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Jason Goldman: White House Adds Mobile Device Compatibility Features to Online Petition Platform
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Jason Goldman: White House Adds Mobile Device Compatibility Features to Online Petition Platform


WhiteHouseJason Goldman, chief digital officer for the White House, reported Thursday that new features have been added to the office’s online petition website.

The updates to We the People are part of a White House effort to form new strategies in its work to address almost half a million petitions submitted for review.

We the People was also refreshed for mobile use to help those who browse the site on a smartphone or tablet create, find or sign petitions online.

The White House also added a new guidance system for creating petitions that narrows down requests to five categories in an effort to address the submission of petitions outside of its jurisdiction and the requirement for response remained at 100,000 signatures within 30 days for the White House to answer a petition.

Goldman added that as of April 20, 446,435 total petitions are pending with almost 33 million collected signatures equivalent to an average of 20,594 signatures per day.

He also noted that the office continues to collect feedback for future updates.

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DoD Names Nine Winners of 2016 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards
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DoD Names Nine Winners of 2016 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards


green earth, environmentThe Defense Department has recognized nine individuals, teams and installations within DoD for their environmental achievements and practices at the 2016 Secretary of Defense Environmental Awards.

DoD said Thursday nine winners were selected from 30 nominees.

“Our men and women work hard to keep environmental stewardship a top priority while simultaneously advancing our National Defense Mission,” said Frank Kendall, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.

The Pentagon noted it spent approximately $3.8 billion in fiscal year 2015 for its environmental initiatives as part of efforts to protect the environment and human health as well as maintain the availability of resources the Armed Forces needs.

The nine awardees are:

  • Natural Resources Conservation, Small Installation – Camp Dawson Army Training Site, West Virginia Army National Guard
  • Natural Resources Conservation, Individual/Team – Fort McCoy Natural Resources Branch, Wisconsin
  • Environmental Quality, Non-Industrial Installation – Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California
  • Environmental Quality, Individual/Team – Eglin Air Force Base Environmental Quality Team, Florida
  • Sustainability, Industrial Installation – Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island, Florida
  • Environmental Restoration, Installation – Beale Air Force Base, California
  • Environmental Restoration, Individual/Team – Vieques Environmental Restoration Program Team, Puerto Rico
  • Cultural Resources Management, Large Installation – White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
  • Environmental Excellence in Weapon System Acquisition, Large Program – KC-46 Program Environment, Safety and Occupational Health Team, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

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Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Agencies Strive to Meet Security Updates Deadline
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Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Agencies Strive to Meet Security Updates Deadline


cybersecurityRep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has pointed up the struggle of various agencies in implementing security patches on time for critical vulnerabilities, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Meredith Somers writes Chaffetz told committee members at a hearing Wednesday that 39 out of more than 360 vulnerabilities have yet to be fixed 10 months after the Department of Homeland Security ordered agencies to ensure flaws are patched within a month.

Andy Ozment, DHS assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications, said these critical vulnerabilities include legacy software tools and unsupported devices, according to the report.

Rep. William Hurd (R-Texas) cited a December hack into Juniper Networks‘ ScreenOS software used by NASA and the departments of Treasury and Commerce during the hearing, Somers reports.

“Of the 12 agencies affected, three, including the [Treasury], took longer than 50 days to fully install patches and mitigate the threat posed by this vulnerability,” Hurd explained to the committee.

Lawmakers currently work on various bills to push for the modernization of outdated systems.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) introduced the Information Technology Modernization Act in April to finance the update for old federal IT systems, FCW’s Aisha Chowdhry reported Thursday.

The report said Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) crafted the Cloud Infrastructure Transition Act in a bid to authorize the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program to accredit commercial cloud service providers and help create working capital funds for IT modernization.

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Frank Kendall: DoD’s Rocket Engine Devt Strategy Remains Unchanged
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Frank Kendall: DoD’s Rocket Engine Devt Strategy Remains Unchanged


rocket-launchDefense Department acquisition chief Frank Kendall told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Wednesday that DoD plans to continue to use the Russian RD-180 rocket engine technology until a U.S.-made replacement becomes available, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Joe Gould writes Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) have supported the Pentagon’s strategy towards ending its reliance on RD-180 engines for military space launches.

“It’s a complicated issue, but the [Defense] Department’s goals have never changed, to develop two engines, so if one of them has a failure, and we have a big gap in capability, we still have access to space,” Kendall told subcommittee members.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin‘s joint venture United Launch Alliance uses the Russian-made technology to power its Atlas V rockets to help launch some national security satellites for the U.S. Air Force.

Congress temporarily lifted a U.S. ban on RD-180 procurements through the fiscal year 2016 appropriations bill.

The Air Force awarded a set of “other transaction” agreements earlier earlier this year to multiple companies to help the military service build alternative engines for the service branch’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.

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Joints Chief Chairman Joseph Dunford Visits Iraq for Counterterrorism Talks
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Joints Chief Chairman Joseph Dunford Visits Iraq for Counterterrorism Talks


Joseph Dunford
Joseph Dunford

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Baghdad Wednesday to meet with other U.S., Iraqi and coalition military officials there and discuss ongoing efforts against the Islamic State militant group, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Jim Garamone writes armed forces from the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and 13 other countries help train Iraqi, Syrian and Peshmerga soldiers to fight Islamic State terrorists.

