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GSA Issues Vulnerability Disclosure Rule for Technology Transformation Service-Run Systems
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GSA Issues Vulnerability Disclosure Rule for Technology Transformation Service-Run Systems


cyberThe General Services Administration’s technology transformation service organization has released a new policy that seeks to help security researchers report cyber vulnerabilities in TTS-run systems.

TTS issued the vulnerability disclosure policy in an effort to assure security researchers that GSA will not initiate legal action under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for research efforts that are considered “authorized,” according to a blog post published Nov. 22 on 18F website.

The policy covers five TTS-operated systems that include vote.gov, analytics.usa.gov, calc.gsa.gov, micropurchase.18f.gov and 18f.gsa.gov.

GSA’s TTS wants security researchers to avoid privacy violations and disruption to production systems as well as keep the use of exploits “to the extent necessary to confirm a vulnerability.”

Security researchers should maintain the confidentiality of identified vulnerabilities 90 days after submission of notification reports to TTS, according to the policy.

The Defense Department also introduced a vulnerability disclosure policy that aims to facilitate reporting of cyber vulnerabilities in DoD websites.

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House Panel Asks GSA to Report on Use of SAM Database to Identify Tax Delinquency Among Contractors
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House Panel Asks GSA to Report on Use of SAM Database to Identify Tax Delinquency Among Contractors


GSAThe House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has asked the General Services Administration to submit information on how GSA uses the System for Award Management database to identify contractors that are not eligible for contract awards due to federal tax debt.

According to a Nov. 22 letter sent to GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth, the House panel requested GSA to submit by Dec. 6 documents related to the agency’s verification and publication of data associated with active exclusions in SAM and exclusions for contractors with federal tax debt in SAM.

Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) also want GSA to report on how frequent the agency updates exclusion status data within SAM and submit documents on how it identifies contractors that have active exclusions due to tax liens.

The lawmakers have also requested guidance and memoranda that GSA issued to contract officers to make sure that they do not award contracts to firms that do not comply with the federal tax law.

The House committee issued the letter after a report by an independent  media organization showed that GSA, Internal Revenue Service, National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies awarded $63.8 million in fiscal year 2016 contracts to companies with $112 million in tax liens.

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Michael Wynne: Analog Circuit Design Key to Cyber Defense
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Michael Wynne: Analog Circuit Design Key to Cyber Defense


Michael Wynne
Michael Wynne

Michael Wynne, former U.S. Air Force secretary, has said the federal government should prioritize the shift from software patches to computational analog circuit design in order to defend computer networks from cyber threats.

He wrote in a Breaking Defense opinion piece published Wednesday that government officials should work to protect federal websites from potential cyber attacks through the use of “frozen complex analog circuitry mimicking and replacing currently installed internet appliances.”

Wynne, one of the candidates for the deputy defense secretary post under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, urged critical infrastructure owners to integrate analog circuit design with supervisory control and data acquisition systems under the supervision of the Department of Homeland Security.

Server and router designers as well as internet service providers should offer support to government agencies and public corporations as part of the transition to the frozen analog circuitry, he wrote.

“It is time for analog as the solution set to deal with the vulnerability challenges associated with software,” Wynne noted.

“Vulnerability on the internet is actually a choice, not a given outcome,” he added.

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Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon: Donald Trump Should Privatize VA to Address Concerns With Veterans Benefits
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Cato Institute’s Michael Cannon: Donald Trump Should Privatize VA to Address Concerns With Veterans Benefits


Michael Cannon
Michael Cannon

Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at Cato Institute, has said President-elect Donald Trump should push for the privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs and collaborate with Congress in order to build a system of veterans benefits.

Cannon wrote in a Forbes opinion piece published Nov. 11 that Trump should call for an increase in military pay in an effort to allow service personnel to buy from private insurance firms a set of life, health and disability benefits at “actuarially fair rates.”

He also recommended the federal government to privatize the Veterans Health Administration and “issue shares to active-duty personnel and veterans based on length of service or other criteria.”

Such a move would result in a pay increase among service members and establishment of a “massive wealth transfer” to veterans and active-duty soldiers, Cannon wrote.

“The federal government should give current veterans vouchers to purchase insurance and medical care from the insurers and health systems of their choice, including the new veteran-owned and -operated systems,” he added.

British Commodore Andrew Burns to Lead US Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 50
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British Commodore Andrew Burns to Lead US Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 50


fa-18c-hornetRoyal Navy Commodore Andrew Burns has taken command of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Task Force 50 in the Arabian Gulf during a change-of-command ceremony held onboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.

He succeeds U.S. Navy Rear Adm. James Malloy, head of Carrier Strike Group 10, as CTF 50 commander and is the first British naval officer to lead a U.S. task force in the Middle East, the service branch said Friday.

Burns is also the commander of Amphibious Task Group embarked on the U.K.’s helicopter carrier and amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean.

Ocean will provide continued forward presence in the Arabian Gulf, as well as systems meant to assist in theater security cooperation efforts and maritime security operations in the region, the U.S. Navy noted.

NAVCENT oversees more than 2.5 million square miles of area that includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, North Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

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NIH Details New 5-Year Strategic Plan for Behavioral & Social Sciences Research
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NIH Details New 5-Year Strategic Plan for Behavioral & Social Sciences Research


NIH image
NIH image

The National Institutes of Health‘s Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research has published a strategic plan for fiscal years 2017-2021 that details scientific priorities and research challenges OBSSR looks to address.

