The White House has begun work on a new executive order that seeks to implement a reorganization in the federal government, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Jason Miller writes a draft version of the executive order would require federal agencies to identify duplicative programs, back-office operations or services at other bureaus or agencies and assess whether those functions could be merged.

The draft document would direct the Office of Management of Budget to submit to President Donald Trump a governmentwide plan that would recommend ways on how to eliminate or consolidate agencies and functions as well as suggest regulatory changes to facilitate the government reorganization.

The draft document also requires OMB to seek public feedback on plans related to the reorganization effort, Miller reports.

The draft order could be released this week once the Senate confirms Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-South Carolina) as OMB director, according to the report.

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot wants the space agency to examine the feasibility of including astronauts on the Space Launch System rocket’s first integrated flight with the Orion spacecraft, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Jeff Foust writes Lightfoot directed Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA, to launch a study into potential technical and schedule challenges that may arise if the agency adds a crew to Exploration Mission 1.

NASA currently plans to launch the EM-1 mission without astronauts in 2018 then deploy EM-2 as the first crewed SLS flight in 2021.

Allison Miller, a Lockheed Martin spokeswoman, said the company will support NASA on the feasibility study as the Orion prime contractor.

“We’ll look at accelerating remaining crew system designs, as well as potential technical and schedule challenges and how to mitigate them,” Miller added, according to the report.

Alma Cole, formerly vice president of Robbins Gioia‘s cybersecurity business, has rejoined the Customs and Border Protection as chief information security officer and executive director of the cybersecurity directorate at CBP, MeriTalk reported Wednesday.

Morgan Lynch writes Cole succeeded former CBP CISO Shaun Khalfan, who left the agency in January to serve as head of the information risk program at Freddie Mac.

Cole previously served as chief systems security officer of CBP from 2012 to 2013 and director of the Department of Homeland Security‘s Cyber Operations Center from 2007 to 2012.

Prior to DHS, he worked as an information technology security analyst at the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center and an IT analyst at the Government Accountability Office.

NASA‘s Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Alabama plan to conduct a follow-on study of Earth’s lightning and its connections to atmospheric phenomena from the vantage point of the International Space Station.

The agency said Wednesday it will deploy a Lightning Imaging Sensor aboard SpaceX‘s 10th cargo resupply mission to ISS as part of a two-year research project that aims to help scientists examine the relationship between lightning and weather conditions.

LIS’ deployment to the orbital laboratory will offer an opportunity for scientists to collect lightning data downlinked in real-time for research or operational applications in data-sparse regions as well as help increase situational awareness capacity for weather advisories, forecasts and warnings, NASA added.

The sensor is designed to support cross calibrations with other space-based lightning and weather instruments such as the Geostationary Lightning Mapper.

“The LIS used in this follow-on mission is an exact duplicate of the sensor used on [the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission],” said Richard Blakeslee, science lead for the LIS at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

The agency noted that the sensor will be a hosted payload on the Defense Department‘s Space Test Program-Houston 5 mission.

The Government Accountability Office has added the 2020 Decennial Census, federal environmental liabilities and management of federal health, education and energy programs for Indian tribes to its high-risk list or areas in government operations that are vulnerable to fraud, waste and mismanagement.

GAO said in a report published Wednesday the addition of the three new areas to the 2017 list brings the total number of high-risk areas to 34, up from 32 in 2015.

The agency evaluated high-risk areas based on leadership commitment, agency capacity, action plan, monitoring efforts and demonstrated progress.

The document showed the expansion of two high-risk areas that include the Defense Department’s polar-orbiting weather satellites and the Interior Department’s offshore oil restructuring efforts.

GAO removed the area related to terrorism-related data sharing and management after it found notable changes in the way federal, state and other local government agencies share intelligence data.

The report also showed the removal of segments of two areas associated with DoD’s supply chain management and data gaps linked to geostationary weather satellites.

The congressional budget watchdog also identified high-risk areas that require attention such as DoD’s financial management, security of federal data systems, health care programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and management of the information technology acquisition process.