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Doug Loverro: DoD Begins Space Policy Updates, Eyes Civilian Agency to Oversee Satellites
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Doug Loverro: DoD Begins Space Policy Updates, Eyes Civilian Agency to Oversee Satellites


Doug Loverro
Doug Loverro

Doug Loverro, deputy assistant secretary for space policy at the Defense Department, has said DoD has started to update its space policies in an effort to protect and make military satellites resilient in the event of attacks, Space News reported Thursday.

Loverro told Space News reporter Mike Gruss in an interview that DoD’s move to revise its space policy is in response to a 2014 study titled Space Strategic Portfolio Review.

He added that the Pentagon plans to update its space regulations in order to promote collaboration with commercial satellite providers, facilitate the transfer of space platforms with allies and advance the use of international satellites designed to control the movement of U.S. weapon systems.

Marcus Weisgerber also reported for Nextgov that Loverro said that the U.S. needs to set up or designate a civilian agency that would monitor satellites and other orbital objects in an effort to reduce risks of space collisions.

“If we think that this is going to be a problem, we need a regulatory structure to do this,” Loverro said at the National Space Symposium in Colorado.

“I think the first entree into that is allowing [the Federal Aviation Administration] into the space traffic monitoring game, which will eventually, I think, lead to a space traffic management,” he added.

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Former State Dept Official Alec Ross Calls for Global Treaty on Cyberwarfare
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Former State Dept Official Alec Ross Calls for Global Treaty on Cyberwarfare


cyberAlec Ross, a former senior adviser for innovation at the State Department, has said the U.S.  should consider working with other countries to establish a treaty that will govern cyberwarfare, FedTech reported Wednesday.

Phil Goldstein writes that Ross told audience at an Italian Embassy forum in Washington Tuesday he forecasts the emergence of Internet of Things will trigger an increase in security risks.

“It’s time to do more to begin a serious period of treaty-making in the cyber domain,” he added, according to the publication.

The report said he believes top-secret national surveillance revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden as well as the differing cyber perspectives of the U.S. and Russia are among the factors that prevent the U.S. from considering adoption of a cybersecurity treaty.

DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum R&D Program Creates $500M Investment Portfolio
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DoD Electromagnetic Spectrum R&D Program Creates $500M Investment Portfolio


investment money exchangeThe Defense Spectrum Organization has helped build a 30-project investment portfolio worth approximately $500 million for the Defense Department‘s Spectrum Access Research and Development Program in efforts to minimize risks associated with electromagnetic spectrum access sharing.

The Defense Information Systems Agency said Thursday the types of projects include technology developments, demonstrations, concept of operations and analysis.

The portfolio was developed as a result of a technical concept assessment in 2015 hosted by DSO and the offices of the DoD chief information officer and the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, DISA added.

According to the agency, participants in the technical concept assessment evaluated 237 concepts and integrated them into the investment portfolio during the follow-on portfolio development phase.

The SAR&DP portfolio currently awaits funding approval and transfer from the Spectrum Relocation Fund Resources Oversight Group and the Office of Management and Budget, DISA said.

DSO is a DISA component that works to support electromagnetic spectrum operations across DoD.

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ITRC Report: Data Breaches Compromise 57M Social Security Numbers in Government Sector Since 2005
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ITRC Report: Data Breaches Compromise 57M Social Security Numbers in Government Sector Since 2005


cyber-hack-network-computerA new report from the Identity Theft Resource Center says there were 6,013 reported cases of data breaches since 2005 across the government, financial services, healthcare and education sectors.

The nonprofit organization collaborated with Arizona-based information security firm IDT911 on the study and found that nearly 6.2 million personal data have been exposed in 2016 alone.

According to the report, breaches in the government sector resulted in the exposure of 57.4 million Social Security numbers and 389,000 debit or credit cards of government employees and service personnel over the last decade.

Negligence or errors by government employees led to 61 breaches that compromised 7 million records.

ITRC noted that the Internal Revenue Service saw a 400 percent increase in malware and phishing incidents between January 2016 and February 2016.

“Tax refund fraud continues to rise creating almost unbearable issues for victims nationwide,” said ITRC CEO Eva Velasquez, CEO of ITRC.

“It is our belief that the 575 healthcare breaches since 2010 – that have exposed more than 142 million Social Security numbers – are contributing to this increase,” she added.

Rep. Randy Forbes: Congress Should Work to Increase Defense Spending
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Rep. Randy Forbes: Congress Should Work to Increase Defense Spending


BudgetRep. Randy Forbes, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee’s seapower subcommittee, has called for more budget for defense systems and seeks to undo the 2015 budget deal, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

According to the story by Sydney Freedberg Jr., Forbes told the publication he believes increasing the Defense Department budget will help DOD to increase the size of the military’s Littoral Combat Ship fleet and acquire more aircraft and missiles for carriers and destroyers.

One of his priorities is the Ohio Replacement program, a nuclear-missile-launching submarine set to replace the legacy Ohio class, Freedberg reports.

The report said HASC members formed a national sea-based deterrent fund to finance the development of submarines beyond the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding account.

The lawmaker added in the interview that 70 percent of the U.S. nuclear deterrent force will ride on 12 ships, which Freedberg reports are the minimum requirements of the military to perform sea patrols.

