FCW Insider: June 17
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Agencies begin slow return to the office as COVID restrictions ease
Veterans Affairs, State, Agriculture and other federal agencies are ramping up operations and bringing more workers into the office.
DOD looks for extension on Huawei ban
With a looming implementation deadline in August, DOD looks for leniency in anti-Huawei product requirements for defense contractors.
Report: Lax cybersecurity at CIA unit led to Vault 7 leaks
An internal CIA report pins the theft of valuable hacking tools in 2016 on a workplace culture that didn't do enough to emphasize cybersecurity.
Union heads urge caution as DHS looks to resume normal operations
As the Department of Homeland Security considers the process of resuming normal operations, unions representing agency employees are calling on agency leadership to ensure that personnel have adequate resources to protect against exposure to COVID-19.
Quick Hits
*** Elaine McCusker, the acting Defense Department comptroller and deputy undersecretary of defense submitted her resignation on June 16, effective on June 26. McCusker had been nominated to be comptroller on a permanent basis, but the nomination was pulled after it was revealed in the media that she had questioned decision about withholding funding to Ukraine – an issue at the heart of the impeachment case against President Donald Trump.
"Since joining the Department of Defense Elaine has worked tirelessly to ensure that our budgeting and audit processes give full value to the taxpayer while meeting the enormous security needs of our nation as well as the men and women who serve it. I am grateful for her dedication to public service and the contributions that she has made to the Department and wish her the very best in her future endeavors," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement.
*** The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is hosting its first ever bug bounty, GCN reports, inviting security researchers to participate in a "capture-the-flag" event to qualify for a competition to find vulnerabilities in hardware and firmware design. DARPA is getting help from the Defense Digital Service and crowdsource security firm Synack.