James Mattis Gets Formal Defense Secretary Nomination
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James Mattis Gets Formal Defense Secretary Nomination


James Mattis
James Mattis

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis has received formal nomination from President-elect Donald Trump as the next defense secretary during a rally in North Carolina, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Michael Shear writes Trump opened the rally with an introduction of Mattis on the Crown Coliseum stage near Fort Bragg.

Trump made the nomination official less than a week after he disclosed his intent to nominate Mattis for the defense secretary post.

Mattis, who retired from the Marines in 2013, said he hopes to get the waiver he needs from Congress to lead the Pentagon, according to the report.

Military officers must wait for seven years post-retirement before they could serve as defense secretary under federal law, the Times reports.

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GAO: OMB, Federal Agencies Implemented 46% of 800 Auditors’ IT Reform Recommendations
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GAO: OMB, Federal Agencies Implemented 46% of 800 Auditors’ IT Reform Recommendations


GAO: OMB, Federal Agencies Implemented 46% of 800 Auditors' IT Reform RecommendationsFederal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget have implemented 46 percent of the Government Accountability Office‘s 800 recommendations on information technology acquisitions and operations management.

GAO said Tuesday the number of implementations as of October 2016 reflects a 23 percent increase compared to the percentage reported in 2015.

Auditors added agencies closed 3,125 of 10,584 total data centers and achieved $2.8 billion in cost savings and avoidances through fiscal year 2015 out of the $8.2 billion goal that was set for fiscal year 2019.

A GAO report in June found that agencies did not fully consider risks when rating major investments on the IT Dashboard and that GAO’s assessments of risks facing 95 investments did not match the chief information officer’s ratings 73 times.

GAO reported in August that 22 agencies planned to deliver usable functionality every six months from 64 percent of 469 active software development projects for fiscal year 2016.

Seven selected agencies provided different percentages of such software projects on the IT Dashboard compared to what was reported to GAO.

The government watchdog noted it will continue to monitor agencies’ efforts to address the oversight and execution of the data center consolidation initiative; the IT Dashboard’s accuracy and reliability; and incremental development policies.

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Air Force Approves Third Launch of Lockheed-Built Missile Warning Satellite
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Air Force Approves Third Launch of Lockheed-Built Missile Warning Satellite


sbirsThe U.S. Air Force has cleared the launch of a third Lockheed Martin-developed missile warning satellite that was originally slated to lift off in October, Space News reported Tuesday.

Phillip Swarts writes the branch’s Space and Missile Systems Center signed off on the Space Based Infrared System satellite launch after an investigation into the SBIRS engine.

“The safety of our national security space assets is a top priority and the entire investigation team was thoroughly committed to getting this right,” said Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center commander.

“The investigation team used modern diagnostics to assess the health of the SBIRS GEO Flight-3 LAE, and we determined it does not exhibit any of the anomalous behavior experienced on the failed component from the non-SBIRS satellite.”

The Air Force has also signed off on an update to the company’s SBIRS ground control system designed to collect data from other satellites in elliptical orbits.

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NSF Awards $76M in Cyber Study Research Grants
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NSF Awards $76M in Cyber Study Research Grants


cybersecurityThe National Science Foundation has awarded $76 million in research grants to 241 projects across 36 states and 129 institutions in an effort to study the scientific, engineering and socio-technical aspects of cybersecurity.

Projects under the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program will explore aspects such as hardware, software, network security and human incentives and behaviors, NSF said Nov. 30.

“No solution for securing cyberspace is complete without the integration of research that examines how people — from the users of internet commerce to the attackers who endanger networks — behave in the complicated systems that constitute the internet,” said Fay Lomax Cook, NSF’s assistant director for social, behavioral and economic sciences.

SaTC works to support computer science and engineering research as well as emphasize fundamental mathematics at the core of cybersecurity, NSF noted.

The program also highlights the need for sociotechnical methods that consider human, social, organizational and economic factors that affect systems and infrastructure creation, maintenance and operations, NSF added.

SaTC awards include $3 million grants each for three projects that will investigate the relationship between the Internet of Things and humans; the development of secure hardware; and cryptographic techniques to boost privacy.

Various SaTC projects involve collaboration with industry through the Secure, Trustworthy, Assured and Resilient Semiconductors and Systems joint effort of NSF and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.

The awards are part of NSF’s $160 million overall investment in cybersecurity research for the government’s current 2016 fiscal year.

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CNAS Report: DoD Should Take New Approach to Mobile Device Procurement, Adopt BYOD Model
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CNAS Report: DoD Should Take New Approach to Mobile Device Procurement, Adopt BYOD Model


mobile device managementThe Center for a New American Security has said the Defense Department should implement a new approach to the acquisition of commercial mobile devices and introduce changes to its policies in an effort to advance workforce mobility and update information systems.

CNAS made the recommendation in the report “Leveraging Commercial Technology: Early Adoption of Emerging Mobility in the Pentagon.”

The Pentagon should work to implement a bring-your-own-device model in order to keep pace with technology advancements and realize the potential benefits of mobile device adoption, CNAS noted.

CNAS also recommended for DoD to launch a program based on a corporate-owned business-only model in order to facilitate the deployment of commercial-off-the-shelf tablets and handsets to employees as part of the adoption of a BYOD model.

“As the technology is verified and the BYOD model gains support, DoD can adjust policy as required and scale up over time, modernizing information technology infrastructure gradually to support and shift more capabilities to mobile devices as appropriate,” CNAS added.

