The Government Accountability Office has urged the Defense Department to address gaps in the department’s efforts to institutionalize its biometric and forensic systems.

GAO said in a report published Monday that DoD has taken steps to meet long-term requirements for deployable biometric and forensic platforms but the department continues to face strategic planning and acquisition management challenges.

Auditors found that DoD has established a forensic strategic plan but does not have one for biometric systems since the department has yet to assign an entity to develop such plan.

GAO also found that the U.S. Army did not comply with DoD’s acquisition protocols in the development of a key biometric platform, which may have prevented the service branch from using existing, viable and cheaper alternatives.

The report added DoD’s biometric database that helps the department identify adversaries and terrorists does not have a remotely located backup to support the database’s availability and mitigate threats such as natural hazards.

GAO recommended DoD to refresh its biometric enterprise strategic plan; establish a geographically dispersed biometric database back-up; and improve the management of biometric systems acquisition.

The Defense Department has released a set of guidelines for U.S. military services and installations to address “unauthorized” activity of civilian unmanned aircraft systems near base facilities, DoD News reported Monday.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Monday the new guidance details how DoD should coordinate with local communities on UAS restrictions.

He added the guidance allows department personnel to stop unauthorized drone flight over and near military installations by tracking, disabling or destroying UAS platforms.

DoD also collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration and interagency partners to establish a classified policy on how to mitigate drone threats.

Davis said the policy was sent to military services and installations in July.

Robert Foster, chief information officer of the Department of the Navy, will resign from his post on Aug. 19, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

He will move to the National Credit Union Administration as deputy CIO and oversee the delivery of information technology services.

Foster has spearheaded various programs since his appointment as the department’s CIO in 2015 such as the launch of the Data and Analytics Consortium that seeks to facilitate data users’ access to analytics services through the development of a service management construct.

He previously served as deputy CIO at the Department of Health and Human Services before he moved to the Department of the Navy.

The 21-year U.S. Navy veteran held assignments in the areas of software development, IT operations and security during his military career.

Foster also worked at the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement as deputy CIO after he retired from the Navy in 2007.

The House and Senate aim to advance the development and modernization of ground- and space-based missile defense platforms designed to counter ballistic missile threats through defense spending bills for fiscal 2018, Defense News reported Monday.

The efforts by both chambers of Congress come as the Defense Department works on the Ballistic Missile Defense Review.

A provision in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s proposed fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act would require a report on options to raise the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System’s capacity by up to 100 ground-based interceptors.

The Senate panel’s NDAA would also direct the DoD secretary to consider efforts to accelerate the development of several capabilities cited in the review such as the Multi-Object Kill Vehicle, Redesigned Kill Vehicle, Configuration-3 booster and additional GBIs.

The House’s NDAA version would require DoD to develop a space-based missile defense strategy that details plans on how the U.S. Air Force, Missile Defense Agency and other agencies will build a space-based sensor layer for ballistic missile defense.

The House measure also proposed the creation of a test bed for space-based ballistic missile intercept, the report added.

Capt. Julia Slattery, former division chief of the Joint Staff’s cyber policy division, has been appointed as commanding officer of the U.S. Navy‘s Cyber Defense Operations Command.

Slattery officially took over the position from Capt. Sean Heritage during a change-of-command ceremony in Suffolk, Virginia, the Navy said Thursday.

Heritage, who will join the Defense Department‘s Defense Innovation Unit Experimental organization, was also given the Legion of Merit Award.

Slattery previously led the Navy Information Operations Command in Bahrain, which delivered information warfare support to the U.S. Central Command and to the 5th Fleet commander in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and maritime security operations.

She also served in various at-sea and ashore assignments, including service aboard USS Bataan as a plankowner and deployments to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico for Operation Full Provider.

Slattery is the seventh commanding officer of NCDOC, the Navy’s cybersecurity service provider that works to protect the service branch’s networks and systems to support global power projection.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has unveiled a new weapons development concept that would help build military systems through the “mosaic-like” integration of components such as sensors, command and control nodes and manned and unmanned platforms.

DARPA said Friday its strategic technology office outlined the mosaic warfare concept at the “Sync with STO Day” in Arlington, Virginia that attracted approximately 300 industry participants.

The approach is intended to address the rapid pace of commercial technology development, which can quicken the obsolescence of new military systems, DARPA added.

“Applying the great flexibility of the mosaic concept to warfare, lower-cost, less complex systems may be linked together in a vast number of ways to create desired, interwoven effects tailored to any scenario,” said Dan Patt, STO deputy director.

“We’re focused on developing processes and tools that would focus on trusted connections between known entities, enabling easy backwards compatibility and just-in-time, custom creation of any needed connections to enable rapid, intelligent, strategic assembly and disassembly of diverse systems,” Patt added.

STO’s mosaic strategy is designed to boost the effectiveness of existing military systems in maritime, ground, air, space and cyber domains as well as help build new unmanned platforms.

Mosaic systems will work to accommodate on-demand production, maximize available resources, adapt to changing threats and withstand losses and attrition, DARPA noted.

The agency also expects mosaic warfare to change the U.S. military’s acquisition process — from launching years-long development projects for “monolithic” systems to buying mosaic components continuously.

STO has released a broad agency announcement on FedBizOpps to gather industry proposals in various areas of interest that could help establish the mosaic warfare strategy.