Cyber Successes. The sharing of information about cyber security threats is showing success among various sectors of the U.S. economy, according to a new paper by faculty at the Univ. at Albany-State Univ. of New York. The authors said that “when we begin to see successes across industries, across organization types, and across times, it begins to look like these success stories are not just stand alone tales, but rather part of a broader process of improving the cybersecurity environment.” The report lists more than a dozen success stories, including one between two unnamed defense contractors. It said after cyber attackers breached one company’s network, the company informed others in the defense industry, leading to another company finding similar malicious activity on its network and allowing it to mitigate the threat. “The second defense contractor was only able to conclude this diagnosis and mitigation as quickly, because a competitor shared this information with it,” said the report, Success Stories in Cybersecurity Information Sharing
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DPA Funds. The Pentagon has announced two new Defense Production Act Title III actions aimed at supporting the aviation and shipbuilding industries, with a $22 million agreement with Rolls- Royce to maintain domestic production capacity for propellers used for Navy shipbuilding programs and $14.9 million with Amfuel to expand production of military grade fuel bladders and auxiliary systems for U.S. military aircraft. “Rolls-Royce intends to expand its existing facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi to install a number of state-of-the-art machine tools to support production of propellers for all shipbuilding programs, reduce production risks and increase throughput,” DoD officials wrote in a statement. “Over the next 36 months, the $22 million government investment will sustain and expand critical domestic industrial base capability for propeller machining capacity. The Rolls-Royce Foundry will continue to be one of only two facilities capable of supplying the U.S. Navy with this capacity. For Amfuel, DoD said the DPA Title III funds to increase production “will ensure the U.S. government receives dedicated long-term domestic industrial capacity to meet the needs of the nation.”
Virus Killing Bins. The Transportation Security Administration is surveying the market for small businesses that can provide universal bin trays to hold travelers’ personal belongings that are being put through new computed tomography (CT)-based checkpoint scanners for carry-on bags. But in the COVID-19 era, the agency doesn’t want any old vessel for travelers to put their bag. TSA’s specifications for the trays include antimicrobial and antiviral coatings.
…CT Update. Separately, a TSA spokesman told Defense Daily that deployments of checkpoint CT systems resumed beginning June 1 after about a two-month stoppage as the agency sorted out its plans as the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. So far, 133 systems have been deployed at 44 airports around the country. Smiths Detection, which is supplying its HI-SCAN 6040 CTiX systems, is working under a $97 million contract to provide the agency with 300 of the systems that are expected to finish being deployed this year. TSA is preparing a new competition for additional CT systems and is expected to eventually purchase around 2,200 new checkpoint scanners.
LHA-7. The Navy administratively commissioned the second America-class amphibious assault ship, USS Tripoli (LHA-7), on July 15. The traditional public commissioning ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19 safety restrictions, but the service is looking for a future opportunity to commemorate the event publicly. The ship was delivered from shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries to the Navy in February. LHA-7 is an aviation-centric ship with no well deck, allowing for more room for aircraft and aviation fuel with a larger hangar deck. The Navy noted the Tripoli is the first LHA ready to integrate the entire future air combat element of the Marine Corps, including the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, on its first deployment.
Navy Agility Summit. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) said July 16 it will be supporting the NavalX Agility Cell in hosting an Agility Summit Sept. 21-25 in Alexandria, Va. “The purpose of the Agility Summit is to foster meaningful discussions and collaboration that will have a lasting impact on the Navy and Marine Corps,” Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts, said in a statement. The Navy said the summit is designed to build partnerships in the Navy Department on matters of innovation, acquisition and transition while sharing best practices.
NAVAIR Cyber. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Cyber Warfare Detachment (CWD) issued a broad agency announcement (BAA) special notice July 16 soliciting technical/cost proposals for research support of technologies applicable to resilient cyber warfare capabilities for NAVAIR weapon systems. NAVAIR’s CWD develops and addresses cyber warfare capabilities to defend NAVAIR systems and mission assurance. This BAA aims to primarily “orchestrate germane R & D to fill the gaps in cyber warfare capabilities for NAVAIR weapon systems to achieve the CWD strategy, i.e., secure weapon systems able to survive and exploit cyber warfare.” NAVAIR said the BAA is soliciting research and development to not just apply IT concepts and solutions but address cyber issues for weapon systems in a warfare environment with intermittent connectivity. Responses are due by July 16, 2022.