Ben FitzGerald, director of the technology and national security program at CNAS, co-wrote the report with Alexandra Sander, a research associate at CNAS’ technology and national security program.

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Mark Bradley Named NARA Info Security Oversight Office Director
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Mark Bradley Named NARA Info Security Oversight Office Director


recordMark Bradley, director of the Freedom of Information Act declassification and pre-publication review at the Justice Department, has been appointed director of the National Archives and Records Administration‘s information security oversight office.

He will transition to his new role on Dec. 27 and will lead the office that oversees the governmentwide security classification system and the National Industrial Security Program, NARA said Monday.

“His extensive experience with intelligence matters, declassification policy and FOIA will serve him well in his new position as Director of ISOO,” said David Ferriero, archivist of the U.S.

Bradley will also serve as executive secretary of the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel and the Public Interest Declassification Board as well as chairman of the National Industrial Security Program Policy Advisory Committee, the State, Local, Tribal, and Private Sector Policy Advisory Committee and the Controlled Unclassified Information Advisory Council.

He joined DOJ in November 2000 and chairs its department review committee.

Before DOJ, he served as former U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s legislative assistant for foreign affairs and intelligence matters and as a criminal defense lawyer in the District of Columbia.

Rep. Hal Rogers Introduces Stopgap Measure to Fund Gov’t Operations Through April
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Rep. Hal Rogers Introduces Stopgap Measure to Fund Gov’t Operations Through April


Capitol_BuildingHouse Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Kentucky) has introduced a continuing resolution that would fund the federal government through April 28 at current spending levels.

The potential $1.07 trillion stopgap bill would authorize $5.8 billion in overseas contingency operations funds for the Defense Department and $4.3 billion in funds for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to support military operations against the Islamic State militant organization, Rogers’ office said Tuesday.

The legislation aims to “give the next Congress the time to complete the annual appropriations process, and in the meantime, take care of immediate national funding needs,” Rogers said in a statement.

The proposed measure would also authorize $4.1 billion in funds for disaster relief missions and provide financial resources for the Ohio Class Submarine Replacement program in order to prevent delays.

Other provisions in the CR include funds to support the KC-46A tanker program, NASA’s Deep Space Exploration program and Joint Polar Satellite System initiatives as well as the procurement of Apache and Black Hawk helicopters.

Karen Guice Leads Discussion on Military Health System Essentials
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Karen Guice Leads Discussion on Military Health System Essentials


medical health doctorKaren Guice, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, highlighted what she believes are essential components for building up the Military Health System in a panel discussion with other health professionals.

Guice, who also acts as the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, compared the MHS to a building with several parts and described how each room and floor contributes to the sustainment of the building, MHS said Friday.

She led the discussion with Defense Health Agency Director Navy Vice Adm. Raquel Bono, Army Lt. Gen. Nadja West, Navy Vice Adm. Forrest Faison, Air Force Lt. Gen. Mark Ediger and Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Caravalho during the Society of Federal Health Professionals 2016 meeting near Washington, D.C.

“We in the MHS have organizational silos, serving as our physical barriers to conversations, collaboration, cooperation and coordination,” said Guice.

“Commitment to performance goals and common purpose are more important to team success than team building,” she added.

Bono stressed on the need to meet the evolving demands of military members and medical providers through flexibility in a “multidomain, multifunctional conflict.”

West also called on providers to keep in mind their role to address the medical needs of military.

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NASA Picks University of Oklahoma-Led Team for $166M Geostationary Vegetation, Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mission
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NASA Picks University of Oklahoma-Led Team for $166M Geostationary Vegetation, Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mission


earth viewNASA has chosen a consortium led by the University of Oklahoma for a five-year Earth science mission to measure greenhouse gases and vegetation health from space as part of efforts to better understand the planet’s natural exchanges of carbon between the atmosphere, land and ocean.

The Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory initiative aims to monitor plant health and vegetation stress in the Americas as well as probe natural sources and exchange processes that impact carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane, NASA said Wednesday.

The $166 million project will send a commercial communications satellite over the region from an orbit of 22,000 miles above the equator as part of a competitively selected Earth Venture-Mission.

“GeoCARB will provide important new measurements related to Earth’s global natural carbon cycle, and will allow monitoring of vegetation health throughout North, Central and South America,” said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth science division at NASA’s science mission directorate.

The University of Oklahoma will lead the GeoCARB team comprised of Lockheed Martin, SES Government Solutions, Colorado State University, the Ames Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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Rep. Adam Schiff Eyes Support for Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as DoD Secretary Via Waiver
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Rep. Adam Schiff Eyes Support for Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as DoD Secretary Via Waiver


Adam Schiff
Adam Schiff

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California) has said he would support the nomination of James Mattis, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general, as secretary of the Defense Department through a congressional waiver, the Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday.

James Mattis
James Mattis

Anna Mulrine Grobe writes Congress would need to pass a waiver in order for Mattis, who has not been on active duty for less than seven years, to assume the civilian post at DoD.

“What may tip the balance for me is if the president-elect populates even more positions with former military,” said Schiff, a ranking minority member on the House Intelligence Committee.

“I think if he starts making these other nominations other than Mattis, it’s going to place the Mattis waiver in jeopardy, at least as far as the Democrats are concerned,” he added, according to the report.

President-elect Donald Trump announced his plan to appoint Mattis as DoD secretary during a post-election rally Thursday in Cincinnati.

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