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Defense News: Air Force Eyes JLTV for Missile Field Security
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Defense News: Air Force Eyes JLTV for Missile Field Security


Defense News: Air Force Eyes JLTV for Missile Field SecurityThe U.S. Air Force considers the procurement of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles in a bid to help security forces protect missile-launch facilities, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Valerie Insinna writes Air Force spokesman Chris Mesnard confirmed that representatives of the military branch visited Marine Corps Base Quantico to witness JLTV demonstrations and receive briefings from U.S. Army and Marine Corps officials.

Mesnard noted the Air Force Global Strike Command has established formal requirements that are being vetted by the service branch’s Security Forces Center and Vehicle Supply Chain Operations Squadron, according to the report.

Oshkosh‘s defense business is manufacturing JLTVs for the Army and Marine Corps under a potential $6.7 billion contract awarded in August 2015.

The report said the Air Force also eyes both military and commercial off-the-shelf vehicles to replace Humvees that currently support missile field security.

The branch sought information on tactical vehicle offerings in a FedBizOpps notice posted Dec. 21.

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Navy’s $125B Columbia-Class Submarine Program Gets Milestone B Approval From Pentagon
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Navy’s $125B Columbia-Class Submarine Program Gets Milestone B Approval From Pentagon


Navy’s $125B Columbia-Class Submarine Program Gets Milestone B Approval From PentagonDefense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall has granted Milestone B approval to the U.S. Navy’s potential $125 billion Columbia-class nuclear missile submarine program, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. writes the Milestone B decision will pave the way for the Navy to use the $773 million in funds that Congress passed in December through a continuing resolution to begin detailed design and engineering work on the program.

The service branch plans to purchase up to 12 submarines for a total procurement cost of $96 billion in 2017 dollars and at $8 billion per vessel, Freedberg reports.

A DoD official said that Kendall also designated the Columbia-class submarine program as a major defense acquisition initiative through an acquisition decision memorandum signed Wednesday, according to a report by Megan Eckstein for USNI News.

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) told USNI News that he expects the “anomaly” funds in the CR to head toward General Dynamics Electric Boat and some other contractors in the next few days through the National Sea Based Deterrence Fund.

“On Monday the Treasury deposited the anomaly funds that were in the CR, the $773 million, into the NSBDF – so that (fund) has now been activated officially with real deposits and withdrawals,” Courtney said.

Lawmakers in December included an anomaly in the stopgap spending measure in order to keep the development of the Columbia-class program on schedule, the report added.

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Report: VA Deputy CIO Sean Kelley Named EPA CISO
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Report: VA Deputy CIO Sean Kelley Named EPA CISO


Report: VA Deputy CIO Sean Kelley Named EPA CISO
Sean Kelley

Sean Kelley, deputy chief information officer for account management of benefits and veteran experience at the Department of Veterans Affairs, has been named chief information security officer at the Environmental Protection Agency, FCW Insider reported Wednesday.

Adam Mazmanian writes Kelley’s appointment will take effect Jan. 9.

His move to EPA comes months after he was named president of the Government Information Technology Council, Mazmanian reports.

Kelley is a 16-year informational technology professional who previously served as chief of staff and senior adviser to VA CIO, program analysis officer and central office and national capital region CIO at VA.

He was a former instructor at Central Texas College and SANS Institute.

Kelley also served as CIO and CISO at the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery headquarters and director of program management office at the Naval Medical Information Management Center in Maryland.

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CBO: 355-Ship Plan Would Exceed Navy’s Cost Estimates
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CBO: 355-Ship Plan Would Exceed Navy’s Cost Estimates


CBO: 355-Ship Plan Would Exceed Navy's Cost EstimatesThe Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the U.S. Navy‘s plan to increase its fleet size to 355 ships over three decades would cost $60 billion more than originally projected, DoD Buzz reported Wednesday.

Hope Hodge Seck writes CBO’s analysis showed the 30-year shipbuilding plan would cost approximately 30 percent more than the military branch spent to construct vessels in the past three years.

The plan was released last month and called for the addition of one aircraft carrier, four amphibious assault ships, eight auxiliary ships, 16 large surface combatants and 18 attack submarines to the Navy’s current 308-ship requirement.

The report said the Navy could pay much more than expected because CBO found the military service’s shipbuilding cost estimates were not high enough and the branch did not include miscellaneous costs in the budget

Lt. Seth Clarke, a Navy spokesman, told Military.com that the plan was meant to highlight operational requirements rather than the fiscal aspects of the fleet plan.

Profile: Michele Thoren Bond, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs
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Profile: Michele Thoren Bond, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs


Profile: Michele Thoren Bond, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular AffairsMichele Thoren Bond serves as an assistant secretary at the State Department and heads the bureau of consular affairs.

Bond, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, leads a team of approximately 13,000 consular professionals worldwide who are tasked to protect the interests of U.S. citizens overseas and facilitate legitimate international travel.

She was acting assistant secretary of state for consular affairs from April 2014 until her official appointment to the post on Aug. 10, 2015.

She previously served as U.S. consul general in the Netherlands and U.S. ambassador to Lesotho and also held other diplomatic assignments in Guatemala, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Russia.

