NASA Conducts Multi-Site Drone Traffic Mgmt Platform Test
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NASA Conducts Multi-Site Drone Traffic Mgmt Platform Test


droneNASA was scheduled Monday to demonstrate unmanned aircraft systems at six Federal Aviation Administration-approved UAS test sites across the U.S. as part of a coordinated test for NASA’s traffic management research platform.

The space agency said Monday its Ames Research Center would fly up to four drones at each location and monitor the flights from a remote location with the UTM system.

The initiative seeks to help non-NASA operators interact with the UTM research platform at various locations and collect information to help the FAA fine-tune the research effort.

UAS testing sites are located in Alaska, North Dakota, Nevada, New York, Maryland and Virginia.

NASA noted that the demonstration marks the first multi-site test of its UTM research platform and the most number of live UAS flights under the research platform.

Senate Panel-Approved FY 2017 Spending Bill Gives $19B to NASA
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Senate Panel-Approved FY 2017 Spending Bill Gives $19B to NASA


BudgetThe Senate Appropriations Committee’s commerce, justice and science panel has approved a fiscal year 2017 spending bill that will provide NASA with a $19.3 billion total budget, Space News reported Tuesday.

Jeff Foust writes that the amount is $21 million more than the space agency’s fiscal 2016 budget and includes $3.45 billion for the Space Launch System and Orion programs — an increase of $180 million from allocations for both projects in the previous year.

“This level makes it possible for the agency to continue supporting ongoing science and exploration missions,” Sen. Richard Shelby, CJS subcommittee chairman, said in the report.

The bill also looks to meet requirements for work on SLS’ Exploration Upper Stage and a crewed SLS/Orion mission by 2021, the report said.

It will also allocate $5.4 billion for science programs, along with $1.18 billion for the Commercial Crew program and $687 million for space technology.

Jeffrey Mervis also reported on Science Magazine that the bill gives the National Science Foundation a $46 million increase to its current $7.46 billion budget, which is below the White House’s request of $500 million additional funds for NSF.

The report noted that more details on the proposed budget will be provided at the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting Thursday.

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Jason Kenney: Canada Should Consider Ballistic Missile Defense Collaboration With U.S.
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Jason Kenney: Canada Should Consider Ballistic Missile Defense Collaboration With U.S.


MissileDefenseFormer Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney has said he believes Canada should participate in a continental ballistic missile defense program if the U.S. requests for it, The Canadian Press reported Wednesday.

Alexander Panetta writes Kenney made his remarks as the Canadian government reviews the country’s military policy.

“This is not about stationing offensive weapons on Canadian soil,” he told the Canadian Press.

“it’s about stationing parts of a defensive system that really bring into the 21st century the [North American Aerospace Defence Command] platform that was conceived of in the 1950s,” he added, according to Panetta’s report.

The U.S. and Canada jointly established NORAD in an effort to track potential aerial threats in the region.

Panetta reports Lt. Gen. Pierre St-Amand, deputy commander of NORAD, said at a parliamentary committee meeting he believes a BMD cooperation between the U.S. and Canada will simplify the command’s structure.

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GSA’s 18F Eyes Continuous System Security Plan Updates Through Compliance Masonry Tool
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GSA’s 18F Eyes Continuous System Security Plan Updates Through Compliance Masonry Tool


digital governmentThe General Services Administration’s 18F organization has developed a tool that aims to help federal information security personnel continuously update their system security plans with code in an effort to manage risks and protect data infrastructure from network intrusions.

Mossadeq Zia, Gabriel Ramirez and Noah Kunin write in a blog post published Friday that the Compliance Masonry tool works to help executives and security operations personnel use searchable content to produce assurance reports.

Compliance Masonry functions as a content management framework designed to handle SSP documentation for 18F’s cloud.gov.

18F also noted that Compliance Masonry is built on open-source software in order to encourage agencies, service providers and developers to use as well as introduce updates to the tool.

Zia, Ramirez and Kunin added that 18F designed the tool based on system component models and OpenControl Schema, which is designed to store SSP documentation and data in machine readable format such as YAML and JSON.

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Terry Halvorsen: DoD’s Network Update Efforts to Focus on JRSS Deployment
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Terry Halvorsen: DoD’s Network Update Efforts to Focus on JRSS Deployment


Terry Halvorsen
Terry Halvorsen

Terry Halvorsen, chief information officer at the Defense Department, has said DoD’s efforts to update its information networks will focus on the deployment of the Joint Regional Security Stacks, DoD News reported Monday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Halvorsen told reporters at a media roundtable event that JRSS is designed to reduce the Pentagon’s potential access points to fewer than 50 in an effort to protect DoD networks from cyber threats.

Halvorsen, an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2016, said that his office will also prioritize the consolidation of data centers and push for the implementation of mobile data access platforms.

He cited such priorities in his written testimony during the March 22 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subpanel.

“At the end of this month we will have released the wireless guide on how to use wireless that will… be more for internal wireless networks,” he said.

