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NIST Report Recommends Approaches to Reduce Software Vulnerabilities
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NIST Report Recommends Approaches to Reduce Software Vulnerabilities


NIST Report Recommends Approaches to Reduce Software VulnerabilitiesThe National Institute of Standards and Technology has published a new report that includes strategies to reduce bugs in software.

NIST said Monday the 60-page Dramatically Reducing Software Vulnerabilities report includes input from software experts in the computer industry and government entities such as the Defense Department and NASA.

Paul Black, an NIST computer scientist, said the report is a response to a request for methods from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and is designed to help organizations write low-defect computer code.

The report recommends for coders to use math-based tools to confirm whether the code will work; break up a computer’s programs into modular parts to prevent a total program crash; and connect analysis tools for code that operate in isolation.

The document’s main approaches also include application of appropriate programming languages for the task that the code aims to perform as well as the development of evolving tactics to protect codes against cyberattacks.

NIST noted the publication also includes recommendations on where and how to use the techniques and suggests that the approaches be applied during software development.

NASA to Test Leak Detector on International Space Station; Crystal Bassett Comments
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NASA to Test Leak Detector on International Space Station; Crystal Bassett Comments


International Space StationNASA plans to test a leak detector aboard the International Space Station as part of efforts to maintain safety for onboard astronauts through alerts about the location of a leak.

The University of Maine’s Orono campus developed the detector under the space agency’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program based at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA said Saturday.

Congress mandated EPSCoR to fund experiments meant for flights to the space station and projects on deep space explorations.

“The system prototype is to be launched to the ISS possibly in early 2017,” said Crystal Bassett, EPSCoR’s project coordinator.

Co-principal investigators of the project are Ali Abedi, professor of electrical and computer engineering and Vince Caccese, professor of mechanical engineering.

“The prototype, developed at the Wireless Sensing Laboratory on Maine’s Orono campus, has six flight-ready wireless sensors that can quickly and accurately hone in on a leak,” according to a report written by Abedi and Caccese.

The report explains that the prototype works to detect the frequency generated by the escaping air before the detector pinpoints its location with a series of algorithms.

University of Maine electrical engineering graduate students Casey Clark and Lonnie Labonte tested the leak detector in April 2016 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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Robert Work: DoD’s 3rd Offset Strategy Eyes ‘Conventional Deterrence’ Against State Powers
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Robert Work: DoD’s 3rd Offset Strategy Eyes ‘Conventional Deterrence’ Against State Powers


Robert Work
Robert Work

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has said the Defense Department’s third offset strategy focuses on efforts that seek to deter state powers such as Russia and China, DoD News reported Sunday.

Work said Saturday during a panel discussion at the Reagan National Defense Forum that such a strategy focuses on what he calls “conventional deterrence” as part of the strategic stability framework, Cheryl Pellerin writes.

The U.S. national strategy to value allied countries through the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty is a factor that makes strategic competition with Russia and China different, Work said at the forum.

Other panelists at the forum include Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and Navy Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, according to the report.

Work told reporters during the first leg of his official four-day trip that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s priorities include efforts to build up the defense industrial base, establish partnerships with the commercial sector and promote advanced capabilities, according to another report by Pellerin for DoD News.

He said he has discussed the third offset strategy and innovation agenda with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, according to the report.

Work also offered updates on the Air Force’s Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center and efforts to defend the U.S. space constellation, the report added.

CBO: House’s Government IT Modernization Bill to Cost $9B from 2017 to 2021
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CBO: House’s Government IT Modernization Bill to Cost $9B from 2017 to 2021


BudgetThe Congressional Budget Office has said a House bill that would set up new budget accounts to fund updates to federal information technology systems would cost $9 billion to implement over five years, a figure that is subject to appropriation.

CBO said in a report published Thursday the enactment of the Modernizing Government Technology Act would result in a $3 billion increase in direct spending from 2017 through 2019 since the bill would authorize “agencies to spend previously appropriated funds that would otherwise lapse.”

According to the report, the MGT Act’s budget accounts include a government-wide fund to modernize government IT platforms and a working capital fund intended for the replacement of older IT systems at each agency.

The bill also aims to create a board of managers that will monitor and evaluate federal IT spending.

The passage of the proposed legislation “would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027” and would not impose costs on local, state and tribal governments, the congressional budget watchdog said.

