ABC News: State Dept Addresses Potential Risk to Database After Internal Cyber Review
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ABC News: State Dept Addresses Potential Risk to Database After Internal Cyber Review


cybersecurityThe State Department has discovered after an internal cyber defenses review discovered the agency’s Consular Consolidated Database could be compromised because of security gaps in the agency’s system, ABC News reported Thursday.

Mike Levine and Justin Fishel write the review found cyber attackers could potentially target and manipulate over half a billion visa records containing personal information regarding photographs, fingerprints, Social Security and other numbers.

According to ABC, there are no reported incidents nor any detected breaches regarding the CCD and department officials question the capability of possible adversaries to access of exploit data.

ABC also said that “fail-safes” are integrated in the system along with continuous oversight of the CCD such as background checks and in-person interviews.

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FAA Expands Web-Based Registration System to Drones for Commercial, Public Use; Michael Huerta Comments
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FAA Expands Web-Based Registration System to Drones for Commercial, Public Use; Michael Huerta Comments


droneThe Federal Aviation Administration has expanded the use of an online registration system to owners of small unmanned aerial systems that use UAS for public, commercial and other operations other than as model aircraft.

The FAA launched the web-based system in December and initially required owners of model drones to register using the online tool

“Registration is an important tool to help us educate aircraft owners and safely integrate this exciting new technology into the same airspace as other aircraft operations,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said Thursday.

In addition to the registration process, the FAA will also require drone owners that operate small UAS for non-model uses to secure a public authorization certificate or a 333 exemption.

Owners will pay a registration fee of $5 and get a certificate with a validity period of three years for each registered UAS.

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NIST Creates Programming Language to Help Automate Genetic Circuit Design
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NIST Creates Programming Language to Help Automate Genetic Circuit Design


DNAThe National Institute of Standards and Technology has partnered with Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to test a programming language meant to help biological engineers design DNA-encoded circuits.

NIST said Friday the agency-led research team developed and used the Cello program during an experiment to customize as many as 60 genetic circuits with various sensory and response functions.

One of those circuits comprises seven logic gates and nearly 12,000 DNA base pairs, the agency noted.

“Ultimately, our goal is to develop a suite of measurement tools that can be used across labs and enable predictive engineering of organisms,” said David Ross, engineering biology team lead at NIST.

NIST researchers have employed a fluorescence microscopy technique to measure each gene circuit’s signal strength as part of the agency’s research initiative with MIT and Boston University.

The agency believes the Cello programming language can aid in the design of bacterial cells for producing cancer drugs or yeast cells for halting a buildup of toxic by-products.

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USNI News: Vice Adm Jan Tighe to Be Nominated Info Warfare Deputy CNO
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USNI News: Vice Adm Jan Tighe to Be Nominated Info Warfare Deputy CNO


Jan_Tighe
Vice Adm. Jan Tighe

Vice Adm. Jan Tighe, commander of the U.S. Navy 10th Fleet and Fleet Cyber Command, will be nominated to replace Vice Adm. Ted Branch as the deputy chief naval officer for information warfare, USNI News reported Friday.

Sam LaGrone writes Tighe will succeed Rear Adm. Elizabeth Train, whose nomination to succeed Branch has been withdrawn by the Navy.

USNI News reports Train, National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office head and Office of Naval Intelligence commander, will likely retire from the military.

The Defense Department has announced Rear Adm. Robert Sharp as Train’s successor at ONI and the NMIO.

Tighe assumed her current role in April 2014 after service in Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One, naval information warfare activity and Naval Security Group activities in Florida, Virginia and Japan.

She has also served in roles at organizations such as Headquarters of the Pacific Fleet, Naval Security Group, Naval Network Warfare Command and U.S. Cyber Command.

ODNI: Intelligence Community Unveils New Website for Job Seekers
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ODNI: Intelligence Community Unveils New Website for Job Seekers


Office of the Director of National Intelligence ODNIThe U.S. Intelligence Community has unveiled a website aimed at job seekers who are interested in launching a career in the IC.

IntelligenceCareers.gov features videos and interactive tools designed to educate individuals on the different careers and types of intelligence involved within 17 agencies and organizations under the federation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Wednesday.

The website has a job exploration tool for students and professionals with educational background in science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as those in the fields of business, human resources and law enforcement, ODNI said.

The agency added that IntelligenceCareers.gov also contains application process, security clearances and descriptions of government service benefits on top of featured job and internship opportunities.

