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Deborah Lee James: Long Continuing Resolution Could Delay 60 Air Force Acquisition Programs
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Deborah Lee James: Long Continuing Resolution Could Delay 60 Air Force Acquisition Programs


Deborah Lee James
Deborah Lee James

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James has said more than 60 of the service branch’s acquisition programs could face delays if Congress passes another continuing resolution instead of a budget.

“We certainly hope a long-term CR won’t be the case,” she told a group of reporters at the Pentagon Wednesday.

“But we are hearing either a six-month or a one-year CR is at least a possibility, and I want to explain why this would be a very bad deal for the United States Air Force,” James added.

James and Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein discussed the state of the service during a press conference at the Pentagon and also issued updates on the operational and budget environment within the service branch.

She cited Joint Direct Attack Munitions, the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker and the B-21 bomber as among the items that would be affected in the event of a long CR.

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P-8A Environment, Safety & Occupational Health Team Gets SECNAV Environmental Award
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P-8A Environment, Safety & Occupational Health Team Gets SECNAV Environmental Award


P-8A ESOH TeamThe Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Program Office’s environment, safety and occupational health team for the Boeing-built P-8A aircraft has received the Secretary of the Navy’s fiscal 2015 environmental award for environmental excellence in the weapon system acquisition large program category.

The Naval Air Systems Command said Wednesday Dennis McGinn, assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy for energy, installations and environment, presented the award on Aug. 5 in recognition of the team’s work on the P-8A aircraft system.

This is the team’s second award from SECNAV, NAVAIR added.

“The team’s attention to detail, not only on the environmental side, but on how they addressed air pollution and reduced hazardous materials across the program while diving into the details was impressive,” McGinn said.

Michele Pok, PMA-290 and P-8A ESOH team lead, said the team worked to establish the ESOH program during the early part of the acquisition process to support technical compliance.

The team also made an effort to communicate with stakeholders during the process to continually address the program’s needs, she added.

NAVAIR said the team worked with Jacksonville Fleet Support Team Logistics, NAVAIR Logistics and NAVAIR’s materials engineering division in an effort to consolidate the P-8A Hazardous Material Authorized Use List.

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Russell Fenton: Army Eyes Remote System for Defensive Cyber Operations
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Russell Fenton: Army Eyes Remote System for Defensive Cyber Operations


cyber-hack-network-computerRussell Fenton, a training and doctrine command capability manager at the U.S. Army‘s the defensive cyberspace operations branch, has said cyber operators should maneuver remotely or on site to provide quick security response as needed, C4ISR & Networks reported Wednesday.

He told the TechNet Augusta conference the Army seeks to test a forensics malware tool on the defensive cyber operations maneuver baseline at the branch’s Network Integration Evaluation 17.2, Mark Pomerleau reports.

Fenton said the forensics malware tool would apply enterprise-wide and that the goal is to create a regional cyber center to acquire the artifacts with the use of the technology, according to the publication.

The report said he believes legal issues are a significant factor in the adoption of remote capability.

“From the legal standpoint, are we able to do that?” he said.

“Because, again, you want to make sure that the evidence is not tainted or that its integrity is jeopardized in a way that an analyst can go in and actually find out what the heck happened.”

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NIST, Industry Partners Develop Mobile Wireless Communications Platform for First Responders
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NIST, Industry Partners Develop Mobile Wireless Communications Platform for First Responders


Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform (EGOV)The National Institute of Standards and Technology has collaborated with more than 70 industry partners to combine commercial technologies into a mobile wireless communications system for first responders.

NIST said Wednesday the Rapidly Deployable Public Safety Research Platform works to facilitate voice, text, video and data communications between approximately 200 users of broadband smartphones, Wi-fi, data terminals and handheld radios within a 2.5-mile range.

“Our role at NIST is not to develop the technology itself, but to integrate the state-of-the-art pieces into a conceptual platform that will help drive the industry to meet public safety needs—that is, to make portable systems smaller, more robust and with more capabilities,” said Tracy McElvaney, engineering supervisor of NIST’s public safety communications research division.

McElvaney added research and demonstration platform is based on the First Responder Network Authority‘s vision for a vehicle-borne network system that will work to support communications when the nationwide public safety network is disrupted.

NIST said the platform supports PSCR staff as they evaluate factors of public safety operations such as audio intelligibility and communications database development amid loud-noise environments.

More than 70 vendors provided equipment for the platform through PSCR’s Broadband Consortium and under cooperative research and development agreements with NIST, the agency noted.

NIST added the system is funded partly by the Department of Homeland Security’s First Responder Group.

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White House Holds Community Policing Discussions With Law Enforcement Agencies
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White House Holds Community Policing Discussions With Law Enforcement Agencies


WhiteHouseThe White House has started to conduct discussions on community policing best practices with law enforcement agencies since June in collaboration with the Justice Department.

Jerry Abramson, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs, wrote in a blog post published Wednesday the White House has partnered with DOJ’s office of community oriented policing services to convene at least 300 local law enforcement organizations and discuss the recommendations by the 21st century policing task force.

The task force works to provide recommendations that seek to help law enforcement agencies and communities build up trust and promote collaboration as well as draft policies to reduce crimes through community-based partnerships.

The use of social media to increase public trust, officer safety, implicit bias and the Police Data Initiative are among the topics discussed during the briefings, Abramson noted.

The Police Data Initiative seeks to allow police departments to gather and publish data on community policing efforts, he wrote.

He also announced that the White House will hold a series of discussions on community policing efforts on Sept. 8, 16 and 28.