CBO noted that the bill also lacks private-sector or intergovernmental mandates based on the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not have an impact on revenues.

NASA Highlights New Tech, Investments in ‘Spinoff 2017’ Issue; Stephen Jurczyk Comments
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NASA Highlights New Tech, Investments in ‘Spinoff 2017’ Issue; Stephen Jurczyk Comments


Steve Jurczyk
Steve Jurczyk

NASA has featured a number of technologies already in use by 50 companies and the current investments the space agency makes to help fulfill various mission requirements in its Spinoff 2017 issue.

The publication highlights several technologies such as self-driving tractor for food harvest, cameras for use in car-crash safety tests and brain surgery tools, NASA said Monday.

“The stories published in Spinoff represent the end of a technology transfer pipeline that begins when researchers and engineers at NASA develop innovations to meet mission needs,” said Stephen Jurczyk, associate administrator of the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.

Spinoff 2017 contains stories on how NASA’s GPS measurements built at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory helped John Deere to develop the first self-driving tractors and how the agency’s heat pipes investment at its Glenn Research Center enabled Thermacore to prevent dangerous heat during brain surgery.

The publication also features a high-resolution camera, designed to track the Orion spacecraft’s landing parachutes at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, helps improve crash test data for automobile.

Part of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program, the publication also details 20 technologies ready for commercial use such as a new wing design for airplanes and wind turbines and a device for the separation of DNA, RNA and proteins outside a traditional laboratory.

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Frank Kendall Talks DoD’s Budget Constraints, 2017 NDAA at Reagan National Defense Forum
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Frank Kendall Talks DoD’s Budget Constraints, 2017 NDAA at Reagan National Defense Forum


Frank Kendall
Frank Kendall

Frank Kendall, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, has said the lack of funds to support new product development efforts within the Defense Department will pose a challenge for the U.S. to maintain its military advantage, DoD News reported Sunday.

“What we need is the money that will make things into real products and put them in the hands of our warfighters… That’s where we need to rebuild,” Kendall said at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

Kendall cited the need for adequate budget and efforts to end sequestration and put financial resources in order as factors that must be prioritized if the Pentagon were to rebuild, Terri Moon Cronk writes.

“The first order of business for the new administration should be to look at the health of the [national defense] enterprise and to understand all the different elements of that enterprise — not just at its near-term immediate requirements, but five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road,” he added.

Kendall also commented on the final version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that would remove and split the AT&L role into two positions in which an undersecretary will focus on acquisition and sustainment and another one will handle research and engineering functions, according to a report by Aaron Mehta for Defense News.

“The fundamental concern I had was the three major phases of a life cycle — development, production and sustainment — stay under the same leadership. The research and engineering job is defined to be the basic science and technology, the laboratory system and some of the experimental prototyping. I’m fine with that,” he said, according to the report.

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Report: DoD’s Security Org Approves 5K+ Contractor Insider Threat Program Plans
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Report: DoD’s Security Org Approves 5K+ Contractor Insider Threat Program Plans


cyber-hack-network-computerThe Defense Security Service has cleared development plans for insider-threat programs from 5,532 contractors that have met requirements in the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual as of Nov. 30, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

Nicole Ogrysko writes cleared companies appointed more than 7,700 officials to lead efforts against potential insider threats.

The NISPOM modification that DSS released in May requires contractors to develop an insider threat program plan as well as appoint a senior official that will endorse and oversee their respective plans, Ogrysko reported.

DSS told Federal News Radio in an email that cleared industry contractors have acknolwedged how insider threat programs can help the National Industrial Security Program and the agency continues to process official appointments and plan certifications.

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White House Releases Report on Legal Frameworks for US Military’s Use of Force
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White House Releases Report on Legal Frameworks for US Military’s Use of Force


military in trainingThe White House has issued a document that describes legal and policy frameworks which guide the U.S. military’s use of force and related national security measures such as detention, transfer and interrogation.

National security departments and agencies prepared the report in accordance with a presidential memorandum that also directs the National Security Council to review and update the report on an annual basis, according to a press release published Monday.

The first part of the report includes frameworks for the use of U.S. military force overseas and U.S. military support for other countries’ use of force.

