Report: Army to Start Active, Reserve Units Integration Project
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Report: Army to Start Active, Reserve Units Integration Project


army stock photoThe U.S. Army will begin to test a concept of combining active-duty and reserve components this summer as the military service aims to maximize the utilization of its manpower, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

Jared Serbu writes the Army’s Associated Units initiative is based upon a U.S. Air Force multicomponent force strategy meant to help its airmen share piloting and maintenance operations at a military air base.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told House Armed Services Committee members during a hearing last week that an integrated active-reserve component will undergo professional development and field training programs.

“What we’re trying to do is put teeth behind the idea of ‘total force’ and make that real,” Milley added to the committee, the station reports.

The report said the branch will combine members of the Task Force 1-28 at Fort Benning, Georgia, with those of  the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team under the pilot project and plans to expand the units integration effort to 11 other bases of the Army later.

Air Force to Decommission 2 GPS Satellites
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Air Force to Decommission 2 GPS Satellites


satelliteThe U.S. Air Force has started to dispose of two global positioning system satellites in an effort to reduce GPS constellation risks due to underperformance.

The 50th Space Wing said March 16 space operators from the 2nd and 19th Space Operations Squadrons are conducting disposal operations for satellite vehicle numbers 37 and 40.

The satellites have both reached at least double their design life of seven and a half years.

“We are always working to efficiently manage the constellation to ensure we continue to provide the most accurate signal possible to our worldwide users,” said Maj. Roland Rainey, 2nd Space Operations Squadron director of operations.

Rainey noted that the unit will decommission the satellites to ensure the health and safety of operational vehicles and their ability to deliver services to customers.

SVN 37 and SVN 40 — which were launched in 1993 and 1996, respectively — will be relocated to a disposal orbit at an estimated 1,000 kilometers above the operational GPS orbit, the report said.

50 SW added that the Defense Department‘s acquisition of four new satellites in January 2015 allowed the units to replace what it called the “least effective” satellites.

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UMass Amherst’s Jane Fountain: Next Administration Should Promote Shared Services, Designate COO at White House
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UMass Amherst’s Jane Fountain: Next Administration Should Promote Shared Services, Designate COO at White House


WhiteHouseJane Fountain, a political science and public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, has said the next U.S. administration should establish within the transition team a group that will work to address policy implementation and management concerns.

Fountain wrote in a March 2016 report that such a group should be created in a way that adheres to cross-agency goals in order for the next president to build and manage an enterprise government.

She said the next president should advance the use of shared services in acquisitions, financial management and information technology, among other areas, in order to improve the federal government’s operations.

She also recommended that the upcoming administration assign a chief operating officer at the White House who will oversee the establishment of an implementation strategy for enterprise mission-focused goals.

The White House COO should also help facilitate “shared ownership” for mission-focused outcomes through collaboration with the Office of Management Budget to link the president’s policy councils with other agencies such as the Office of Personnel Management and the General Services Administration, the report said.

Fountain made the recommendations based on a roundtable discussion that the IBM Center for the Business of Government and the Partnership for Public Service hosted in September 2015 as part of their efforts to develop a management road map for the next administration.

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FBI Adds 2 ‘Syrian Electronic Army’ Hackers to Cyber Most Wanted List
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FBI Adds 2 ‘Syrian Electronic Army’ Hackers to Cyber Most Wanted List


cyberFBI has included two hackers who are members of the group known as the “Syrian Electronic Army” to the agency’s Cyber’s Most Wanted list.

The bureau said Tuesday it has added Ahmed “The Pro” Al Agha and Firas “The Shadow” Dardar — both believed to be residing in Syria — to its cyber most wanted list and is offering up to $100,000 in reward for information that could lead to the targets’ arrest.

The U.S. District Court has called on the arrest of the two suspects along with another conspirator named Peter “Pierre” Romar for the hijack of government and military social media accounts and websites and the extortion of U.S. businesses to ransom computer data, FBI added.

“These complaints serve to tear down the perceived impunity surrounding their hacking activities and expose the SEA membership’s true colors,” John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security, said in a statement.

Paul Abbate, assistant director in charge of FBI’s Washington field office, added the SEA members support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and aim to achieve personal monetary gain through their hacking activities.

The bureau currently works with other law enforcement agencies, NASA‘s Office of the Inspector General and the State Department‘s Bureau of Diplomatic Security in the continued investigation.

Border Patrol Approves Integrated Fixed Towers for Operations; Ronald Vitiello Comments
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Border Patrol Approves Integrated Fixed Towers for Operations; Ronald Vitiello Comments


Border PatrolThe U.S. Border Patrol has confirmed the Integrated Fixed Tower program for further deployment as part of efforts to address operational requirements and protect the U.S. border.

Border Patrol announced the certification of the IFTs in a memo sent to the Congress’ appropriations committee and lead acquisition officer on March 1, the Customs and Border Protection agency said Tuesday.

