The Defense Information Systems Agency plans to kick off a project next year to update telecommunications infrastructure for Defense Department personnel based in Hawaii.

DISA said Thursday it aims to modernize DoD’s analog communications systems on the island to a new internet protocol-technology base under the Pacific Enterprise Services-Hawaii program.

PES-HI will offer new enterprise services to department personnel such as web conferencing, collaboration, voice and video over internet protocol services.

AT&T currently provides telecommunications and data services to Hawaii-based military departments under the  Joint Hawaii Information Transfer System contract.

The contract is set to expire in June 2018 and DISA said it will incorporate legacy services covered under JHITS into PES-HI until the transition to IP services is completed.

The Government Accountability Office has evaluated the Office of Personnel Management’s efforts to implement the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team’s 19 recommendations to build up information security controls and practices following the data breaches in 2015 and found that OPM completed actions on 11 recommendations.

GAO said in a report published Thursday that four of the remaining eight US-CERT recommendations require “further improvements” and that OPM failed to verify corrective measures that it has carried out to ensure that such actions addressed the recommendations.

The report also found that OPM launched efforts to implement data security policies in relation to governmentwide requirements such as the identification of information technology systems with sensitive data, but failed to encrypt stored and transmitted data in some IT systems.

The congressional watchdog also offered five recommendations for OPM to protect sensitive data from security vulnerabilities and these include updates to action plans in order to show the expected completion dates for the implementation of US-CERT recommendations.

The acting OPM director should also establish role-based training requirements for personnel through the use of continuous diagnostics and mitigation platforms as well as offer guidelines on the quality assurance process, according to the report.

GAO also called for updates to OPM policies with regard to the implementation of the 24-hour scanning requirement as well as the deployment of threat indicators from the Department of Homeland Security.

The Government Accountability Office has reported that the Defense Department and congressional panels have identified possible strategies to mitigate potential risks that may arise if DoD separates the current dual-hat leadership structure of the National Security Agency and Cyber Command.

Suggested measures include formalization of NSA-Cybercom collaboration agreements and development of a persistent environment that will support on-demand cyber training programs, GAO said Tuesday.

Adm. Michael Rogers, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017, concurrently serves as NSA director and Cybercom commander.

GAO also interviewed DoD officials to determine their insights about the dual-hat leadership arrangement as well as the department’s cybersecurity guidance, strategies and data.

Officials told the federal watchdog agency the dual-hat system helps to increase coordination, decision-making and efficiency of resources between Cybercom and NSA.

However, they found such leadership structure has caused tension between staff of both organizations who oversee military and/or intelligence missions that GAO said “are not always mutually achievable.”

DoD has not made a decision on whether to split oversight of NSA and Cybercom as of April, GAO noted.

The watchdog agency also found that the department has implemented cybersecurity measures under the DOD Cloud Computing Strategy and has worked toward implementing the DOD Cyber Strategy and DOD Cybersecurity Campaign.

The White House has called on technology companies to perform short “tours of duty” to help the federal government carry out information technology modernization initiatives, Recode reported Thursday.

Jared Kushner, head of the Office of American Innovation, and other presidential advisers held a private call with representatives from Apple, Google, Amazon, Qualcomm, Oracle, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Mastercard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to discuss plans on the creation of small teams or “centers of excellence,” sources familiar with the matter said.

Such teams will work to reduce regulations and help agencies adopt cloud computing and leverage data for use in the private sector, the sources noted.

Reed Cordish, one of the Trump administration’s top tech aides, also briefed the firms about the White House’s efforts to advance computer science education, the report added.

President Donald Trump also met with executives from 18 tech companies in June to discuss strategies on how to modernize federal IT systems.