FCW Insider: June 1

The internal Air Force startup trying to drive mobile computing

COVID-19 and telework exposed the Air Force's lack of mobile capabilities. BESPIN is trying to change that, that one app at a time. Lauren C. Williams takes a look.

Pandemic means beta.SAM shift will take a little longer

At the General Services Administration, plans to fully shift legacy acquisition systems are being stalled to help contractors and agencies keep current. Mark Rockwell reports.

Fixing a critical vulnerability in our critical infrastructure

Despite its critical importance to our national security and everyday lives, GPS is highly vulnerable to attacks and technical errors that have already caused serious disruptions. Reggie Brothers, a former senior DHS official, explains that a fix is possible.

Pentagon considers reducing quarantine to 10 days

The Pentagon is considering compressing the COVID-19 quarantine period for personnel from 14 to 10 days, top officials said. Lauren has more.

Quick Hits

*** The Department of Veterans Affairs is planning what it calls the largest single deployment of Microsoft Teams, said CIO Jim Gfrerer at a May 28 AFCEA Bethesda virtual event. The Teams deployment will support 400,000 remote workers. Gfrerer also said the agency had ramped up its Citrix virtual private network capacity to support up to 500,000 users.

*** The intelligence community’s research arm, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, wants help developing tools and technologies to fight d COVID-19. In a May 29 Broad Agency Announcement, IARPA asked for input on a variety of anti-COVID technologies and detection and warning capabilities. IARPA plans on multiple awards of seedling contracts to explore the technologies. Offers are due by July 7.

"Technology solutions for COVID-19 will require creative, multidisciplinary methods, paradigm changing thinking, and transformative approaches," said IARPA Deputy Director for Research Dr. Catherine Cotell in a statement. "Our goal is to advance ground-breaking technologies that will help the Intelligence Community and the country prepare for and recover from pandemic events."  

*** The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General found that DOI Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Doug Domenech violated ethics rules. In a report published May 29, the IG found that Domenech had used his DOI email account and title to try and persuade an Environmental Protection Agency official to hire one of his relatives, and to promote another family member’s business on a number of occasions in the fall of 2017. According to the IG, Domenech’s actions violated two rules concerning the use of his public office for private gain and avoiding the appearance of misconduct. The IG determined that Domenech had undergone ethics training before, as a political appointee within the DOI.