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Report: DHS to Open Up Geodata on Critical US Facilities
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Report: DHS to Open Up Geodata on Critical US Facilities


mapThe Department of Homeland Security plans to give the public access to an online repository of location data about government facilities, power plants, mining sites, school buildings and other critical infrastructure assets in the U.S., Fedscoop reported Friday.

Grayson Ullman writes the DHS will open up 250 geospatial datasets catalogued by the Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data working group in an effort to help organizations and citizens prepare for attacks.

The geodata will be available for download via the HIFLD Open Data website, Ullman reports.

DHS and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have produced more than 500 datasets under the HIFLD program with Esri‘s cloud-based mapping technology ArcGIS, the report said.

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Anne Rung: White House Names 11 Category Managers in 10 Federal Procurement Areas
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Anne Rung: White House Names 11 Category Managers in 10 Federal Procurement Areas


Anne Rung
Anne Rung

The White House has appointed 11 category managers who will be responsible for 10 federal acquisition areas as part of the Category Management program.

Federal Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung wrote in a blog post published Thursday that the Category Management initiative launched in 2014 aims to facilitate the federal procurement of products and services in an effort to generate savings and reduce duplicate contracts.

Kim Luke, formerly vice president of strategic growth for the U.S. public sector at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, will serve as category manager for information technology at the Office of Management and Budget.

Tiffany Hixson
Tiffany Hixson

Tiffany Hixson, regional commissioner for the Northwest Arctic region’s federal acquisition service at the General Services Administration, will lead the professional services category.

Jacklyn Smyth, director of the strategic sourcing program office at the Department of Homeland Security, will serve as security and protection category manager.

Rung, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2016, noted that the Obama administration named Mary Ruwwe, regional commissioner for FAS in the Heartland region, as facilities and construction category manager.

George Prochaska, Greater Southwest regional commissioner for FAS, will serve as category manager for industrial products and services.

Jonathan Woodson
Jonathan Woodson

Greg Hammond, Northeast and Caribbean regional commissioner for FAS, will oversee the category for office management.

The White House also appointed Lisa Roberts, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for transportation policy at the Defense Department, as transportation and logistics category manager.

Timothy Burke, director of travel and transportation services at FAS, will manage the travel and lodging category.

Rob Briede, acting training management assistant program manager at the Office of Personnel Management, will serve as human capital products and services category manager.

Jonathan Woodson, assistant defense secretary for health affairs at DoD, will oversee the medical products and services category.

David Shulkin, undersecretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, will also serve as medical products and service category manager.

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IRS to Notify Additional 685K Taxpayers of Data Security Threat
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IRS to Notify Additional 685K Taxpayers of Data Security Threat


IRSbuildingThe Treasury Department‘s inspector general for tax administration has identified an additional 390,000 taxpayer accounts that were potentially affected by a security breach on the Internal Revenue Service‘s Get Transcript online database last year.

TIGTA also found hackers attempted to access the tax return transcripts of another 295,000 people during a further breach investigation that lasted for nine months, IRS said Friday.

The agency halted operations of its Get Transcript application since it discovered the hack in May last year and will send notification mails to the 685,000 individuals beginning Monday.

“IRS is committed to protecting taxpayers on multiple fronts against tax-related identity theft, and these mailings are part of that effort,” noted John Koskinen, commissioner of the IRS.

Individuals whose data were compromised in the agency hack are eligible to receive a one-year identity theft protection service from Equifax.

The agency initially found 334,000 tax return transcripts were accessed by hackers and 281,000 were targeted but not accessed.

Gene Dodaro: GAO Finds Irregularities in Federal Financial Reporting Process
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Gene Dodaro: GAO Finds Irregularities in Federal Financial Reporting Process


Gene Dodaro
Gene Dodaro

The Government Accountability Office has disclosed it was not able to give an opinion on the federal government’s fiscal 2015 consolidated financial statement due to several material weaknesses that the agency has identified during an audit.

“The federal government needs to be able to track all revenues and expenses, as well as its assets and liabilities,” Gene Dodaro, U.S. comptroller general and chief of GAO, said Thursday.

GAO indicated the departments of Defense, Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture did not receive a “clean” opinion on their financial reports for fiscal 2015.

The agency also found uncertainties about the attainment of Medicare cost reduction goals as well as internal control issues in the reporting of improper payments and tax collections.

“More work needs to be done to ensure our policymakers receive the accurate financial information needed to make difficult short-term and long-term spending decisions,” Dodaro added.

He also urged the Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget to guide agencies in their efforts to address financial management and reporting challenges.

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HITRUST Releases NIST Cybersecurity Framework Implementation Guide for Healthcare
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HITRUST Releases NIST Cybersecurity Framework Implementation Guide for Healthcare


medical health doctorThe Health Information Trust Alliance has issued a document meant to guide healthcare organizations on how to implement the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s cybersecurity framework.

HITRUST consulted the Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council and Government Coordinating Council to develop the guide, the American Hospital Association said Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security’s critical infrastructure cyber community and other stakeholders also provided input for the document.

HITRUST said the goal is to help organizations bolster their cyber resiliency and engage with existing information security and privacy practices.

