House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has asked acting Office of Personnel Management chief Beth Cobert for documents and responses on inquiries related to OPM’s cybersecurity posture and causes of data breaches in the agency.

Smith said in that letter to Cobert sent Tuesday the Government Accountability Office has conducted a study that identified foreign cyber attacks as a most frequent threat to government computer systems that include OPM’s as a result of ineffective implementation of access controls.

Smith wants information on OPM’s staff capacity for oversight on contractor-operated information and information systems as well as the organization’s strategies to comply with National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines.

Other questions in the letter tackle foreign access to sensitive information and personally identifiable information through systems or databases under OPM contractors and Office of Management and Budget‘s CyberStat Review Sessions after last year’s OPM data breach.

Smith asked Cobert’s team to send requested documents and responses to the questions by August 5.

The Air Force Space Command has released details of the newly implemented Space Mission Force in a white paper posted on the command’s website.

The white paper shows two main functions of the Space Mission Force to establish desired skills for responses to threats and to adjust force presentation and command and control constructs, the command said Friday.

“The Space Mission Force construct is really quite simple; we are revamping our crews to respond appropriately to threats in a dynamic environment,” said Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command.

The Space Mission Force’s goal is to standardize how space forces operate their weapon systems and address threats in contested and operationally-limited environments, the command says.

SMF will create the Ready Spacecrew Program to train space forces and help combatant commanders schedule available forces based on readiness.

Space operations crews will begin their training through a four to six-month rotation cycle before they join the Space Mission Task Force to apply their skills in real-world scenarios.

The Non-Commissioned Officers Association has appointed Vince Patton, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and former master chief of the service branch, as its new president responsible for the organization’s strategic growth and expansion plans.

Patton served in the USCG for 30 years and was the first African-American to be chosen as its senior-most enlisted personnel, NCOA said Monday.

“I have been a member of the NCOA since 1976, and proud to continue… supporting and being an advocate of benefits and entitlements for the enlisted personnel of our armed forces, active, retired, reserve, veteran and family members,” said Patton.

NCOA has also appointed Jon Ostrowski, another USCG veteran and formerly the association’s government affairs director, as its executive director.

Ostrowski has represented NCOA on the Joint Leadership Council, The Military Coalition and AAFES Exchange Retiree Advisory Council.

NCOA is an organization representing enlisted personnel in the armed forces, veterans, active-duty service members, Reservists and Guardsmen.

The U.S. Army has begun to monitor mosquitoes at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to check for mosquito-borne diseases such as the Zika virus.

The service branch said Monday APG houses seven test sites for health officials to collect mosquitoes once a week, classify females based on species and ship the insects to Public Health Command-Atlantic at Fort Meade for pathogen tests.

Maritzabel Gonzalez, deputy chief of preventive medicine at the Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic, said the surveillance involves efforts to identify breeding sites as well as the capture, identification and tests of adult mosquitoes for pathogens.

Surveillance officials use a light trap from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a second developed by a private company that uses nontoxic substances found on human skin to lure mosquitoes that can carry Zika and other viruses, Gonzalez said.

She added the environmental health team will recommend pest control measures when more than 20 mosquitoes per trap have been collected.

The mosquito surveillance program is part of the Defense Department‘s Integrated Pest Management program and the military’s strategy to control Zika-transmitting mosquitoes in military installations, the Army noted.

The Defense Department and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency want to develop new technology in support of the Pentagon’s Third Offset Strategy with a central theme on autonomous artificial intelligence that operate real-world robots and in cyberspace, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

Sydney Freedberg writes William Roper, Strategic Capabilities Office director, said the SCO has continued to explore new concepts that could be of use to the U.S. military

“The big data tools… are in beta testing today and I think will be ready for prime time within a year,” said Roper in an interview with Breaking Defense.

“I’m really impressed with a lot of the technologies that those groups are working on, but it does take time to get them out to the field,” he added.

The report added that SCO has worked on 23 projects that took an average of three years from initiation to completion and will continue to push for new concepts such as robot boats, big data, and augmented reality.

Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, formerly joint force development director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received his fourth star and assumed the role of commander of the U.S. Africa Command, DoD News reported Monday.

Lisa Ferdinando writes Waldhauser succeeded Army Gen. David Rodriguez, who has retired after a 40-year military career, during a ceremony held Monday at the U.S. Army garrison in Stuttgart, Germany.

Waldhauser said he plans to propose “creative and viable” platforms in order to address the diverse challenges faced by African countries, Ferdinando reports.

He assumed the position a month after he appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee during a confirmation hearing on his nomination to lead Africom.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Africom works with 53 African countries to address the Ebola outbreak, trafficking, transnational terrorism, piracy and the South Sudan crisis, among other challenges.

“The responsibilities of Africom highlight both the complexity of today’s security environment and the demand for a capable, flexible and responsive joint force,” Dunford said at the change-of-command ceremony.

Waldhauser led the Marine Forces Central Command, a Marine expeditionary force and the 15th Marine expeditionary unit and helped carry out operations in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Djibouti, Dunford said.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona) in a letter he will recommend that President Barack Obama reject the fiscal year 2017 defense policy bill in its current form due to reform and war funding provisions, Defense News reported Monday.

Joe Gould writes Carter raised his concerns over the House and Senate versions of the 2017 NDAA as a joint conference committee works to reconcile differences between the two drafts.

“The [Defense Department] is engaged in multiple overseas conflicts, including in the ongoing fight against [the Islamic State group], and is about to experience a transition to a new presidential administration,” he noted.

“With this backdrop, the first rule for the NDAA must be: do no harm.”

He said he believes the Senate’s proposed DoD reforms and policy changes do not meet that standard.

Carter added a House proposal to shift a portion of overseas contingency funds to pay for the department’s routine operations would risk the safety of warfighters and embolden adversaries.