March 29, 2024

Electric Grid Getting Cyber Checkup

electric grid

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The White House is setting up a pilot program to improve the cybersecurity of the nation’s electricity infrastructure as part of a broader initiative focused on industrial control systems, reports FCW. The US has a significant blind spot regarding cyber defenses, reports NPR. The National Security Agency can only collect intelligence abroad, not inside the United States. Army GEN Paul Nakasone told the Senate Armed Services Committee that rivals like Russia are aware of this blind spot and know how to exploit it.

Congress, not courts, should decide the future of the military draft, according to the Biden administration, which has asked the US Supreme Court to reject a petition calling for the men-only draft registration to be declared unconstitutional and let Congress decide the future of the Selective Service System, reports Military.com. Acting Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said consideration of the case — the National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System — would be “premature at this time,” since Congress is “actively considering” the scope of the registration.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is sending 250 National Guard troops to the US southern border, reports Defense News, amid the increased arrivals of migrants. Calling the situation a “crisis,” the Republican governor said, “If this administration isn’t going to do anything, then we will.”

Space Force is suddenly the go-to armed service, reports Washington Examiner, receiving thousands of applications for transfer from the other services. Space Force “guardians” will take on specialized jobs in areas such as cyberwarfare and space intelligence at one of its six main operating bases, including Peterson, Buckley, and Schriever Air Force bases in Colorado, Vandenberg and Los Angeles Air Force bases in California, and Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. Additional, smaller units are positioned globally.

The planned US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan will make the terrorism fight harder, says the top US general in the Mideast, reports Defense News. USMC GEN Kenneth Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, says armed drones, now able to reach a location within minutes from bases in Afghanistan, will have to be positioned much farther away. US forces are operating “without complete air superiority” due to small, armed drones, Air Force Magazine reports. McKenzie called the frequently commercially available drones outfitted to drop weapons the most “persistent and dangerous” threat to troops in the Middle East in decades.

 

 

A group of seven Democrats introduced a bill this week containing measures that they say would help shield inspectors general from political interference. It would, among other things, limit the power of the president to remove IGs and restrict who can serve as an acting IG, reports FCW.

“We need to professionalize these component IGs and make them independent or they’re not going to provide the value that we expect from them,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said during a hearing regarding reform of the military’s inspector general program. Testimony included discussion of Spc. Vanessa Guillen whose remains were found near her Fort Hood, TX, duty station. Her family reported she had complained of sexual harassment, but the Army’s inspector general’s audit gave the base an all-clear. Five months later, an independent panel produced a blistering report of a toxic command and environment of sexual harassment and assault at Fort Hood, noting the Army’s IG team didn’t investigate Guillen’s 3rd Cavalry Regiment.

As US health officials race to get more COVID-19 shots into arms to control the virus, experts now warn the US vaccine supply will likely outstrip demand. “While timing may differ by state, we estimate that across the US as a whole we will likely reach a tipping point on vaccine enthusiasm in the next two to four weeks,” the Kaiser Family Foundation said in a new report published Tuesday. Once this happens, efforts to encourage vaccination will become much harder, presenting a challenge to reaching the levels of herd immunity that are expected to be needed.

The Navy is ending the coronavirus quarantine stop before boot camp and also restrictions for fully vaccinated recruits, reports Navy Times. Recruits arriving at boot camp with  their immunization record showing full immunization, their movements will not be restricted. The service is also ending its use of Fort McCoy to isolate newly arriving recruits in western Wisconsin before shipping them to the Great Lakes, IL, boot camp.

ADM Charles Richard, head of US Strategic Command which oversees the US nuclear arsenal, says the US is “at risk of losing credibility in the eyes of our adversaries” without investing more in nuclear defense and infrastructure, we  will be “at risk of losing credibility in the eyes of our adversaries.” While China’s nuclear stockpile is vastly smaller than the United States’ and Russia’s nuclear arsenals, it is undergoing an “unprecedented expansion,” reports CNN.

GEN Charles “C.Q.” Brown Jr. as the top officer for the USAF has navigated a new role in attempting  to right racial wrongs, reports US News from an interview included in its series, The Racial Divide. Brown is the first African-American service chief and the second ever on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Post-riot effort to tackle extremism in the military largely overlooks veterans, reports The Washington Post. The arrest data from the riot shows that allegedly criminal participation in the insurrection  Jan. 6 was far more prevalent among veterans than active-duty forces, a more difficult problem for the US government to address. Of the nearly 380 individuals federally charged in connection with the riot, at least 44 are current or former members of the US armed forces, according to service records.

Two more guilty pleas in the test-score-fixing scheme at a US Coast Guard exam center, reports gCaptain. This brings the total number of convictions in the case to 21. The false scores resulted in the Coast Guard issuing unearned licenses without the required exams being passed. The exams tested mariners’ knowledge and training to safely operate under the authority of licenses required to work various positions on vessels.

Contracts:

Compass Systems Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $9,740,967 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. This contract provides for research, development, design, analysis and integration of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads, to include the following systems: radar, electro optical/infrared, command and control, data link and processing and exploitation software in support of systems integration onto the Navy Research Laboratory P-3 test aircraft. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (78%); Rochester, New York (11%); and Springfield, Virginia (11%), and is expected to be completed in April 2024. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $620,192 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (N6833521C0216).

The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $73,951,846 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001921F0876) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order provides for the design, development, and test of software and ancillary hardware necessary for the integration of the Long Range Anti-Ship Missile onto the P-8A aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (72%); Patuxent River, Maryland (21%); Grand Rapids, Michigan (5%); and St. Louis, Missouri (2%), and is expected to be completed in October 2024. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,320,587 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Mancon LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a $132,400,000 single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that will include terms and conditions for the placement of firm-fixed-price task orders to acquire supplies, parts, equipment, and store operation services required by Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk for the Norfolk Super Servmart. The contract will include a five year base ordering period beginning in May, with an additional six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.217-8, option to extend services, which if exercised, will bring the total ceiling value to $146,000,000. The base ordering period is expected to be completed by April 2026. If the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by October 2026. All work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,000 will be obligated to fund the contract’s minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted on beta.sam.gov, with three offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00189-21-D-0010).

Huntington-Ingalls Industries, Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded an $11,458,592 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-19-C-4313) to exercise options for the accomplishment of the Planning Yard Services for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in-service ships. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (81%); Hampton, Virginia (17%); San Diego, California (1%); and Jacksonville, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by April, 2022. Fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $9,721,115 (84.9%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,737,437 (15.1%) will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, was awarded a $26,358,699 time-and-materials contract to provide technical and engineering support to assist and/or manage Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ cloud migration and hosting services. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 20, 2022. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-21-F-0246).

Leave A Comment