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Navy Rear Adm. Sean Filipowski Named Signal Intell Directorate Deputy Director at NSA
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Navy Rear Adm. Sean Filipowski Named Signal Intell Directorate Deputy Director at NSA

 

Sean Filipowski
Sean Filipowski

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Sean Filipowski, senior military adviser for cyber and defense undersecretary for policy, has been appointed deputy director of the signal intelligence directorate at the National Security Agency.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, announced Filipowski’s new assignment in a Defense Department news release published Friday.

The 34-year Navy veteran started his career in the service branch as a submarine strategic weapons system officer and became an information warfare officer in 1987.

His previous roles as a flag officer include deputy director of operations and director of intelligence at the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of electronic and cyber warfare for the Navy’s Information Dominance Corps.

Filipowski was former commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Staff, Navy Information Operations Command Georgia, and the Naval Security Group Activity Yokosuka in Japan.

 

Wash Biz Journal: GSA Restarts Search for New TSA HQ
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Wash Biz Journal: GSA Restarts Search for New TSA HQ


ContractSigning

The General Services Administration has restarted its search for a new Transportation Security Administration headquarters after a federal court rescinded GSA’s selection of Victory Center in Alexandria to house TSA, the Washington Business Journal reported Friday.

TSA had initially planned to move into the Victory Center in 2018 but its transition to new headquarters will be delayed until mid-2020 following an amended solicitation to identify a new site, according to the report by Daniel Sernovitz.

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Charles Lettow nullified the GSA’s lease with Victory Center after identifying an excess in space limits required by Congress, the publication said.

GSA could extend TSA’s lease at 601 and 701 S. 12th St. in Pentagon City as the search for a new space continues, Sernovitz reports.

Submissions for the solicitation to find a new site will close on April 14, according to the Business Journal.

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DoD Picks MIT-Led Consortium to Establish National Fabrics Manufacturing Innovation Hub
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DoD Picks MIT-Led Consortium to Establish National Fabrics Manufacturing Innovation Hub


research and development RDThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology will lead an industry consortium tasked to build a manufacturing innovation institute for functional fabrics under a partnership agreement with the Defense Department.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday the 89-member Advanced Functional Fabrics of America alliance will receive as much as $317 million in federal and private-sector funds to help DoD establish and manage a Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute.

“This is a pioneering field combining fibers and yarns with… flexible integrated circuits, LEDs, solar cells,electronic sensors and other capabilities,” Carter told an audience during his speech Friday at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

According to DoD, the MIT-led manufacturing innovation institute will focus on exploring technologies to facilitate the production of fabric materials for military and commercial applications.

The Revolutionary Fibers & Textiles Manufacturing Innovation Institute will be built to help produce storage and power-generation shelters, energy-saving vehicle filters and warfighter uniforms that can work to monitor body temperature as well as detect chemical and radioactive agents.

It will mark the eighth institute under the government’s National Network for Manufacturing Innovation.

DoD noted it helps manage five existing institutes focused on three-dimensional printing, lightweight metals, integrated photonics, digital manufacturing and flexible hybrid electronics.

White House Reports Continued Manufacturing Sector Progress in US
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White House Reports Continued Manufacturing Sector Progress in US


WhiteHouseManufacturing in the U.S. under President Barack Obama has continued to progress in terms of job availability and investments in public-private partnerships, the White House said Friday.

National Economic Council Director Jeffrey Zients wrote that several factors have affected the “revitalization” of the manufacturing industry such as POTUS’ National Network for Manufacturing Innovation campaign in 2012 that helped grow exports by 39 percent since 2009 and open 900,000 jobs in manufacturing.

Other developments such as the construction of the Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles Manufacturing Institute sprung from over $600 million in federal investments that assisted the development of fabrics and textiles, the report said.

These textiles can be integrated in firefighter gear and other military uses like lightweighting fabric.

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Navy Appoints Rear Adm. Robert Sharp to Head Naval Intell Operations
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Navy Appoints Rear Adm. Robert Sharp to Head Naval Intell Operations


NavyC5ISRNavy Rear Adm. Robert Sharp, a special assistant to the commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, has been chosen to lead the organization that works to manage U.S. strategic, operational and tactical maritime data.

The Navy will also assign him as director of the National Maritime Intelligence Integration Office, the Defense Department said Friday.

As ONI commander, he will supervise the organization’s active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel who collect and disseminate intelligence related to the proliferation of naval weapons as well as transnational maritime threats and activities to the Navy, joint military forces and government agencies.

He will also oversee NMIO‘s efforts to identify and address challenges to maritime threat information sharing between U.S. intelligence agencies and partner organizations globally.

The 28-year military veteran previously directed intelligence activities at the U.S. Special Operations Command, the U.S. Central Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, the Naval Forces Central Command’s Maritime Operations Center and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

Sharp also led an interagency team of intelligence professionals for the Navy’s special operations task force during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

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