NASA has launched a study of the potential advantages and disadvantages of having a flight crew on the Space Launch System‘s first deployment with the Orion spacecraft in 2019, Space News reported Friday.

Jeff Foust writes that agency researchers are examining the feasibility of a two-person flight crew for Exploration Mission 1 that would be flown on a trajectory similar to another trajectory under consideration for the future EM-2 launch.

“We need to go look at what do we really gain by putting crew on this flight,” Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA, said of the crewed EM-1 study.

“Does this really advance significantly our overall ability to get to a capability to take humans, routinely as it can be, to the vicinity of the moon and operate safely?” Gerstenmaier added, according to the report.

He expects NASA to report on the preliminary results of the study within a month and projects the findings will fit into upcoming discussions between the White House and Congress about the agency’s fiscal 2018 budget.

The Commerce Department has asked the public to comment on a proposed revision to the confidentiality pledge the bureau of economic analysis gives to survey respondents as part of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act.

The department’s BEA said in a Federal Register notice posted Feb. 13 the revision is in compliance with the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015.

The cybersecurity law requires the implementation of the Einstein 3A cyber protection platform designed to secure agencies’ information technology systems such as the monitoring of the Commerce Department’s online traffic.

The revised confidentiality pledge will include the sentence “Per the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, your data are protected from cybersecurity risks through security monitoring of the BEA information systems.”

The revised pledge will cover several data collection titles and numbers such as the Quarterly Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Board, Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. and Foreign Ocean Carriers’ Expenses in the U.S.

The department will accept comments from federal agencies and the public through April 14.

Navy Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the Cyber Command and National Security Agency, has discussed his visions about Cybercom’s potential role on cyber integration at the tactical level of warfare and its relationship with the private sector in the next  five to 10 years during the West 2017 conference, DoD News reported Friday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Rogers also talked about the Cybercom’s workforce and talent development programs as well as the technology sector’s role on human capital development at the forum co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute.

Rogers said he sees the potential elevation of Cybercom into a combatant command which will provide recommendations to decision makers and policymakers on the integration of cyber activities to the tactical level.

“We should be integrating [cyber] into the strike group and on the amphibious expeditionary side,” he told audience.

“Give it that broad set of responsibilities where it not only is taking forces fielded by the services and employing them; it’s articulating the requirement and the vision and you’re giving it the resources to create the capacity and then employ it.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an updated list of potential encounters of air traffic controllers, pilots and law enforcement personnel with unmanned aerial systems from February to September 2016.

FAA said in a news release published Thursday it received 1,274 reports of possible UAS sightings between February and September 2016, up from 874 sightings recorded in the prior year period.

The agency noted that it has not validated any reported collision between a drone and a civil aircraft to date.

FAA also has released a new application – B4UFLY – on Android and iOS phones designed to provide UAS operators information on areas where drones are allowed to operate.