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Army Updates Rule to Facilitate Sustainment of Software-Based Tools for Cyber Electromagnetic Operations
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Army Updates Rule to Facilitate Sustainment of Software-Based Tools for Cyber Electromagnetic Operations


ElectronicWarfareThe U.S. Army has released a revised regulation that seeks to facilitate the reprogramming of software-based systems designed for use in cyber electromagnetic activities, the Army reported Wednesday.

Bruce Woodmansee writes the “AR 525-15” would expand the software reprogramming responsibilities of the Army reprogramming analysis team program office.

ARAT-PO is part of the Army Communications-Electronic Command’s software engineering center and oversees software reprogramming of missile warning systems and radar warning receivers as well as electronic warfare tools, including the Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device-Electronic Warfare Duke V2/3 platform.

Under the updated rule, ARAT-PO will work to perform software sustainment in support of equipment used in cyber space and spectrum management missions.

“EW, cyberspace operations and spectrum management operations are inextricably linked and all of these roles will continue to expand within unified land operations,” said Col. Jeffrey Church, Army EW division chief at the Defense Department.

The regulation would also direct the Army Materiel Command’s commanding general to oversee software reprogramming operations in support of CEMA, according to the report.

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House Appropriators Release $52B FY 2017 State & Foreign Operations Bill
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House Appropriators Release $52B FY 2017 State & Foreign Operations Bill


BudgetThe House Appropriations Committee has introduced a new fiscal year 2017 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that would provide $52 billion in discretionary and overseas contingency operations funds to address global instability and terrorism.

The committee said Wednesday the FY 2017 funds are $595 million below the FY 2016 enacted amount and $691 million lower than President Barack Obama’s request.

Lawmakers approved the spending package in an effort to help defend U.S. embassies and consulates; support security of U.S. allies and partners; provide humanitarian assistance to war-torn and impoverished areas and address overseas health threats.

The proposed budget would allocate $16.1 billion to cover the operational costs of the State Department and related agencies as well as global diplomacy efforts.

The bill also includes the following appropriations:

  • $9.1 billion for international security assistance
  • $1.6 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development and USAID’s Office of Inspector General
  • $24.2 billion for bilateral assistance to foreign countries
  • $1.7 billion for assistance to foreign countries through international organizations and banks

GAO: VA SHould Modernize IT Systems for Interoperability with DoD
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GAO: VA SHould Modernize IT Systems for Interoperability with DoD


electronic-health-record-EHRThe Government Accountability Office has provided recommendations to the Department of Veterans Affairs on how the VA could modernize information technology systems such as its electronic health record to aid in interoperability with the Defense Department.

GAO said Wednesday it also suggested the VA develop goals and metrics as a basis to determine what both departments’ modernized electronic health records systems have achieved and also address the shortcomings of the Veterans Benefits Management System planning and implementation.

Auditors reported DoD and VA have engaged in several near-term strategies to expand interoperability but no metrics established to define the goals of the efforts.

The study also found out that strategies to address reported IT limitations, manual processes, and staffing challenges were planned for deployment in fiscal year 2018.

GAO said the VA needs to show further management attention to cost estimates, system availability and technology defects to help the development and implementation of the VBMS.

GAO Asks DoD to Clarify Guidance on Facility Assessments, Ratings
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GAO Asks DoD to Clarify Guidance on Facility Assessments, Ratings


GAOThe Government Accountability Office has released a report that asks the Defense Department to clarify guidance on facility condition assessments and ratings in order to monitor the military’s implementation of standard facility policy requirements.

GAO said Thursday that the military services need to implement a standardized process for facility conditions assessments and recording condition ratings based on this process under existing DoD facility policies.

The U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps adopt the standardized process when assessing facility conditions across their installations and the Army implemented the standardized process at select installations.

GAO said DoD is unable to keep track of the services’ implementation progress because of the department’s unclear guidance.

Auditors cited as an example the lack of certainty that facilities assigned with code in DoD’s Real Property Assets Database have been evaluated based on the standardized process due to a separate database dictionary that shows the same code is used elsewhere.

GAO said the DoD would be unable to monitor how far the military services have standardized facility condition assessments and ratings unless the department revises its guidance.

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Phaedra Chrousos to Leave Tech Transformation Service Commissioner Post at GSA
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Phaedra Chrousos to Leave Tech Transformation Service Commissioner Post at GSA


Phaedra Chrousos
Phaedra Chrousos

Phaedra Chrousos, commissioner of the General Services Administration‘s Technology Transformation Service organization, is due to leave her current role July 15.

GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth wrote in a blog entry posted Thursday that agency Chief Information Officer David Shive will take on Chrousos’ duties on an acting basis after she steps down until the agency finds a permanent replacement.

Chrousos helped establish the Technology Transformation Service in May to house the agency’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, digital services group 18F and Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

She previously served as GSA’s first chief customer officer and oversaw the formation of its customer experience office.

Before GSA, Chrousos worked as chief operating officer at digital media company Daily Secret and a vice president of MDxMedical after the healthcare company acquired HealthLeap, which Chrousos helped establish.