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Sean MacFarland: Army Training, Equipment Assistance to Iraq Supports Counterterrorism Push
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Sean MacFarland: Army Training, Equipment Assistance to Iraq Supports Counterterrorism Push


ArmyChopperU.S. Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, head of the country’s anti-Islamic State group campaign, said in his final Pentagon press briefing that the liberation of the Iraqi city of Ramadi served as the turning point of the effort, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Terri Moon Cronk writes MacFarland noted the Army’s training, equipment, advisory and assistance to the Iraq’s forces helped prepare the country’s troops on urban combat environments that the soldiers will use in its attempt to take control of Mosul.

“We’ve shifted away from counterinsurgency toward combined arms maneuver training, teaching the Iraqis how to integrate infantry, armor, artillery, engineers, aviation and other combat multipliers,” said MacFarland.

“We modified the type and level of support we provided over the course of the past year, but we have not fundamentally altered the paradigm of train and equip, advise and assist.”

Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, 18th Airborne Corps commander, will succeed MacFarland as commander of the campaign.

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Navy Researchers Use Bacteriophages to Treat Antibiotic-Resistant Wound Infections in Mice
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Navy Researchers Use Bacteriophages to Treat Antibiotic-Resistant Wound Infections in Mice


HealthU.S. Navy researchers have developed a cocktail of customized phages designed to treat wound infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

A team of scientists at the Naval Medical Research Center teamed up with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to develop and test bacteriophages in mice with Acinetobacter baumannii-caused wound infections, the Navy reported Tuesday.

“Bacteriophages, commonly known as phages, are viruses found in the environment, and are known for their activity against bacteria; this is why they have therapeutic potential, and may be able to treat bacterial infections even when antibiotics fail,” said Cmdr. Michael Stockelman, deputy director of the infectious diseases directorate at NMRC.

Phages work to invade and destroy bacterial cells and have a tendency to replicate in the cells.

Stockelman said he expects the personalized phage therapy to help doctors treat wound infections in injured soldiers.

The NMRC team plans to advance the phage cocktails to clinical trials to determine whether the therapy is safe to use in patients.

US Marine Corps Seeks Flight Simulators for Recruiting Offices Nationwide; Jim Edwards Comments
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US Marine Corps Seeks Flight Simulators for Recruiting Offices Nationwide; Jim Edwards Comments


NASA Flight simulatorThe Marine Corps Recruiting Command wants to purchase and deploy 22 flight simulators to recruiting offices across the U.S. in an effort to beef up recruitment for new aviators, Marine Times reported Wednesday.

Lance Bacon writes the U.S. Marine Corps seeks five enclosed, 3-axis motion flight simulators that will mimic the cockpits of the F-35B joint strike fighter, F/A-18C Hornet, MV-22 Osprey and AH-1Z Viper.

“The flight simulators will be used at recruiting engagements in order to generate awareness and interest for our Marine Corps aviation programs, and to encourage men and women to explore the opportunity of becoming a Marine Corps officer,” Jim Edwards, a Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman, told the publication.

The command released the solicitation for flight simulators in early August and submissions to the request will close by the end of the month, according to the report.

Edwards said the Marine Corps will use mobile simulators at its recruiting offices as part of the Marine Corps Flight Orientation Program, the report says.

The simulators will feature a high-definition cockpit camera and recording system and replicate maneuvering parameters and weapons system functions, Bacon reports.

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Kristin Snyder Joins SEC Compliance Inspections, Examination Office
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Kristin Snyder Joins SEC Compliance Inspections, Examination Office


Securities and Exchange CommissionThe Securities and Exchange Commission has named Kristin Snyder as its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination’s co-national associate director of the investment adviser and investment company examination program.

The SEC said Wednesday Snyder will work alongside Jane Jarcho, co-national associate director, to oversee more than 520 lawyers, accountants, and examiners that handle inspections of SEC registered investment advisers and investment companies.

“With Kristin’s experience in examinations and enforcement, she is well-positioned to develop and lead national initiatives in our investment adviser and investment company program that support OCIE’s mission to improve compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform policy,” said Marc Wyatt, OCIE director.

Snyder, a former law practitioner at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, will also continue to serve as associate regional director for examinations at SEC San Francisco office where she has previously served as branch chief and senior counsel.

The new co-national associate director holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis as well as a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

SEC noted the OCIE conducts the agency’s national examination program through examinations of registered investment advisers and companies, broker-dealers, self-regulatory organizations, clearing agencies and transfer agents using a risk-based approach to examinations designed to promote compliance with U.S. security laws.

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Pentagon Updates Defense Intell Collection, Dissemination Guidelines
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Pentagon Updates Defense Intell Collection, Dissemination Guidelines


PentagonThe Defense Department has updated its manual of procedures on how intelligence community personnel should gather, store or disseminate information about U.S. individuals and businesses, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter approved the updated “Procedures Governing the Conduct of DoD Intelligence Activities” in accordance with Executive Order 12333 after they consulted with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

It marks the first update to the DoD Manual 5240.01 in 34 years, Pellerin reports.

“The procedures were carefully and methodically developed in 1982 and they’ve served us well for the many years since then,” said Michael Mahar, senior intelligence oversight official at DoD.

“But we’ve reached the point now that, due to changes in technology, law, and intelligence-collection practices, we were compelled to do a significant overhaul,” Mahar added.

The manual covers revised guidelines for how defense intelligence components agencies can guard the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. persons when the organizations perform vital missions, according to the report.

The report said the guide also contains a framework regarding the prompt assessment of USP data that was intentionally collected or voluntarily provided for permanent retention.

Mahar told DoD News the new procedures are aligned with the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise strategy and meant to help the IC develop a common platform to share data, resources and technology.

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