Officials Split Over New Cyber Legislation

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Fears of cyberattacks by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine prompted a US Senate bill that would create new cybersecurity requirements and standards for agencies, contractors, and critical infrastructure operators, reports Federal News Network. One piece of the bill would require critical infrastructure operators to report such attacks to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within 72 hours. Another piece would put a legislative framework around the FedRAMP cloud program, which is run by the General Services Administration and authorizes cloud service providers for government use. The Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act now heads to the House for approval.

CISA Director Jen Easterly praised the reporting mandate in the bill as a critical tool for enhancing the nation’s cyber defenses. But Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the legislation would make the country “less safe,” and FBI Director Christopher Wray said it had “serious flaws,” reports Politico.

VADM Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, believes that sailors and other military officials are marks for hacking attempts, especially during this time of international hostilities, reports C4ISRNET. “With heightened tensions throughout the world, ensure your team understands how the actions of a single user can impact our global force,” reads an unclassified memo from Trussler.

More than 100 NATO planes are on alert at all times to await possible airspace violations by the Russians in Eastern Europe, reports Air Force Times. The alliance’s move to guard its eastern edge highlights how rapidly the security situation has evolved in and out of Ukraine over the past several days.

Many US lawmakers and officials in Ukraine want the Biden administration and its NATO allies to establish a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace to help ward off the Russian attacks, reports The Hill.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked US lawmakers during a Zoom call over the weekend to do more to force Russia to the negotiating table and end the war, reports Politico, including establishing a no-fly zone, providing more direct aid, and banning oil imports from Moscow.

The US European Command is taking the lead in the international efforts to donate weapons to Ukraine to fight the Russians, reports Stars and Stripes. The command is also involved in determining how to best deliver the security assistance package to Ukrainian forces. Fourteen countries have sent equipment to Ukraine.

The Pentagon has deployed some 12,000 troops to NATO member nations near Ukraine, a massing of infantry, aircraft, and tanks not seen since the Cold War, reports Military.com. The US said those troops will not fight for Ukraine, instead framing their presence as a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin that any advance past Ukraine’s borders and into NATO territory would trigger direct conflict.

Despite calls from former US defense officials for the US Air Force to transfer some of its A-10 Warthog attack aircraft to Ukraine, reports Breaking Defense, there are no current plans for the service to give up its tank-busting planes, AFSec Frank Kendall said.

 

 

Retired Air Force GEN Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle said he will leave the National Defense Industrial Association after a nearly five-year tenure with the association, reports National Defense. The NDIA said that Carlisle’s leadership helped grow the group’s membership and further the dialogue between the defense community and the legislative and executive branches even during COVID restrictions. His successor is expected to be named by April 1.

Boeing said it expects that it will deliver the first new Air Force One plane some 17 months later than originally scheduled, reports Breaking Defense. At the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium last week, acting Air Force acquisition executive Darlene Costello said the program is now “more than a year late” when compared to its baseline schedule, which called for delivery of the first VC-25B in 2024.

NASA’s desire to mine ice and minerals on the moon is driving new research on Earth into how astronauts could use moon materials to make machine parts, pave roads, and construct living quarters, reports UPI.

To keep a closer eye on space traffic between the Earth and the moon, the US Space Force wants to start a Cislunar Highway Patrol System, or CHPS, reports Task & Purpose. The new proposed system indicates how quickly that space is being developed by public and commercial sectors, and how much more work the US military will have to do to keep an eye on it.

The Space Force is realigning the structure of its acquisition field command, reports C4ISRNET. With the new structure, Space Systems Command will have five program executive offices: Assured Access to Space; Battle Management Command and Control; Space Domain Awareness and Combat Power; Communications and Positioning, Navigation and Timing; and Space Sensing. The change is expected to improve integration between the command’s programs and position it to counter growing threats in space.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested while another intruder got away after reports of an armed person at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland put the base on lockdown Sunday night, reports WTOP News. A second person ran away and wasn’t found.

A Marine Corps F/A-18D flying out of Air Station Beaufort, SC, crashed into the family property of former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford last week, reports Marine Corps Times. The F/A-18 was conducting a routine flying mission when it crashed. No injuries were reported.

Northrop Grumman’s Aeronautics Systems said that the first of its six B-21 Raider bombers has entered the ground test phase, reports Defense News. During the testing in Palmdale, CA, testers will turn the B-21′s power on, test its subsystems, test its structural integrity, and apply coatings and paint.

Veterans unemployment levels matched their lowest mark of the pandemic in February 2022 as the US economy added more jobs than expected last month, reports Military Times.