Capitol Hill Week Ahead. The House is slated to take up the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act next week. More than 300 amendments have been submitted, and the Rules Committee on Monday will whittle that down to a more manageable number. One amendment potentially up for debate would strike all procurement-related base expenses in the Overseas Contingency Operations account, while another would cut the third Littoral Combat Ship included in the NDAA passed by the House Armed Services Committee last month.
Presidential Aircraft… The Air Force intends to solicit and award a sole source contract modification to Boeing for Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization (PAR) program preliminary design activities, according to a May 10 announcement posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). The scope of this effort includes, but is not limited to, preliminary design activities required to begin development of two presidential mission-ready aircraft based on two government-furnished Boeing 747-8 aircraft procured under a separate contract action on this contract.
…More PAR. This effort uses the results up through completion of system requirements review and system functional review performed under a separate contract action on this contract. The PAR system consists of two PAR aircraft and associated data, software, support equipment, initial spares, training program, system integration laboratories, mockups, services and support infrastructure. The Air Force wants a capability statement or proposal within 160 days.
Orion Pressure Test. Lockheed Martin and NASA successfully proof-pressure tested the Orion spacecraft’s Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) crew module, according to a company statement. The crew module is outfitted with approximately 850 instruments and is subjected to 1.25 times the maximum pressure the capsule is expected to experience during its deep space missions. This means 20 pounds per square inch (psi) of pressure is distributed over the entire inner surface of the spacecraft trying to burst it from within. As a next step, the team is using phased array technology to inspect all of the spacecraft’s welds in order to ensure there are no defects.
CST-100 Delay. Boeing is delaying a number of its milestones for its CST-100 Commercial Crew effort, according to company spokeswoman Rebecca Regan. Boeing, she says, is going through a number of typical challenges involved with aerospace programs, including issues related to mass, aerodynamic acoustics and loads and additional software requirements levied by NASA. Regan says for aerodynamic acoustics and loads Boeing is looking at a viable design change to test in a wind tunnel soon. She says Boeing will perform at least one tunnel test in May. Additional software work from NASA results in an additional three months’ worth of work, Regan says. As a result, Boeing is pushing back its CST-100 pad abort test to October 2017, its uncrewed flight test in September 2017 and its crewed test flight until February 2018, according to Regan.
Social Media Checks. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Thursday signed a directive codifying federal authority to incorporate publicly available social media information as part of background checks in the security clearance process. “Social media has become an integral, and very public, part of the fabric of most American’s daily lives,” says Bill Evanina, director of ODNI’s National Counterintelligence and Security Center. “We cannot afford to ignore this important open source in our effort to safeguard our secrets, and our nation’s security.”
…Boundaries. The DNI’s office says that Security Executive Agent Directive Five doesn’t require social media checks for background investigations but leaves it to the discretion of an agency head. “Absent a national security concern, or criminal reporting requirement, information pertaining to individuals other than the individual being investigated, even information collected inadvertently, will not be pursued,” says a release from the ODNI. “In addition, investigators may not request, or require, individuals to provide social media passwords, log into a private account or take any action that would disclose non-publicly available social media information.”
…Hill Support. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Committee, says the government’s previous policy of ignoring social media in background investigations “defied common sense.” He’s “glad the ODNI is taking a big step toward fixing such a glaring lapse in our security clearance process.” The ODNI says the new policy follows “a long, deliberative process recognizing the ubiquity of social media and the importance of maintaining privacy and civil liberties.”
New Mission Statement. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson last week released a new, one sentence mission statement for his department that he says “is intended to reflect the views and values of our employees, and to be in their voice, not mine.” The new statement reads: With honor and integrity, we will safeguard the American people, our homeland, and our values. Johnson says he hopes DHS employees see the new statement as “the capstone of our Unity of Effort initiative, and our unifying mission statement for now and long after I and Secretary of Homeland Security.” The department’s previous mission statement ran several sentences and used more than four times as many words.
Sequester Bad. The potential return of sequestration-level budget cuts in fiscal 2018 represents “a clear and present danger” to the Army, says Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Daniel B. Allyn. “For the Army to move forward and address our readiness and modernization shortfalls, the Budget Control Act must be repealed,” Allyn tells a breakfast gathering hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army at its base outside Washington, D.C. Since 2011, the service’s modernization budget has been cut 30 percent, forcing selective upgrades to only the most important existing equipment and vehicles, he says.
Program Performance. Defense acquisition programs that are started and/or baselined when budgets are tight have much worse performance outlooks than programs that are started when money is…‘Obliging,’” Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall tells the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “This is a very strong correlation. … Budgets are tight now, so I’m watching new starts and programs that we are baselining now very carefully to make sure we don’t repeat this history any more than absolutely necessary,” he says. When government dollars run dry and contracts become rarer, industry is encouraged to bid more aggressively, which results in cost and schedule overruns, he says.
Bombs Away. The Senate mark of the 2017 NDAA pours $408 million into the Joint Improvised Explosive Defeat Fund to find ways of disposing of homemade bombs, specifically in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria “and other military operations designated by the Secretary of Defense.” The Army zeroed out the fund in its 2017 request because the mission was assumed by the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency (JIDA), formerly the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Fund (JIEDDO), which are Department of Defense programs.
