Navy Reforms. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer earlier this month told reporters that 78 of 110 recommendations made by the Strategic Readiness Review and Comprehensive Review have been implemented. Those reviews were set up in the aftermath of four Naval mishaps in the Pacific theater, two of them involving deadly destroyer collisions with civilian vessels. Spencer said this does not mean they have all been completed but “It means they’ve been implemented. Some have been corrected.” He added that up to 60 of the recommendations are binary, so once finished they will remain, like the completed recommendation of turning on the automatic identification system when crossing high traffic areas.
…Others Take Time. However, Spencer said other measures will take more time. Becoming a more fast-learning organization will take a two to three-year cultural change, he said. “Others are longer-term cultural, long-term fixes to what we’re doing.” He compared finishing changes to a meat grinder. “There’s only so much volume I can put in a meat grinder to get it out.” Spencer also acknowledged an absorption rate issue because only so many changes can be sent to the fleet at once. “And you really want them to absorb A, absorb B, absorb C. You don’t want them to absorb 30 percent of each.” The Navy needs to manage reform completion because time and money spent on finishing one change is being balanced with manpower and dollars in future years, Spencer said.
Air Force Wants New Airborne Radios. The Air Force on Friday released a request for information for a new wide-band high-frequency radio that could replace the ARC-190 system currently flown on multiple aircraft. The notice, released via FedBizOpps (FBO), notes that the ARC-190 developed by Rockwell Collins is going out of production in 2019 and has obsolescence issues. The Air Force is seeking options to either replace the radio entirely or modify current systems that would mitigate the issues. New production units are to be installed no later than 2024.The ARC-190 is currently fielded on various bombers, transport aircraft and aerial refueling platforms, as well as the E-8 airborne battle management aircraft, the F-15E fighter jet, the HH-60 combat search-and-rescue helicopter and Air Force One. Responses are due by Sept. 17. An industry day is slated for fall 2018.
F-35 Equipment. The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin $302 million for ancillary mission equipment for low-rate initial production Lot 12 F-35 aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense participants, and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. The award was made under a previous basic ordering agreement and the work will occur in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be finished by Jan. 2021. The full funding was obligated at award time and is split between $110 million for the Air Force, $102 million for non-DoD participants, $50 million for the Marine Corps, $31 million for FMS, and $9 million for the Navy.
LCS-23 Keel. Lockheed Martin said its team laid the keel for the Navy’s latest Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship, the future USS Cooperstown (LCS-23) during a ceremony at shipbuilder Fincantieri Marinette Marine’s facility in Wisconsin. LCS-23 is one of eight ships in production at the shipyard.
ONR Partnership. The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Research Laboratory, and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) agreed on an Education Partnership Agreement (EPA) in late July to encourage studies in science, ONR said last week. The main focus of the five-year EPA will be to cultivate student interest and expertise in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related disciplines, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). This includes working on AI-related disciplines as they apply to missions like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The initial agreement will allow CMU students and employees to use state of-the-art facilities and equipment and expose the Navy to academic community ideas while partnering in the education and development of future scientists and engineers.
SOUTHCOM Appointment. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced the appointment of Vice Adm. Craig Faller to the rank of admiral and assignment as commander of U.S. Southern Command. If confirmed, Faller would succeed current commander Adm. Kurt Tidd. Faller has served as senior military assistant to Mattis since Jan. 2017. Previous assignments included command of Carrier Strike Group 3, deputy chief of naval operations (Plans, Policy and Operations), commander of Navy Recruiting Command, executive assistant to the commander of U.S. Pacific Command and Central Command, and director of Operations at Central Command.
New IARPA Chief. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats named Dr. Stacey Dixon to be the next director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, which pursues high-risk, high-payoff research programs for the intelligence community. Dixon, who has been deputy director of IARPA since Jan. 2016 after serving as a deputy director for research and development at the National Geospatial –Intelligence Agency (NGA), is succeeding Jason Matheny who is stepping down after three hears leading the agency. She has also led NGA’s congressional and intergovernmental affairs, was on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee, and worked for the CIA under assignment to the National Reconnaissance Office’s Advanced Systems and Technology Directorate.
FBI Appointments. FBI Director Christopher Wray made several leadership appointments last week, including naming Amy Hess as the new executive assistant director of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, overseeing the Criminal Investigative, Critical Incident Response, Cyber, International Operations and Victim Services Divisions. Hess most recently was the special agent in charge of the Louisville Division, and prior to that led the agency’s Science and Technology Branch. Wray also named Matt Gorham to lead the Cyber Division. Most recently, Gorham was special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division. Wray also named Brian Boetig as assistant director of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, following an assignment as legal attaché for the agency’s London office.
New Cyber Law. President Donald Trump on Aug. 14 signed into law a congressional act that requires the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide resources to help small businesses “identify, assess, manage, and reduce their cybersecurity risks” voluntarily. The NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act (S. 770) says the resources must be technology-neutral and that they must be “prominently available” on the public websites of the agency and other relevant federal agencies.
Election Security Help. The cyber security software firm McAfee is offering state election officials a free, one-year license to its main cloud security product, Skyhigh Security Cloud. The company says the product can be used to secure citizen and voter data in both Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure cloud networks.
Cooperation with Vietnam. The U.S. has built a robust security relationship with Vietnam over the past several years as the countries collaborate in the Indo-Pacific region, a U.S. State Department report released Wednesday said. Since 2012, Vietnam has received over $55 million in bilateral State Department-funded security assistance from the U.S. under the foreign military funding program. It also received a refurbished U.S. Coast Guard cutter in the first major defense transfer between the two countries, and acquired 24 Metal Shark fast patrol boats through the program, half of which were delivered as of April 2018. The State Department has authorized $25 million in direct commercial sales to Vietnam from 2012 through 2017, with over $15 million of that total coming in the last two years. The Defense Department also provided Vietnam with over $16 million in additional assistance in FY ’17 and FY ‘18 to “assist Vietnam in enhancing its maritime capacity,” according to the report.