NIH said Wednesday OBSSR aims to build on the coordination of basic and applied behavioral and social sciences research as well as update required research infrastructure, methods and measures.

OBSSR also plans to support the adoption of behavioral and social sciences research findings in health research and practice as part of the office’s strategic plan, NIH added.

The office seeks to communicate results from behavioral and social sciences research; coordinate and integrate related research efforts across NIH; train future behavioral and social science researchers; and assess the impact of behavioral and social sciences research.

OBSSR supports the creation of NIH-wide goals and research activities on the role of behavior in the etiology, course, prevention and treatment of disease.

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DARPA Continues Work on 100 Gigabit-Per-Second Wireless Communications Systems Development
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DARPA Continues Work on 100 Gigabit-Per-Second Wireless Communications Systems Development


wireless-communicationsDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency researchers have began to develop a 100-gigabit-per-second wireless communications system and will continue further development and testing within the next year, C4ISR & Networks reported Friday.

Adam Stone writes the 100G program looks to position networking assets at altitudes of around 60,000 feet and distribute the network at ranges of 124 miles air-to-air and 62 miles air-to-ground.

Researchers aim to utilize higher-order modulation, to boost efficient use of bandwidth, as well as line-of-sight spatial multiplexing in a push to fully achieve 100G functionality.

“100G attempts to provide the capacity traditionally associated with fixed infrastructure, such as fiber networks, with the mobility we traditionally associate with wireless systems,” said Ted Woodward, manager for the 100G program.

“We specifically invested in high-order modulation and spatial multiplexing methods early in the program because the current state-of-the-art did not readily support our needs.”

The second phase of the 100G program has begun and it will aim to integrate various technologies that have passed muster to develop a new system.

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NTIA Unveils New Tool to Meet Industry and Govt Spectrum Demands
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NTIA Unveils New Tool to Meet Industry and Govt Spectrum Demands


wireless-communicationsThe National Telecommunications and Information Administration has developed a new tool it designed to help meet demand for spectrum from industry and government agencies and potential future sharing scenarios.

NTIA Chief of STaff Glenn Reynolds and Office of Spectrum Management Deputy Associate Administrator Peter Tenhula wrote in a blog post published Nov. 17 the agency’s Quantitative Assessments of Spectrum Usage report details current efforts in the evaluation of federal spectrum bands.

The report provides results of initial analyses for spectrum in the 1300-1390 megahertz, 1675-1695 MHz, 2700-2900 MHz, 2900-3100 MHz and 3100-3550 MHz bands and evaluates potential opportunities for further study.

“We are very excited about the new internal software tool NTIA developed to help perform the analysis in the report that greatly improves our ability to understand spectrum utilization associated with federal frequency assignments,” the post noted.

A multi-agency effort looks to evaluate the feasibility of changes to the Federal Aviation Administration‘s radars that operate in the 1300-1500 MHz sub-band and its relocation another band.

NTIA also looks to establish a framework on how to incorporate quantitative assessment processes into regular reviews of agency frequency assignments, the post added.

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Washington Post: Obama Administration to Expand Joint Special Ops Command Capacity
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Washington Post: Obama Administration to Expand Joint Special Ops Command Capacity


military in trainingThe Obama administration will grant the Joint Special Operations Command with expanded power to plan, track and launch potential attacks on terrorist organizations worldwide, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Dan Lamothe write the White House plans to transform JSOC into a new multiagency intelligence and action force that will be called the Counter-External Operations Task Force and defend assets against terrorist networks.

The task force will also provide advice, intelligence and strike recommendations to militaries and security forces as well as perform joint operations with traditional Western allies, according to the report.

The Post noted the new group will report to the Defense Department via the U.S. Special Operations Command, a change that Gibbons-Neff and Lamothe said will pave the way for a hybrid command system that can help boost the speed of coordination.

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Maj. Gen. John Charlton to Lead Army Test and Evaluation Command
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Maj. Gen. John Charlton to Lead Army Test and Evaluation Command


john-charlton-headshot
John Charlton

Maj. Gen. John Charlton, formerly vice director for joint force development at the Joint Staff, has been appointed commanding general of the U.S. Army‘s Test and Evaluation Command.

Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley announced Charlton’s appointment in a Defense Department release published Friday.

Charlton will lead the command that conduct experiments, developmental tests, independent operational analysis, evaluations and assessments to collect data for military commanders and decision makers.

He served as the platoon leader and company executive officer in the 7th Infantry Division and 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment before he was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis in Washington, where he participated in S3 operations and became company commander and ranger plans officer of G3, I Corps.

He also previously worked an observer/controller at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk in Louisiana, aide-de-camp to the commanding general and the operations officer at Fifth U.S. Army at Fort Sam in Texas and U.N. Mission in Haiti.

Charlton’s overseas assignments include roles as brigade executive Officer for 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Germany; head of 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry in Kuwait; and deputy commander of Regional Command-East, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Afghanistan

He led the Brigade Modernization Command at Fort Bliss before he was appointed vice director of J7.

His personal decorations include a Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and Joint Service Commendation Medal.

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