Part one contains topics such as domestic and international legal basis for the use of U.S. military force; end of armed conflicts with militant groups; collaboration with others in armed conflicts; and the application of legal and policy frameworks to U.S. operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya and Yemen.

The second part provides details on legal and policy frameworks related to hostile measures such as targeting; capture and detention of individuals in armed conflict; prosecution of individuals through the criminal justice system and military commissions; and transfer of armed conflict detainees.

The Obama Administration also publicly released the 2012 Department of Justice Detention Policy Report and the 2009 Final Report of the Special Task Force on Interrogation and Transfer Policies to accompany the new report.

CBO: Senate’s Federal Health IT Bill Would Cost $122M Through 2021
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CBO: Senate’s Federal Health IT Bill Would Cost $122M Through 2021


electronic-health-record-EHRThe Congressional Budget Office has estimated that it would cost $122 million over the 2017 to 2021 period to implement a bill that would require the Department of Health and Human Services to expand federal health information technology programs.

CBO said Friday the Senate’s Improving Health Information Technology Act would not affect direct spending or on-budget deficits through four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027 and the legislation contains no intergovernmental or private sector mandates.

The bill would authorize the HHS inspector general to collect civil monetary penalties from entities that intentionally block access to electronic health information, CBO added.

Section 2 of the bill would direct the HHS secretary to recommend methods to lessen administrative
requirements related to the use of electronic health records as well as produce a strategy to implement the recommendations.

The HIT Standards Committee would be required to determine medical specialties and provider locations where health IT adoption is limited and provide recommendations on certifying criteria for pediatric health care providers’ HIT.

Implementation of section 2 would require four employees each year and cost $6 million over the 2017 to 2021 period, CBO said.

Section 3 of S. 2511 would obligate the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to certify that accredited HIT developers do not willfully block access to electronic health information and ensure the seamless exchange of information between HIT systems.

The ONC will also create reporting requirements for HIT products; establish a star rating system for certified products; and publish rating criteria and star ratings for certified HIT products under the legislation.

CBO estimates that the implementation of section 3 would cost $43 million through the 2017 to 2021 period to cover 26 full-time employees each year as well as necessary IT and infrastructure.

Section 4 requires the HHS secretary to identify activities that constitute electronic health information blocking as well as issue a guidance on how to address barriers that prevent secure health information exchange.

This section would necessitate an average of 5 full-time employees every year and would cost approximately $6 million over the 2017 to 2021 period, CBO noted.

Section 5 would require 17 employees annually and cost $45 million over the 2017 to 2021 period as it directs ONC to collaborate with stakeholders to develop a trusted exchange framework that would contain policies and practices on privacy and security matters.

The bill’s section 6 would require certified HIT products to send and receive data from registries that collect information on individuals with specific medical conditions.

The section would also mandate HHS to submit a report to Congress on best practices related to the integration of HIT into clinical practice.

CBO said the enactment of section 6 would cost $8 million over the 2017 to 2021 period and require four full-time employees each year.

Under section 7, HHS would promote patient access to electronic health information through health care provider education as well as publish guidance on measures to provide health information to patients.

Section 7 would require four employees every year and cost $5 million from 2017 through 2021, CBO stated.

The legislation would require the comptroller general to produce several reports to Congress on the product rating system and on current initiatives that aim to match EHR to correct patients which would cost $1 million over the next four years.

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GAO: Congress Should Not Fund 2017 LCS Acquisition
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GAO: Congress Should Not Fund 2017 LCS Acquisition


Littoral Combat ShipThe Government Accountability Office has recommended Congress to not fund the acquisition of two Littoral Combat Ships requested for 2017 due to what auditors identified as the vessel’s obsolete design and construction backlogs.

A GAO report published Thursday says the Defense Department has not fully implemented prior recommendations regarding LCS and frigate acquisitions such as the use of a business case to balance resources.

Auditor noted cost, capacity and schedule of LCS expectations have degraded from 55 ships at $220 million each to 40 vessels at an estimated $478 million per platform.

Design, schedule and seaframe expectations for LCS have also decreased over time from a 40- to 50-knot ship requirement to a 1,000-nautical mile capacity at 40 knots, the report added.

Congress will make a decision on funding and oversight of the program to tackle acquisition of two additional baseline LCS in fiscal year 2017 and the authorization request to purchase 12 frigates in fiscal year 2018.

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