She has worked as deputy assistant secretary for overseas citizens services at the State Department, director of the bureau of consular affairs’ public outreach office and director of consular training at the National Foreign Affairs Training Center.

Bond holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in international relations from Georgetown University.

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FTC Seeks Tools to Defend Smart Home Devices Against Hackers
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FTC Seeks Tools to Defend Smart Home Devices Against Hackers


FTC Seeks Tools to Defend Smart Home Devices Against HackersThe Federal Trade Commission has offered to award up to $25,000 to potential partners that can provide applications or tools designed to protect smart home devices against hacking, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Joseph Marks writes FTC seeks a cloud-based application that checks for security updates or a physical device that can assess Internet of Things device security.

“A dashboard or other user interface might inform the consumer about which devices were up-to-date already, those that had unpatched software vulnerabilities and even those that the manufacturer no longer supported,” FTC said in a notice posted Wednesday on the Federal Register.

The responses should look to mitigate the vulnerabilities of out-of-date IoT software and address potential dangers such as forced factory default updates or weak passwords, the report said.

Nextgov noted that interested parties have until May 22 to submit responses.

Winners, including honorable mention winners that will each receive $3,000, will be announced in July.

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Estonia Unveils New Defense Procurement Organization
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Estonia Unveils New Defense Procurement Organization


Estonia Unveils New Defense Procurement OrganizationEstonia has launched a new defense organization that will work to consolidate procurements of the country’s defense ministry and subordinate establishments.

The defense ministry said Monday the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments will also oversee defense construction activity and property management.

Estonian Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna said ECDI will free defense forces from non-military tasks and provide common management for procurement- and infrastructure-related matters.

The country’s defense spending volume for 2017 is $166 million and ECDI aims to carry out 500 procurements and 100 infrastructure projects.

EDIC will begin operations with 120 personnel and Rauno Sirk, former chief of staff of Estonia’s air force headquarters, will serve as director of the new institution.

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Cyber Command Seeks Acquisition Exec to Handle $75M Annual Rapid Procurement Funds
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Cyber Command Seeks Acquisition Exec to Handle $75M Annual Rapid Procurement Funds


Cyber Command Seeks Acquisition Exec to Handle $75M Annual Rapid Procurement FundsThe U.S. Cyber Command looks to hire an acquisition professional to manage spending of the command’s $75 million annual rapid procurement funds through 2021 that Congress authorized under the 2016 defense authorization act, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

Scott Maucione writes the command acquisition executive will be responsible for the rapid development and fielding of new cyber systems and equipment using the allocated funds.

The command will set up an acquisition office that consists of up to 10 personnel to manage the budget and also use the money to sustain cyber operations systems, according to the report.

A Senior Executive Service employee will lead the team, report directly to the Cybercom commander, oversee programs and logistics, provide legal guidance and negotiate with other military departments for equipment and services acquisition, Maucione reports.

The report said Cybercom also plans to recruit a contracting lead, contract specialist, a warranted contracting officer and an acquisition oversight and policy officer.

NRL-Developed Ferroelectric Heterostructures Could Aid Future DoD Sensing Missions
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NRL-Developed Ferroelectric Heterostructures Could Aid Future DoD Sensing Missions


NRL-Developed Ferroelectric Heterostructures Could Aid Future DoD Sensing MissionsA team of Naval Research Laboratory scientists has conducted a study on monolayer ferroelectric hybrid structures that may lead to the development of materials that work to support Defense Department information processing and sensing missions.

NRL said Tuesday the researchers demonstrated the capacity of polarization domains from ferroelectric material lead zirconium titanate to spatially control the intensity and spectral composition of the photoluminescence from a single monolayer of tungsten disulphide.

The lab added the results from the study can help DoD develop low-power electronics, non-volatile optical memory and quantum computational technologies.

“Fabricating these hybrid 2D/3D ferroelectric heterostructures enables one to purposefully design and modulate adjacent populations of trions and neutral excitons, creating lateral domains in any geometry of choice,” said Berend Jonker, an NRL senior scientist and principal investigator of the study.

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GAO: NIST Should Lead Govt-Wide Effort to Deliver Climate Information to Standards Organizations
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GAO: NIST Should Lead Govt-Wide Effort to Deliver Climate Information to Standards Organizations


GAO: NIST Should Lead Govt-Wide Effort to Deliver Climate Information to Standards OrganizationsThe Government Accountability Office has recommended the National Institute of Standards and Technology to lead an ongoing government-wide effort alongside the Mitigation Framework Leadership Group and U.S. Global Change Research Program to deliver forward-looking climate information to standards organizations.

GAO said in a report published Tuesday institutional and technical challenges affected a number of standards-developing organizations’ usage of forward-looking climate information on the development of codes, design standards and voluntary certifications.

The congressional watchdog found that some SDOs have taken preliminary steps towards the potential use of forward-looking climate information and some groups periodically update climate information in certifications, codes and standards.

Agencies such as the MitFLG, NIST and USGCRP have implemented measures to help SDOs mitigate challenges on the use of such climate information, according to GAO.

GAO added that federal agencies should boost interagency coordination to identify the best available forward-looking climate information.

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