The report said more than 3,000 fighters are being trained across Iraq.

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve campaign, told a press briefing Wednesday that Iraqi troops have worked to free the cities of Beiji, Ramadi and Hit from the militants.

Dunford’s visit to Baghdad comes as the Defense Department plans to deploy additional U.S. military personnel in the Iraq to support the anti-Islamic State fight.

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Naval Research Lab Uncovers New Finding in Thin-Film Growth Process for Powder Production
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Naval Research Lab Uncovers New Finding in Thin-Film Growth Process for Powder Production


NRL image
NRL image

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientists have found that core particles of different sizes in a powder batch tend to develop the same level of shell thickness when subjected to a thin-film growth process called particle atomic layer deposition.

The p-ALD process is a chemical vapor deposition-based process used in the electronics sector that works to coat devices with dielectric thin film materials, NRL said Wednesday.

“Particle atomic layer deposition is highlighted as a technology that can create new and exciting designer core/shell particles to be used as building blocks for the next generation of complex multifunctional nanocomposites,” said Boris Feygelson, research engineer at NRL’s electronics science and technology division.

“Shell-thickness is most often a crucial parameter in applications where core-shell materials can be used to enhance performance of future materials.”

Researchers used a transmission electronic microscope to measure the growth of alumina shell on tungsten-based core particles.

They also found that the uniformity of shell thickness on various particle sizes can be attributed to water, which serves as a reactant in the p-ALD process.

The study was published in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A.

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Marine Corps Engineer School Updates Counter-IED Curriculum to Address Troop Readiness Requirements
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Marine Corps Engineer School Updates Counter-IED Curriculum to Address Troop Readiness Requirements


military in trainingThe U.S. Marine Corps‘ engineer school has developed a new curriculum to train warfighters to counter improvised explosive device threats, Marine Corps Times reported Tuesday.

Matthew Schehl writes that USMC looks to provide units with hands-on field training and tailored intelligence based on the geographic area the squads are assigned to, using lessons learned from previous missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The enemy is obviously evolving, and we’re taking steps to provide Marines and sailors with the very best training so they can learn the hard lessons up front before they step off to defend the nation,” said Maj. Mark George, officer-in-charge of the engineer school’s “Defeat the Device” team, according to the report.

He said the unit looks to provide Marines and sailors with training that will address the evolving enemy threats in an effort to meet awareness and readiness requirements.

The report added that the Marines will complete six modules as part of the course, which works to train the participants to recognize, detect, jam or respond to set or detonated IEDs.

A pilot of the new training course was completed February at Camp Pendleton, where the Marine Corps Engineer School will offer the program alongside Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Schehl reports.

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Alan Lynn Calls for Industry Ideas on Analytics, Encryption
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Alan Lynn Calls for Industry Ideas on Analytics, Encryption


Alan Lynn
Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, has called on industry to assist DISA in its effort to bolster the military’s cyber defense posture.

Lynn wants industry to develop big data analytics, software defined networking, assured identity and encryption tools with budget constraints in mind, DISA said Wednesday.

The move is part of DISA’s efforts to counter sophisticated cyber attacks.

“It’s not getting better out there. It’s going to take a change in the way we do business,” Lynn said.

“We need to find common ground and figure out what the future is going to look like on our networks and to develop better defense into our networks.”

Lynn also serves as head of Joint Force Headquarters – Department of Defense Information Networks in conjunction with his DISA role.

DISA and JFHQ-DODIN are partnering to help protect the cyber domain from threats.

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Navy Sailors Destroy Training Mine in UUV Demo
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Navy Sailors Destroy Training Mine in UUV Demo


NavySentryMineU.S. Navy sailors onboard the USS Sentry mine-countermeasures ship destroyed a training mine with live explosives attached to an unmanned underwater vehicle during an exercise conducted April 14.

The Navy said Monday that the sailors piloted the SLQ-60 SeaFox UUV to probe and neutralize mine-like objects with the use of the SQQ-32 mine hunting sonar as part of the International Mine Countermeasures exercise more than 30 countries participated in.

Sailors use C-round, an explosive variant of SeaFox, to destroy the sensory data collection chamber that would have armed the MK36 influence mine.

SeaFox is built to incorporate sonar, cameras, fiber optics and searchlights designed to help gather visual information of the ocean floor and pinpoint the mines.

Scheduled to end Tuesday, the IMCMEX features scenarios such as mine countermeasures, infrastructure protection and maritime security missions.

Senate Bill Calls for Space Weather Research, Forecasting Efforts
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Senate Bill Calls for Space Weather Research, Forecasting Efforts


spaceA bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate calls for several federal agencies to develop tools that can aid in the government’s space weather research and forecasting activities, Space News reported Wednesday.

Jeff Foust writes the Space Weather Research and Forecasting Act would codify responsibilities of some agencies to help protect U.S. critical infrastructure from the impact of solar or geomagnetic storms.

Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are the bill’s sponsors.

The bill would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Defense Department to oversee space weather forecast operations in the government, Foust reports.

It also calls on the National Science Foundation and NASA to conduct space science studies and urges the Department of Homeland Security to examine how solar activity affects infrastructure systems.

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