Christopher Painter, State Department coordinator for cyber issues, has said cybersecurity efforts should focus on effects because similar tactics could be used to secure or harm networks, Defense Systems reported Wednesday.

Mark Pomerleau writes Painter told the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee that the dual use of cyber tools poses a challenge to regulation because restrictions could also impede industries and governments’ use of cyber systems for protection.

“I think the correct course is for us… to pursue this idea of what effects we’re trying to control, what are the rules of the road, what are the norms that we want, how does international law apply, how do we communicate with each other… to make sure we have a long-term, stable environment in cyberspace,” Painter said.

He has also noted potential conflict in the terminologies used to refer to cyber activities when considering international policies on self-defense in the event of an attack or intrusion, the report said.

The U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy have started to evaluate a TecLeaf-built solar power system designed to power equipment at military base camps, the Army said Wednesday.

Dan Lafontaine writes the Solar Power Shelter System aims to reduce logistics footprint in the battlefield and continuously provide energy at military shelters through the combination of a diesel generator and solar power.

Tom Merrill, renewable energy storage lead at the Army’s product manager force sustainment systems, said the Navy plans to buy two units of SPSS for a project that aims to study the feasibility of such systems in containerized living units.

The Navy will conduct operational field tests at a camp in Djibouti, Africa, in July as part of the evaluation project, according to the report.

“The goal is to minimize generator usage,” said Rich Guiliano, program acquisition specialist with product manager FSS.

“By harvesting alternative energy, we’re able to reduce the amount of energy required from the generators and require fewer fuel convoys to save lives and money,” Guiliano added.

SSPS from Danish firm TecLeaf works to collect and store solar energy through photovoltaic panels and battery on top of a shipping container or military shelter.

Norbert Vint, acting Office of Personnel Management inspector general, has issued a report that says OPM has not followed “proper” capital planning procedures for a project to modernize the agency’s information technology systems.

Vint informed acting OPM Director Beth Cobert in a memo dated May 18 that his office also found the agency did not examine if migrating its technical systems to an infrastructure-as-a-service platform was the best strategy to meet the agency’s Infrastructure Improvement Project  goals.

He added the business case that OPM attached to its fiscal year 2017 budget request contains unsubstantiated project cost estimates due to the agency’s failure to complete inventory and technical assessments.

“As a result of OPM’s failure to perform proper capital planning activities.. we continue to believe that there is a very high risk that the project will fail to meet its stated objectives of delivering a more secure environment at a lower cost,” Vint wrote in the memo.

He urged the agency to develop “realistic” lifecycle cost estimates for the IT modernization effort as well as complete an “analysis of alternatives” required by the Office of Management and Budget.