She also held positions at The Boston Consulting Group and The World Bank Group.

David Shive
David Shive

Shive joined GSA in November 2012 as director of the office of enterprise infrastructure as well as as acting director of HR and FM systems for the agency’s Office of the Chief Financial Office and Office of the Chief People Officer.

He previously worked as CIO at the District of Columbia government and held management and consulting roles at Lockheed Martin.

NASA Starts on Live Satellite Refueling Robotic Spacecraft; Frank Cepollina Comments
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NASA Starts on Live Satellite Refueling Robotic Spacecraft; Frank Cepollina Comments


Restore-L servicer for EGOVNASA has kicked off development work on a robotic spacecraft the space agency plans to launch in 2020 to refuel a live satellite in low-Earth orbit.

The Restore-L mission is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of satellite-servicing technologies and the government-owned satellite Landsat 7 is one candidate client for the refueling mission, NASA said Friday.

Restore-L also aims to test other crosscutting technologies NASA could use for its critical missions in the future and applications such as on-orbit manufacturing and assembly, propellant depots, observatory servicing and orbital debris management.

The satellite will also be built with an autonomous relative navigation system with auxiliary avionics, robotic arms and software.

“Restore-L effectively breaks the paradigm of one-and-done spacecraft,” said Frank Cepollina, veteran leader of the five crewed servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.

“It introduces new ways to robotically manage, upgrade and prolong the lifespans of our costly orbiting national assets,” added Cepollina.

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USAID to Support 4 Global Entrepreneurship Programs Through $38M-Plus Investment
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USAID to Support 4 Global Entrepreneurship Programs Through $38M-Plus Investment


USAIDThe U.S. Agency for International Development has announced plans to invest more than $38 million in four entrepreneurship programs that aim to address food security and energy challenges in developing countries.

USAID will collaborate with Power Africa through its global development lab to roll out a challenge that aims to support entrepreneurs’ and investors’ efforts to provide 20 million households in sub-Saharan Africa access to electricity grid, USAID Administrator Gayle Smith announced Thursday.

USAID will invest $36 million in the Scaling Off-Grid Energy: A Grand Challenge for Development and will team up with Shell Foundation and the U.K. international development agency on the effort.

Entrepreneurs will also receive up to $2.5 million in funds from USAID to help them develop and pilot their cool storage systems that seek to address food waste problems in countries where the U.S. implements the Feed the Future program.

USAID will also support two entrepreneurship programs in partnership with Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund 500 Startups, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the governments of Australia and South Korea.

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Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility Receives New Raytheon Air Defense Radar
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Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility Receives New Raytheon Air Defense Radar


Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility Receives New Raytheon Air Defense RadarThe U.S. Navy‘s Pacific Missile Range Facility has received a new Raytheon AN/SPY-6 air and missile defense radar for the base’s advanced radar development evaluation laboratory.

AN/SPY-6’s installation pushed forward the Air and Missile Defense Radar Program into its next phase of execution for flight tests and live test campaigns at PMRF with air and surface targets, the Navy said June 17.

The radar passed the Near Field Range Testing phase in Sudbury, Massachusetts prior to its delivery and installation.

Initial light off of the radar is planned in early July with its near term efforts’ focus on integration and checkout and preparations for its next phase of testing currently ongoing.

The AN/SPY-6 is an integrated air and missile defense radar is designed to detect air and surface targets such as ballistic missile threats, and counter large and complex raids.

Raytheon received the AN/SPY-6 engineering and manufacturing development contract from the Navy in 2013.

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Reuters: US, EU Amend Transatlantic Data Transfer Agreement
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Reuters: US, EU Amend Transatlantic Data Transfer Agreement


DataGraphicThe U.S. and the European Union have amended their data transfer pact that seeks to heighten regulation of cross-border personal information transfers by companies, Reuters reported Friday.

Julia Fioretti writes the new version of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement was sent to European member states for review ahead of a scheduled vote on the deal early next month.

Regulators in Washington and Brussels crafted the agreement after the European Court of Justice nullified the International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles on concerns over the U.S. government’s mass surveillance activities, according to the report.

The report said U.S. and European businesses transfer data related to payroll and human resources as well as information for targeted online advertising.

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Steven Basham Named Director of Legislative Liaison at Office of the USAF Secretary
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Steven Basham Named Director of Legislative Liaison at Office of the USAF Secretary


Steven Basham
Steven Basham

Steven Basham, deputy director for requirements of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, has been appointed as director of legislative liaison at the office of the secretary of the U.S. Air Force.

The Defense Department said Thursday Basham, currently a brigadier general, has also been selected for promotion to the rank of major general.

Basham has served as a command pilot and has tallied more than 3,400 flight hours on the B-1, B-2 and B-52.

He has held staff and command assignments with the Pacific Air Forces, 2nd and 5th Bomb Wing, 607th Air Operations Center and 394th Combat Training Squadron.

He also holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering technology from Western Kentucky University and master’s degrees in management, strategic studies and airpower art and science from Webster University, Air Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, respectively.

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