JSTARS SASC. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is concerned the Air Force won’t use a fixed price contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalization effort. In preparation, the committee, in its fiscal year 2017 bill summary released late Thursday, says it will limit funds for hte program unless the service uses a fixed price contract for EMD and directs development of options to accelerate the program. JSTARS recap is a widely anticipated program as the Air Force anticipates spending roughly $1.2 billion on the program through fiscal year 2020 if the program survives internal budget battles in its current form.
WIN-T Loses. The Army’s warfighter information network-tactical (WIN-T) loses $100 million in funding under the Senate version of the defense authorization bill “as the Army assesses continued technical and operational challenges.” The hit comes on top of a self-imposed cut to the battlefield network program from $696 million in the current fiscal year to $438 million–-plus another $10 million in war funding–-in the Army’s fiscal 2017 budget request.
… As Does DCGS. SASC cut another $93 million from the Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) and directs the service to acquire a non-developmental, commercially-available solution. The developmental intelligence computing network has come under fire from service officials as senior as Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who says the system is fine when used at unit echelons above the brigade level, but is too unwieldy for mobile use by smaller units.
NAVSEA Shake Ups. The current program executive officer for aircraft carriers, Rear. Adm. Thomas Moore, is tapped to lead Naval Sea Systems Command and promoted to vice admiral. Moore will replace Vice Admiral William Hilarides. Taking over as PEO Carriers is Rear. Adm. Brian Antonio, who currently is serving as the program executive officer for littoral combat ships.
Rogers Cyber Visit. Adm. Michael Rogers, head of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, says he visits Silicon Valley three to four times per year because he is trying to learn from the private sector how to recruit, retain, and improve over time a cyber workforce. “I’m trying to learn from all of you. Talk to me about how you generate a workforce. Talk to me about how you retain them. How do you make it agile. How do you ensure that they are relevant over time and not just when you hire them,” Rogers says at the 2016 National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee Meeting held in Santa Clara, Calif.
Darktrace Board. Cybersecurity defense company Darktrace appointed Alan Wade, former Chief Information Officer of the CIA; Lord Evans of Weardale KCB, former Director General of MI5; and Dr, Mike Lynch, OBE, founder of Invoke Capital to the company’s board of advisors. Wade formerly served for 35 years in the CIA. Before serving as CIO, Wade held senior positions including director of communications and director of security. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., and San Francisco, Calif.
Symantec VP Leaves. Cheri McGuire, Symantec vice president for global government affairs and cybersecurity policy for almost six years, was named Chief information Security Officer (CISO) of Standard Chartered Bank. The position reports to the Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) Michael Gorriz. McGuire’s new role includes cybersecurity governance, strategy, regulatory engagement, policy development, training and awareness, industry stakeholder partnerships, as well as responsibility for the bank’s information security monitoring and vulnerability assessments. Previously she was director for critical infrastructure and cybersecurity at Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group and Deputy Director of the DHS National Cyber Security Division and US-CERT.
Cyber Law Firm. April Doss, former associate general counsel for intelligence law at the NSA, is joining the Saul Ewing LLP law firm as partner to lead the group’s cybersecurity and privacy practice. Doss will advise clients on privacy and cybersecurity issues including counseling related to privacy regulations, drafting privacy and security policies, cybersecurity preparedness, and security incident response. “April’s reputation in the cybersecurity space is stellar, and we are thrilled that she decided to join our team,” Barry Levin, managing partner of the firm, says in a statement. “Having April at the helm adds even more credibility to our practice,” he adds.
Enterprise CENTCOM Contract. The U.S. Army awarded Vectrus Systems Corp. a $174 million contract modifcation for enterprise network capabilities and support to U.S. Central Command. Army FY ’16 operations and maintenance funds of the full modification amount are obligated at award time. Work is to be performed in Kuwait, Qatar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan. The estimated completion date is May 31, 2018. The contracting activity is Army Contracting Command, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.
Multinational Info Sharing. The Army awarded Raytheon a $14.2 million firm-fixed-price, multi-year contract with options for multinational information sharing services. The award is the result of one bid solicited and one received. Army FY ’16 operations and maintenance funds of $7 million is obligated at award time, The contract work will be performed in Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, Iraq, and Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. The estimated completion date is Feb. 15, 2017. The contracting activity is Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Ill.
International Cyber. Marcus Jadotte, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Analysis, will lead 14 U.S. cybersecurity companies on a three country business development mission to East Asia from May 16-24. The delegation is set to visit Tokyo, Japan;, Seoul, South Korea; and Taipei, Taiwan to meet with regional government and local business leaders. The mission will promote U.S. companies’ expertise in information and communication technology (ICT). Companies represented include Air Informatics, Carbon Black, Cisco Systems, Darktrace, Data Locker, Fire Eye, Lockheed Martin, Palo Alto Networks, Raytheon, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Security Innovation, Sentek Global, Tanium, and UL.
GW Cyber. Scott White is becoming the new director of George Washington University’s (GWU) Bachelor’s Degree Completion Program in Cybersecurity starting June 1. The program is aimed at working adults with associate’s or non-technical bachelor’s degrees and prepares students for entry-level positions as well as advancement in the technology security field. White previously served as director of the Computing and Security Technology Program and associate professor of national security at Drexel University. White will also lead development of the GW Cyber Academy.