Heidi Shyu, undersecretary for research and engineering at the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, has announced the formation of a new task force within the Defense Science Board to help identify weapon system and operational concepts as part of efforts to regain the U.S. military’s operational superiority.

The task force on strategic options will focus on several areas, including advanced undersea assets and operational concepts, use of cyber weapons, development of new countermeasures for electronic warfare and new uses of space systems, Shyu said in a memo published Tuesday.

“Additional considerations should include the adversary’s use of countermeasures to undermine U.S. dominance in the air, space, sea and cyber domains,” the memo reads.

The task force will present its findings and recommendations to DSB for discussion and deliberation through a public meeting.

Shyu said she will sponsor the task force, which will begin the study period within 30 days of the initial appointment of its members and will gain access to DOD officials and data to support its activities.

“In no event will the duration of the Task Force exceed 24 months from the start date,” the memo states.

Software company Micro Focus has earned recognition from the IDC Marketscape product assessment organization for its unified endpoint management programs in several categories that highlight their various impacts.

Bestowed with the “Leader” designation in the international UEM market for small and midsize businesses, Micro Focus’ new honor marks its efforts to serve the SMB market with technologies that allow organizations to manage data securely from various endpoints, the Berkshire, United Kingdom-based company said Thursday.

Rick Carlson, vice president in the information management and governance solutions division at Micro Focus, interpreted the IDC Marketscape results as a sign that the company is satisfying the needs of a workforce trending toward remote work and the desires of some companies to streamline the technology they implement.

Through features and capabilities including patch management verification, asset management, endpoint security, service desk software and data analytics, Micro Focus’ UEM products are seen as a potentially beneficial tool for remote workers. The IDC Marketscape report praised their ZENworks platform for its ability to administer devices in disparate locations through location detection and making consequent adjustments to applications and restrictions.

Additionally, IDC Marketscape labeled Micro Focus a “Major Player” in the categories of UEM software worldwide, UEM for ruggedized / Internet-of-Things device deployments and UEM for Apple devices.

Micro Focus’ offerings are targeted primarily to information technology businesses with small or medium staff sizes, due to the fact that their UEM products often streamline multiple IT practices into one program. The IDC Marketscape evaluation singled out their UEM platforms for their favorable comparison to “over-the-air UEM Windows management tools that rely only on the MDM protocol for modern PC management.”

In June, Micro Focus released a new version of its Network Operations Management program to the public, which featured reconfigured troubleshooting, dashboards and reporting functions of the OPTIC Data Lake.

The Department of the Treasury is soliciting public comments, recommendations and insights on the implications of the development and use of digital assets as well as financial market and payment infrastructure changes for U.S. consumers, businesses and investors.

The Treasury will use public input to inform its report in compliance with an executive order signed in March that outlines a national policy for digital assets to protect U.S. consumers, businesses and investors, safeguard financial stability and mitigate illicit finance, among other goals, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday.

The agency is asking interested stakeholders to respond to several questions regarding the current adoption of digital assets and factors that would facilitate mass adoption; opportunities from digital assets for consumers, investors and businesses; risks arising from current market conditions in digital assets; potential risks to consumers, investors, and businesses that may arise through engagement with digital assets; and impact on the most vulnerable.

For opportunities from digital assets for U.S. customers, companies and investors, the department is requesting insights on potential benefits of decentralized and disintermediated systems and development of new types of financial products and contracts.

Comments are due Aug. 8.

The Treasury announced Thursday that it submitted to the White House a framework for international engagement on digital assets in accordance with the March executive order.

According to the framework, the U.S. will continue to collaborate with foreign partners on standards for the development of central bank digital currencies and digital payment architectures to mitigate payment inefficiencies and ensure that new payment platforms are in line with U.S. legal requirements and values.

The framework outlines how the U.S. government will work with the G7, G20, Financial Stability Board, Financial Action Task Force, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, standard-setting bodies and other international organizations to address digital asset issues.

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., a three-time Wash100 Award winner, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate social media platform TikTok and its parent company ByteDance in light of recent reports that people in China have been accessing U.S. users’ private data.

The lawmakers aired concerns over TikTok’s misrepresentation of its corporate governance practices after a news report revealed that engineering teams at the social media platform report to ByteDance leadership in China, Rubio’s office said Wednesday.

“In light of this new report, we ask that your agency immediately initiate a Section 5 investigation on the basis of apparent deception by TikTok, and coordinate this work with any national security or counterintelligence investigation that may be initiated by the U.S. Department of Justice,” the senators wrote in a July 5 letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan.

The lawmakers also cited the vulnerability of users’ data to extrajudicial access by Chinese security services since updates to the platform’s privacy policy indicate that TikTok may be gathering faceprints, voiceprints and other biometric data.

Warner and Rubio serve as chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, respectively.