VA Announces Compliance With EHR System Interoperability Standards Through Joint Legacy Viewer
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VA Announces Compliance With EHR System Interoperability Standards Through Joint Legacy Viewer


electronic-health-record-EHRThe Department of Veterans Affairs has said that it has complied with a congressional mandate to make its electronic health records interoperable with the Defense Department’s data through the Joint Legacy Viewer system, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

Jared Serbu writes VA officials told members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee Thursday that the department achieved compliance with interoperability standards for EHR systems April 8.

VA officials said the department have trained approximately 55,000 clinicians on the use of JLV and that it expects the number of trained personnel to reach 120,000 by the end of 2016.

The department noted that it plans to make JLV into a web-based interface that will work with VA’s VistA and DoD’s AHTLA EHR systems through the Enterprise Health Management Platform.

VA plans to field eHMP across its medical centers in 2017, Serbu reports.

David Shulkin, VA’s undersecretary for health, told the House panel that the department might push for the VistA Scheduling Enhancement program instead of the Medical Appointment Scheduling System contract it awarded to Epic Systems in 2015 due to cost concerns.

LaVerne Council, VA’s assistant secretary for information technology, said at the hearing that her office has proposed a “digital health platform” that aims to deploy a  software-as-a-service, cloud-based platform designed to replace the VistA EHR system and consolidate all the department’s health IT tools into a single platform.

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NOAA Issues Draft Document for Environmental Satellite Data Acquisition Process
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NOAA Issues Draft Document for Environmental Satellite Data Acquisition Process


satelliteThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released a publication that describes how NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service will evaluate and procure data from commercial providers.

NOAA said in a public notice posted April 8 on Regulations.gov the comment period for the Draft NESDIS Commercial Space Activities Assessment Process will be open through May 9.

The agency looks to purchase environmental intelligence collected by commercial satellites for evaluation and analysis through a demonstration project, the notice states.

The draft publication follows the Jan. 8 release of a policy regarding the agency’s utilization of commercial space systems or services for its Earth monitoring activities.

The Commercial Space Policy and the Commercial Space Activities Assessment Process documents are intended to serve as guides for collaboration and data sharing between the agencies and vendors, according to NOAA.

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Suzanne Spaulding: DHS NPPD Directorate to Adopt ‘Cyber & Infrastructure Protection’ Name in Awareness Push
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Suzanne Spaulding: DHS NPPD Directorate to Adopt ‘Cyber & Infrastructure Protection’ Name in Awareness Push


DHS - ExecutiveMosaic

The Department of Homeland Security‘s National Protections and Programs Directorate will adopt the new name of “Cyber and Infrastructure Protection” in a push to expand about its identity to its workforce and other interested stakeholders, Federal Times reported Friday.

Aaron Boyd writes the organization composed of 18,000 federal employees and contractors will work to bolster the U.S.’ infrastructure security and resilience.

Suzanne Spaulding, NPPD undersecretary, told the publication the organization to be named CIP will aim to adopt a new approach to risk management through private-sector contributions and work to utilize the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.

The future CIP will also focus on infrastructure protection and aid industrial control system operators in an effort to address cyber events such as the Ukraine electric grid attack in December, Spaulding said.

GSA Unveils New Website for Citizen Science & Crowdsourcing; Denise Turner Roth Comments
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GSA Unveils New Website for Citizen Science & Crowdsourcing; Denise Turner Roth Comments


GSAThe General Services Administration and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars have launched a new online hub to facilitate citizen science and crowdsourcing projects in support of the federal government.

Kelly Olson, senior innovation adviser and director of Challenge.gov, wrote in a blog post published Thursday that Citizenscience.gov looks to connect federal agencies to the public in an effort to develop new approaches to address real-world issues.

Denise Turner Roth
Denise Turner Roth

GSA Administrator Denise Turner Roth, who is also an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2016, said the agency hopes to assist its federal partners to address scientific and societal challenges through tools such as Citizenscience.gov.

The site features a project catalog, toolkit and a community of practice for federal crowdsourcing and citizen science, which aim toward public engagement in scientific research and voluntary participation in decision-making, Olson wrote.

She added that those projects also works to provide hands-on learning experiences to the public in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

“Citizenscience.gov was not developed in a vaccuum… It has become a necessity as the field of citizen science expands both inside and outside of government,” Olson said.

GSA and the Wilson Center developed the website in response to a memo from the White House that calls for agencies to explore crowdsourcing and citizen science projects to support their missions.

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Obama to Nominate Susan Beard, Susan Gibson for OIG Roles at DOE & NRO
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Obama to Nominate Susan Beard, Susan Gibson for OIG Roles at DOE & NRO


budget analysis reviewPresident Barack Obama plans to nominate Susan Beard as inspector general at the Energy Department and Susan Gibson for the same position at the National Reconnaissance Office, the White House announced Thursday.

Beard has served as assistant general counsel for general law at DOE over the past 12 years.

She joined the department in 1989 as attorney-adviser and later became deputy assistant general counsel for standards of conduct, information law, legal counsel and general law.

Prior to DOE, she was an attorney at the Federal Election Commission and at Litt & Stormer as well as taught at American University Washington College of Law.

Gibson currently serves as principal deputy general counsel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

She took her current role in 2012 after she served as deputy general counsel for management and as senior associate at the agency.

Before she joined ODNI in 2005, she was assistant general counsel for operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency  and a staff judge advocate at the U.S. Army‘s Criminal Investigation Command.

She also worked for the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps for 22 years before she retired from the military with the rank of colonel in 2007.

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