The White House has proposed a bill that would create a $3.1 billion revolving fund to help federal agencies update their legacy information technology systems and bolster the government’s cybersecurity posture.

U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott, a 2016 Wash100 recipient, wrote in a blog entry posted Friday the White House’s proposal calls for the General Services Administration to oversee a government-wide Information Technology Modernization Fund.

He added the bill would also establish an independent board of experts to help identify agency IT systems that face the highest risk for potential cyber attacks as well as strategies to facilitate adoption of common platforms and cybersecurity best practices across the government.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday he plans to introduce the White House’s legislative ITMF proposal to the lower chamber this week.

The initiative is “a major step toward transforming the way our government invests in upgrading its infrastructure to serve the American people more effectively and to keep their private information safe,” Hoyer added.

Boeing has proposed a new schedule for the production and delivery of the KC-46 tanker aircraft following troubles the company encountered during the development of the first four aircraft.

The Government Accountability Office said Friday Boeing plans to turn over 18 aircraft to the U.S. Air Force by August 2017 and complete operational testing by October 2017.

GAO added that the contractor will deliver the aircraft over six months instead of the initial plan of 14 months.

Boeing will also use its own resources to correct defects that might be discovered later in the production, according to GAO.

GAO is mandated under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 to review the KC-46 program each year through 2017.

Stephen Preston — chairman of law firm WilmerHale defense, national security and government contracts practice – has been selected to join the White House’s Intelligence Advisory board.

Obama announced an intent to appoint Preston for a membership in the president’s intelligence advisory board in a release posted Friday.

Preston has previously served as general counsel for the Defense Department, CIA and U.S. Navy prior to his current stint with WilmerHale.

POTUS has also selected Wendy Sherman, senior counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group, to be part of the intelligence advisory board.

Sherman also currently serves as a senior fellow for Harvard University’s Belfer Center for science and international affairs.

She previously held roles as under secretary of state for political affairs, acting deputy secretary of state and counselor for the State Department.

Sherman was also the president and CEO of the Fannie Mae Foundation and has served on the commission on the prevention of weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism.

NASA has begun work to recover its Kepler satellite after the agency declared it to be in emergency mode about 36 hours prior to a communications session, Space News reported Saturday.

Jeff Foust writes the emergency has disrupted science observations and the cause of the incident remains unclear.

Charlie Sobeck, Kepler mission manager, said spacecraft operators detected the emergency when they communicated with the spacecraft on April 7, according to the report.

Emergency mode means the spacecraft will gain priority access to NASA’s Deep Space Network in order to fast-track restoration of the spacecraft’s control, according to Sobeck.

Kepler is on an extended mission to study areas of the sky in an effort to find extrasolar planets and observe other astronomical phenomena, Foust reports.

Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for installations, energy and the environment, has said one of the focus areas for the installation community is to authorize base realignment and closures in 2017, the Army reported Wednesday.

“We must have authority from Congress to consolidate into our highest-value military bases and divest of low military value or under-utilized facilities,” Hammack said at a “Hot Topics” forum on installation management held March 31 in Washington.

“Today, facilities that are needed to support readiness, to support training exercises, airfields and other priorities are deteriorating because the resources are spent to support installations that could be closed.”

Hammack said another round of BRAC would initially cost $6 billion and would focus on the Army and the U.S. Air Force.

She told forum attendees that another focus area is to communicate how military bases support readiness, the report said.

She also cited the prioritization of projects and programs, creation of partnerships with the private sector and establishment of a model for installations as the other key areas that affect military installations.

The U.S. Naval Forces Command has helped to kick off the International Mine Countermeasures Exercise, a gathering of international naval and civilian maritime forces from six continents and 30 countries in Bahrain.

The event will tackle exercises that train participants to execute a spectrum of defensive operations that works to protect international commerce and trade including mine countermeasures, maritime security, operations and maritime infrastructure protection, the Navy said Monday.

“Our aim in IMCMEX 16 is to conduct exercises with our partner nations that allow us to continue to develop our interoperability and capability to ensure that we are ready to meet potential challenges now and in the future,” said William Warrender, combined maritime forces deputy commander for the British navy.

IMCMEX will feature new technologies such as unmanned underwater vehicles, exercise the USNS Choctaw County sealift capabilities and carry out other operations.