President Obama Increases Minority Business Community Funding in FY 2017 Budget Proposal
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President Obama Increases Minority Business Community Funding in FY 2017 Budget Proposal


Commerce-DepartmentThe Minority Business Development Agency has been allocated $35.6 million in President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2017.

MBDA said Friday the FY 2017 budget request for the agency saw a $3.6 million increase from the FY 2016 allocation.

If approved, the budget will be used to expand services and assistance to eight million minority-owned businesses the agency funds in 29 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, MBDA said.

MBDA offers assistance to minority companies in business consulting, procurement matching and private equity and venture capital sourcing work.

“These additional resources would help us serve an even greater number of minority businesses across the nation,” said Alejandra Castillo, MBDA National Director.

Obama’s FY 2017 budget increase for MBDA aims to open new programs to empower young entrepreneurs and develop three research projects, the agency said.

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James Clapper: US Faces Cyber Espionage, Counterspace Weapon Systems Among Global Threats
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James Clapper: US Faces Cyber Espionage, Counterspace Weapon Systems Among Global Threats


James Clapper
James Clapper

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said the increasing adoption of Internet of Things-based devices and artificial intelligence could both bring new opportunities for intelligence collection and challenges to the U.S.’ cyber defenses.

Clapper said in his testimony Thursday before the House Intelligence Committee that the field of foreign data science has approached maturity.

He noted that foreign countries have launched efforts to create their own publication indices through social media and patent data collection.

Clapper, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2016, said the U.S. continues to encounter threats of cyber espionage from countries such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as well as the Islamic State organization.

“Changes in the space sector will evolve more quickly in the next few years as innovation becomes more ubiquitous, driven primarily by increased availability of technology and growing private company investment,” he noted.

Clapper told the House panel that new private sector companies may work to leverage technological advances in areas such as additive manufacturing and big data analytics in order to enhance access to maritime automatic identification system, imaging and other space-based applications.

He also mentioned the efforts of Russia and China to develop anti-satellite missile systems and counterspace weapon platforms against U.S.-operated space systems.

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DARPA’s Arati Prabhakar: US Can Maintain Military Edge Through Continuous R&D Investments
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DARPA’s Arati Prabhakar: US Can Maintain Military Edge Through Continuous R&D Investments


Arati Prabhakar
Arati Prabhakar

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Director Arati Prabhakar has said the U.S. should continuously invest in science and technology in order to maintain its military advantage as foreign powers strengthen their research and development efforts, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Lisa Ferdinando writes Prabhakar made her remarks at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee Wednesday.

Prabhakar noted the Defense Department and DARPA will work together to establish U.S. advantage “for military and national security purposes” amid the challenges posed by terrorism, violent extremism and cross-border criminal activity.

She also told the subcommittee that a team of approximately 200 employees at DARPA works to address challenges as DoD officials at the hearing called for continued investments in personnel.

Karen Dyson: Army FY 2017 Budget Plan Focuses on Military Readiness
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Karen Dyson: Army FY 2017 Budget Plan Focuses on Military Readiness


BudgetLt. Gen. Karen Dyson, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for financial management and comptroller, has outlined the service’s focus on readiness as a priority in its fiscal year 2017 budget plan.

The U.S. Army’s approximately $148 billion budget request includes approximately $45.2 billion for operations and maintenance funding, the service branch said Tuesday.

Dyson told panelists at an Association of the U.S. Army breakfast that the service wants to address threats posed by the Islamic State group and the activities of Russia, Iran and China.

She said the Army budget must keep the service ready across all military combat operations.

The Army also seeks to invest in new lethality technology for Stryker brigades and fund the modernization for existing combat equipment, Dyson said.

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Army, Engility to Develop Universal Encryptor Chip for Communication Devices
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Army, Engility to Develop Universal Encryptor Chip for Communication Devices


electronics motherboard microchip_EBiz The U.S. Army Materiel Command‘s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center has partnered with an Engility-led team to develop a universal encryptor for all communications devices used by the military.

The Army said Wednesday the Reprogrammable Single Chip Universal Encryptor or RESCUE aims to cancel out the need for numerous cryptographic engine cores to control cost and time spent in the transmission of classified information.

Transmission of sensitive data to and from the U.S. Army requires certification from the National Security Agency — a process that could get lengthy if NSA has to review the entire system each time, the service branch said.

“We expect a product review to take around six months, which is down from the standard time that can last up to about 24 months, more or less, to get a certification for a device,” said Project Lead Donald Coulter.

The Defense Department selected CERDEC to oversee the development of RESCUE since the center’s space and terrestrial communications directorate has the cryptographic research and development capabilities to develop the desired product, the Army said.

The development contract for RESCUE was awarded to Engility in Aug. 21, 2015.

“The contract award for the RESCUE development effort is public, and we will have all the rights with the explicit understanding that whoever wants to do a production contract or who wants to develop a new capability based on this technology — we have everything we need to either utilize it again in its current form, be able to tailor or modify it to reproduce these things,” said Rocio Bauer, CERDEC S&TCD cybersecurity and information assurance division tactical network protection branch chief.

The Army said CERDEC expects RESCUE to be NSA-certified and ready for use by September 2017, but stakeholders that plan to use the encryptor can reach out to CERDEC before then.

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