.

The congressional budget watchdog also found that the use of fixed-price contracts by federal agencies stayed stable at 63 percent between FY 2011 and FY 2015.

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Robert Lightfoot: NASA Authorization Bill Supports Continuity for Space Programs
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Robert Lightfoot: NASA Authorization Bill Supports Continuity for Space Programs


Robert Lightfoot: NASA Authorization Bill Supports Continuity for Space Programs
Robert Lightfoot

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot has said a new NASA authorization bill passed by the House and Senate seeks to facilitate continuity for the agency’s space programs amid the budget uncertainty, Space News reported Thursday.

Jeff Foust writes the proposed measure is the first NASA authorization legislation that Congress approved since 2010 and aims to advance human spaceflight missions to Mars.

Lightfoot said Wednesday at the American Astronautical Society’s Goddard Memorial Symposium that the bill includes a provision that would create a healthcare monitoring initiative for former astronauts.

He said the long-term medical monitoring is associated with an “ethical framework” for issues related to human deep space missions that the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine developed for NASA.

Lightfoot noted that he collaborates with Erik Noble, a senior White House adviser, to facilitate the integration of NASA’s plans with the Trump administration’s policies.

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Maj. Gen. David Thompson: Air Force Eyes Commercial Contractors to Operate Satellite Constellations
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Maj. Gen. David Thompson: Air Force Eyes Commercial Contractors to Operate Satellite Constellations


Maj. Gen. David Thompson: Air Force Eyes Commercial Contractors to Operate Satellite ConstellationsMaj. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of the Air Force Space Command, has said the Air Force plans to tap commercial contractors to operate its satellite constellations on a daily basis in order to allow the service branch to focus on other duties, C4ISRNET reported Thursday.

He told Satellite 2017 conference attendees Wednesday in Washington that the plan comes as the military branch shifts its focus on efforts to understand and respond to the current threat environment, Mark Pomerleau wrote.

Thompson noted that the Air Force is finalizing a request for proposals for a program that seeks to make contractors operators of wideband satellite communications systems from remote areas.

The report said Thompson expects the program to occur in 2018.

He also described at the event other Air Force space architecture programs such as the Space and Missile System Center’s Enterprise Ground Services and the Air Force Satellite Control Network, according to the report.

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NRL Backs NASA Research Efforts to Measure Water Levels in Snow
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NRL Backs NASA Research Efforts to Measure Water Levels in Snow


NRL Backs NASA Research Efforts to Measure Water Levels in SnowThe Naval Research Laboratory’s Scientific Development Squadron One, also designated VXS-1, has participated in a NASA-sponsored event that tested a variety of sensors and techniques used to water measurements in snow.

NRL said Wednesday the SnowEx mission tested sensors, scanners and radar systems aboard the VXS-1’s Lockheed Martin-built NP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft at Senator Beck Basin and in the Rocky Mountains of Grand Mesa, Colorado.

Forest Service officials and NASA scientists noted that a capacity to measure water levels in snow over different terrains will help calculate water supplies in various parts of the world.

Edward Kim, a project scientist at NASA for the SnowEx project, said that information collected from overhead flights combined with data from ground team units will help the agencies establish a global picture on water supplies.

Kim added that measurements collected from campaigns such as SnowEx can potentially lead to the development of a snow-observing satellite mission.

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James Comey Highlights FBI’s Cyber Strategy at Boston Conference
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James Comey Highlights FBI’s Cyber Strategy at Boston Conference


James Comey Highlights FBI's Cyber Strategy at Boston Conference
James Comey

FBI Director James Comey has outlined the bureau’s five-point strategy to mitigate cyber intrusions during his speech at a forum held Wednesday at Boston College.

Comey said the bureau implemented several initiatives to boost operations and hiring practices; clarify investigative measures in U.S. and foster cooperation abroad; and sanction malicious cyber behavior, according to an FBI press release published Wednesday.

The bureau’s strategy also includes provision of training, equipment and task forces to increase the “digital literacy” of state and local partners as well as better collaboration with private sector entities.

Comey noted industry members are the primary targets of cyber attacks but majority of these organizations do not seek law enforcement support after a cyber breach.

The director added cyber criminals include nation-states, multinational syndicates, insiders, hacktivists and terrorists who are after information, access and advantage.

“We’re not only worried about loss of data, but corruption of that data and lack of access to our own information,” Comey stated.

He said that public and private sector entities can help address threats through reduced vulnerabilities, accountability and mitigation of damage.

The conference is a joint effort of FBI and Boston College’s Cybersecurity Policy and Governance master’s degree program.

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Joint US-Australia Space Surveillance Radar Becomes Fully Operational
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Joint US-Australia Space Surveillance Radar Becomes Fully Operational


Joint US-Australia Space Surveillance Radar Becomes Fully OperationalThe U.S. Air Force and Australia’s jointly-operated space surveillance radar system has achieved full operational capability status following completion of a relocation effort that began in 2014.

Australia’s defense department said Tuesday the C-band radar system was transferred from Antigua to the Harold E. Holt Naval Communication Station in Western Australia.

Australian defense minister Marise Payne said the system works to provide coverage in the southern and eastern hemisphere, track hundreds of objects and identify space debris and satellites.

Payne added that the C-band radar operates as a sensor node in the U.S. global space surveillance network.

The relocation project was completed on schedule through a partnership between the Air Force with the Australian defense force’s capability acquisition and sustainment group, Payne stated.

House OKs $578B Defense Spending Bill for Fiscal 2017
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House OKs $578B Defense Spending Bill for Fiscal 2017


House OKs $578B Defense Spending Bill for Fiscal 2017The House voted 371-48 Wednesday to pass an appropriations bill that would provide the Defense Department with $577.9 billion in fiscal 2017 funds.

The FY 2017 Defense Appropriations bill includes a $516.1 billion base budget and another $61.8 billion in overseas contingency operations funds, the House Appropriations Committee said in a news release published Wednesday.

The legislation reflects a $5.2 billion increase over the enacted funding level for fiscal 2016 and is $1.6 billion higher than the Obama administration’s budget request.

The proposed measure also includes a provision that would authorize a 2.1 percent military pay increase.

The White House said in a statement released Tuesday that it supports the passage of the bill in the lower chamber and that it plans to seek additional funds for fiscal 2017 to build up military readiness and back efforts against the Islamic State militant organization.

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