“Very rapidly to follow will be our guest network inside the Pentagon, and how to [use] that.”

Halvorsen also told reporters his plans to work on a bill that aims to help DoD attract information technology and cybersecurity professionals through industry partnerships.

NIST Issues 2015 Commerce Department Tech Transfer Stats
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NIST Issues 2015 Commerce Department Tech Transfer Stats


computer-technologyThe National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued the Commerce Department’s technology transfer report for fiscal year 2015 that details such activities of the department’s three laboratories over the 12-month period.

NIST said Monday the department obtained 20 patents out of 30 patent applications, filed 61 invention disclosures, signed 364 research-and-development agreements and published 3,205 scientific and technical papers in fiscal 2015.

The agency itself developed cybersecurity technologies, a method to detect and locate methane leaks and trace explosives testing standards.

In one instance, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration created the H*Wind hurricane and storm surge modeling technology and the flat-screen version of its Science On a Sphere application designed to display Earth weather and climate dynamics.

Also, the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences developed telecommunications standards, engaged in a cooperative R&D agreement to assess light detection and ranging technologies and helped to build video transmission tools.

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Beth Cobert: Agencies Should Continue on Efforts to Fill Skill Gaps for “At Risk” Govt Occupations
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Beth Cobert: Agencies Should Continue on Efforts to Fill Skill Gaps for “At Risk” Govt Occupations


Beth Cobert
Beth Cobert

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Chief Human Capital Officers Council are continuing on their collaboration to address potential skill gaps in what agencies deem as “mission critical” occupations in government, Acting OPM Director Beth Cobert said Friday.

Cobert wrote in a memo to federal agency HR leaders that the partnership aims to bolster “at risk” occupations including economists, HR specialists, auditors, acquisition, cybersecurity and STEM functional area.

OPM will provide guidance and tools for root cause analysis, set targets and develop action plans and outcome-oriented metrics and aid agencies in its skills gap closure objectives.

The CHCO council will also work with occupational leaders that represent each government-wide MCOs to come up with a strategy that will look to discover the causes of an “at risk” occupation.

Each CHCO agency also identified its respective agency-specific MCOs to address for skills gap closure in an effort to meet individual agency mission requirements, Cobert said

The process and evaluation methodology created for skills gap closure includes an agency lead appointment, short and long term strategy development, progress monitoring and other reporting requirements.

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IBM’s Dan Chenok, Matt Spaloss: Cognitive, Cloud Tech Can Transform Govt Service Delivery
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IBM’s Dan Chenok, Matt Spaloss: Cognitive, Cloud Tech Can Transform Govt Service Delivery


Computer-EngineeringDigital transformation through cloud platforms, analytics and cognitive computing will transform the way the government delivers services, IBM executives Dan Chenok and Matt Spaloss wrote in a blog post published Monday.

Chenok and Spaloss said agencies can apply new design thinking and agile methods as they work on efforts to focus on user experience.

Cognitive systems could help the government scale big data and support both analysis and investigation functions, Chenok and Spaloss wrote.

They added President Barack Obama’s $3.1 billion information technology modernization budget request could hep minimize operating costs and spur agencies to allocate savings for modernization initiatives in the future.

Chenok serves as executive director at the IBM Center for the Business of Government and Spaloss is an executive in IBM’s global business services segment.

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DISA’s Roger Greenwell: Diverse Systems Across DoD Makes Network Monitoring a Challenge
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DISA’s Roger Greenwell: Diverse Systems Across DoD Makes Network Monitoring a Challenge


cyberRoger Greenwell, the Defense Information Systems Agency‘s cybersecurity chief, has said the existence of diverse software systems across the Defense Department makes network monitoring a challenge, Fedscoop reported Friday.

Grayson Ullman writes Greenwell told the Intel-sponsored “Security Through Innovation Summit” that every DoD service has a different system which can hold up traditional continuous diagnostics and monitoring functions such as automation.

“We have one of everything. Someone made it, DoD bought it, and we might still be running it today,” Greenwell said.

Greenwell noted one solution could be to revert to some basic principles through the DoD Scorecard initiative, where each service or agency under the department is given a score based on achievements of core cybersecurity tenets.

IRS Launches Crowdsourcing Challenge for Future Website Design
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IRS Launches Crowdsourcing Challenge for Future Website Design


IRSbuildingThe Internal Revenue Service has started off a crowdsourcing challenge to solicit ideas from the public on a new website design the agency believes could help taxpayers navigate the online IRS portal.

The IRS announced the challenge Friday and held the the kickoff meeting for the Tax Design Challenge Sunday in Washington, where participants engaged with policy experts about financial capability challenges and networked with mentors.

A winning participant will receive a $10,000 grand prize award and participants could also win $2,000 for offerings the IRS dubs as “best taxpayer usefulness” or “best financial capability.”

The IRS started the challenge as part of efforts to address issues such as identity theft, unauthorized access and access to interactive services.

Contestants will design the website to map out taxpayer experiences when they search for their information on an IRS portal.

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