Election Protection. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has delegated to Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, the director of the National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, the task of the defense of the upcoming 2020 elections, and 16th Air Force is playing a part. “One of the priorities that the secretary of defense has given to Gen. Nakasone is defense of elections,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of 16th Air Force, Air Forces Cyber, and Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber. “He’s organized a team that is a partnered activity between NSA and Cyber Command that is in support of Homeland Security and the FBI…As a component to U.S. Cyber Command, I’ve been given very clear roles and missions that are in support of the 2020 elections. With that, our cyber units have been given some responsibilities, whether that be to be able to do specific defensive actions or understand adversary activities as well as within our ISR enterprise, we have leveraged them to also be able to look what’s occurring in the information environment and to develop public disclosure packages to be able to disclose malign activity through any of those mission partners.”
Software Factory. Army Futures Command has announced the establishment of its new Software Factory, which will leverage industry to train soldiers and civilians on the latest software practices. The Austin, Texas-based center will focus on projects brought forth by Army soldiers, who will then be taught how to address challenges with new cloud and software technologies. Futures Command officials said the goal is to bolster the capacity for agile software development skills throughout the workforce. “The capability to develop software at the lowest tactical levels will help us provide better software products. We anticipate long-term cost savings and expect the Software Factory to help us maintain a competitive advantage across Army modernization efforts” Gen. Mike Murray, head of Futures Command, said in a statement.
Bug Bounty. DARPA has announced its first bug bounty program, which will task ethical hackers with stress-testing novel secure hardware architectures and designs currently going through the organization’s System Security Integration Through Hardware and Firmware (SSITH) program. DARPA is partnering with the Defense Digital Service and software security firm Synack on the Finding Exploits to Thwart Tampering (FETT) Bug Bounty program, which will run from July through September. The program will include 1,500 participants from Synack’s ethical hacker community.
COVID Costs. The Professional Services Council has joined in urging Congress to extend a provision from the CARES Act coronavirus relief package allowing the defense industrial base to receive reimbursement for COVID-related claims. In a letter to congressional leadership, PSC calls for the deadline to be pushed from Sept. 30 to the end of the year, “or the expiration of the coronavirus public health emergency, whichever comes later.” “When the CARES Act was enacted, there was no clear estimation or understanding of the duration or magnitude of the impact of COVID-19. Today, it is apparent that COVID-19’s impact will clearly extend beyond September 30, 2020, and it is not possible to predict how long such authority will be needed,” David Berteau, the president of PSC, wrote in the letter. The Aerospace Industries Association, along with 80 defense industry executives, have also sent a letter calling on Congress to take the same action.
Shoulder-Fired Munitions. Sweden’s Saab has received a $100 million order from the Army for Carl-Gustaf ammunition and AT4 anti-tank weapons. Deliveries will take place next year and include the Army, Marine Corps and SOCOM. The latest order was placed under a five-year, $445 million deal Saab signed with the Army in 2019. “The Saab family of shoulder-fired munitions provides the U.S. Armed Forces with effective capabilities against a wide area of targets. With these systems, soldiers and Marines gain reliable, easy-to-use technology optimized for complex environments and engagements,” Erik Smith, president of Saab’s U.S. business, said in a statement.
Naval Forces Europe-Africa. Adm. Robert Burke on July 17 relieved Adm. James Foggo as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa (CNE-CNA) and Allied Joint Forces Command (JFC) Naples during a change of command ceremony. Foggo served in the role for three years and had responsibility for an area spanning from the North Pole to the Cape of Good Hope. Burke assumed command after serving as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. Earlier he served as Chief of Naval Personnel, deputy commander of U.S. 6th Fleet, and director of operations at CNE-CNA.
TSA Nominee. President Trump last Friday announced his intent to nominate Michael Miklos to be deputy administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. The announcement didn’t include a biography of Miklos but said he lives in New Jersey. A search on LinkedIn turned up a likely probability, retired Army Col. Michael Miklos of Monmouth Junction, N.J., who graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1984 and retired from the service in 2013. His last role in the Army was as Defense Coordinating Officer for the Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency Region II, which includes New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. From 2015 until 2019, Miklos was director of Strategic Projects for The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. During his long Army career, Miklos commanded field artillery units, was the executive officer to the commanding general of the Third Army and U.S. Army Central, served on the Army Staff as chief of Future Warfighting, and served two stints in Iraq, first on the staff of the Combined Joint Task Force and then later as director of Strategic Communications for U.S. Forces-Iraq. Patty Cogswell is currently acting deputy administrator at TSA.