“This decision is based on a review of test results and agent feedback from the IFT deployment in Nogales, Arizona,” said Ronald Vitiello, acting chief of the Border Patrol.

The agency authorized the tower system as part of the 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

IFTs are surveillance towers that use a suite of sensors to detect and identify objects and individuals that enter the U.S. border.

Elbit Systems of America was selected in February 2014 to build the fixed towers for CBP.

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CBO: Insider Threat Mitigation Bill Would Not Affect DHS Spending
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CBO: Insider Threat Mitigation Bill Would Not Affect DHS Spending


BudgetThe Congressional Budget Office has said a proposed House bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to set up a program to safeguard DHS networks from insider threats would not affect the department’s net direct spending.

CBO said in a report published Monday the Department of Homeland Security Insider Threat and Mitigation Act of 2016 lacks private sector or intergovernmental mandates based on the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

The implementation of the proposed bill would not result in an increase of “on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2027” and would not have an impact on the local, state and tribal government budgets, according to the report.

The agency noted that the current cost estimate is the same with the previous document it submitted to the House Committee on Homeland Security in October 2015 for the 2015 version of the proposed legislation.

CBO prepared the cost estimate as per the request of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in February.

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Mike Horton: DHS OIG Eyes Data Center Move to Federal Cloud System
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Mike Horton: DHS OIG Eyes Data Center Move to Federal Cloud System


cloudITThe Department of Homeland Security‘s Office of Inspector General looks to migrate its local data center infrastructure to a federal cloud computing platform as part of an information technology modernization initiative, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

Jason Miller writes Mike Horton, chief information officer at DHS OIG, said he aims to accelerate the transmission of data across the organization’s network with cloud technology.

Horton told Federal News Radio he also plans to transfer the office’s public-facing website from a private cloud system to a public cloud as well as add new collaboration tools to its email as a service.

He added DHS OIG began to accept proposals for the planned private-to-public cloud migration of its website and could award a contract later this year, Miller reports.

The report said the organization also seeks to implement the LINK and SharePoint collaboration tools in its data center.

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IRS Seeks to Improve Tax Info Presentation Through Crowdsourcing Design Contest
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IRS Seeks to Improve Tax Info Presentation Through Crowdsourcing Design Contest


TaxFormThe Internal Revenue Service has launched a crowdsourcing competition that seeks to develop novel ways to present tax information to taxpayers in an effort to help them understand the data as well as their tax responsibilities.

IRS said Tuesday in a Federal Register notice the Tax Design Challenge also aims to enhance the visual layout of tax information and help taxpayers manage their personal finances through the use of such data.

A review panel will pick the winning designs based on overall appeal, taxpayer usefulness, financial capability, information density, accessibility and visual hierarchy.

IRS and the Mortgage Bankers Association will confer cash prizes to recipients of Overall Design, Best Taxpayer Usefulness and Best Financial Capability awards.

Electronic submissions for the challenge will be accepted from April 17 through May 10, according to the notice.

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US Army Delays Airborne Brigade Conversion Plan
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US Army Delays Airborne Brigade Conversion Plan


military in trainingThe U.S. Army has paused its plan to convert the airborne brigade combat team in the Pacific into a smaller task force in an effort to help address global threats, Army Times reported Tuesday.

Michelle Tan writes the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based in Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, was one of two brigades set for conversion as the Army announced in July 2015 amid budget cuts.

“Given continued Russian aggression, the nuclear provocations of North Korea, and the continued threat from ISIL, we need this capability,” said Patrick Murphy, acting Army secretary.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February that he wants at least a one-year delay to the plan to convert the brigade, according to the report.

Milley said at the time his recommendation was based on a study that suggested concerns over Russian aggression in Europe and the Arctic, Tan reports.

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Report: South Korea Talks Potential THAAD System Deployment with Pentagon
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Report: South Korea Talks Potential THAAD System Deployment with Pentagon


MissileDefenseThe Defense Department and South Korea have begun talks to consider potential deployment of a U.S.-made anti-ballistic missile system as part of security efforts on the Korean peninsula, Yonhap News reported Wednesday.

Chang Jae-soon writes Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told House Armed Services Committee members during a hearing Tuesday that DoD and South Korea will evaluate the feasibility of implementing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense platform in the region.

“I should say the reason for that is to be able to protect the entirety of the peninsula against North Korean missiles of greater range,” Carter said to the committee.

THAAD, designed and manufactured by Lockheed Martin, works to intercept and destroy incoming ballistic missile threats.

According to Reuters, China is concerned that the missile defense system’s radar could target the country.

The report said Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department‘s undersecretary for arms control and international security, said the U.S. seeks to engage in a meeting with the Chinese government to address China’s concerns about the planned THAAD deployment in South Korea.

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