Announcements and news

In fiscal year 2014 (FY14) the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) bought $8 billion worth of information technology and cyber products and services for the Department of Defense. During the DISA 2014 forecast to industry event, Major General (MG) Alan Lynn, Vice Director and Senior Procurement Executive at DISA, recently outlined his five main objectives with respect to ongoing and future procurement programs: 

1. Meet small business goals
2. Increase competition
3. Foster greater discipline in acquisition planning
4. Leverage buying power via consolidation of like type items
5. Review all procurements exceeding $10 million

MG Lynn explained that these measures will help DISA cope with sequestration, and expected future budget cuts, “…the future is our budget is going to be decreasing. It’s been pretty significant from what we’ve seen so far. What that means is competition is good for us, and we are going to try and compete as much of the contracts as we have coming out as much as possible…we’ve found that if we compete them, then it drives down prices which is good for us.”

Director of the Office of Small Business Programs at DISA, Sharon Jones, announced that DISA has exceeded all of its goals for small businesses within the past three consecutive years. DISA awarded a total of $4.6 billion to small businesses in FY13, and has increased funding toward small business contracts by 2% each year for the past three years. DISA contracts among small businesses were as follows in FY13: 

• $523 million awarded to Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) 
• $219 million awarded to Woman Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs)
• $255 million awarded to Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) 
• $85 million awarded to HUBZone small businesses 

Jones indicated that DISA intends to increase the total value of contracts awarded to HUBZone small businesses up towards three percent from the current two percent, “We want to work with small business and we want to bring in the best products and services for our warfighters. So in the one area I really want to highlight here, because we really do need to bring in additional companies in this one area to help that endeavor, is those that are HUBZones…We are trying to increase our HUBZone goal. I want to eventually be able to say we can meet the three percent.” 

Jones concluded her remarks by stressing the importance for small businesses to choose appropriate teaming partners and to respond to sources sought and RFIs well in advance of industry days.

Related Reading: An Entrepreneur's Guide for Marketing within DISA

Sources

1. DISA 2014 Forecast to Industry
   http://www.disa.mil/News/Stories/2014/~/media/Files/DISA/News/Conference/2014/Forecast-2014-Presentation.pdf
2. MG Alan R. Lynn, DISA Vice Director
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZPhb90j8sY&list=PLRPVoCgP5zRYV6wLxduyig9biLLUIpsuW&index=2
3. Sharon Jones, Director, Office of Small Business Programs, 2014. 
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WERt8AiM8e4&index=3&list=PLRPVoCgP5zRYV6wLxduyig9biLLUIpsuW 
4. DISA Launches 5 Cloud Tests, Warns On Industry Consolidation, Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., 2014. 
   http://breakingdefense.com/2014/08/disa-launches-5-cloud-tests-warns-on-industry-consolidation/ 
5. DISA Conducts Forecast To Industry
   http://www.disa.mil/News/Stories/2014/Forecast-to-Industry 

The House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies & the Subcommittee on Research and Technology recently held a joint hearing on the potential re-authorization of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) directorate. S&T’s objective is to develop new technologies for agencies under DHS such as the Transportation Security Administration, Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, etc. to better protect the homeland from a wide variety of threats. Representatives from both committees were concerned on the level of redundant research programs within S&T’s $1.2 billion budget across DHS; Chairman Lamar Smith highlighted a government accountability office report which described S&T’s R&D management approach as “fragmented and overlapping.” 

Undersecretary Brothers responded by providing an overview of S&T’s current R&D priorities, which are guided by the quadrennial homeland security review and the direction of DHS Secretary Johnson:

noninvasive screening, augmenting the resilience of the nation’s cyber infrastructure, empowering decision makers with actionable information, and improving the effectiveness of threat responders.  Brothers emphasized the need to balance short term applied research with riskier, but potentially higher reward, long term basic research projects. In recent years, S&T has reduced basic research spending to increase its short term deliverables to end users via applied research projects. In terms of future projects, Undersecretary Brothers indicated he plans to expand S&T’s R&D portfolio to include more commercial off-the-shelf projects to better counter emerging disruptive technologies.

Undersecretary Brothers was confident in the existing channels, such as the Developmental Working Group and the Mission Executive Council, that enable S&T to leverage existing technologies utilized by other government agencies. For example, the developmental working group assists S&T in assimilating relevant Department of Defense (DoD) technology and the mission executive council helps coordinate technical capabilities between the Department of Energy, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the DoD.

Representative Thompson was concerned with S&T’s small business record, and stressed the need for S&T to expand its outreach toward small and/or minority owned businesses going forward. Undersecretary Brothers agreed small businesses were an important potential source of S&T innovation, but expressed concern that many small businesses lack experience working with the federal government. In response to Representative Thompson’s concerns, Undersecretary Brothers indicated he is actively reviewing how S&T interacts with small businesses through standard industry days, and plans to expand S&T’s social media outreach toward small businesses in the future.

For a list of upcoming S&T Events, see the DHS website: http://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/st-events

For more information about the S&T Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR), please visit the website: http://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/sbir

Sources

1. Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies & Subcommittee on Research and Technology Joint Hearing - Strategy and Mission of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, 2014.
   http://science.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-cybersecurity-infrastructure-protection-and-security-technologies-subcommittee
2. Testimony of the Honorable Reginald Brothers Undersecretary for Science and Technology U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2014.
   http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/HHRG-113-SY14-WState-RBrothers-20140909.pdf
3. Targeted DHS R&D can Help Secure our Borders, Cyber Networks, 2014.
   http://science.house.gov/press-release/targeted-dhs-rd-can-help-secure-our-borders-cyber-networks
4. Statement of Research and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), 2014.
   http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/090914_DHS%20S%26T_bucshon.pdf
5. Statement of Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), 2014.
   http://science.house.gov/sites/republicans.science.house.gov/files/documents/090914_DHS%20S%26T_smith.pdf

The Carl Levin and Howard P. McKeon National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year (FY) 2015 passed the Senate Friday night by a bipartisan vote of 89-11, after the House passed the measure 300-119. The bill includes $495.9 billion for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) base budget, $63.7 billion overseas contingency operations (OCO) budget, and $17.9 billion for the Department of Energy related to maintaining the nation’s nuclear arsenal (Alexander, 2014). The FY 2015 NDAA also institutes a host of provisions related to curbing military benefits, creates a new DoD leadership position – the Under Secretary of Defense for Business Management and Information (USDBMI), and provides the Navy with billions in extra procurement funding.  

The 2015 NDAA enacts measures to curtail rising DoD personnel costs, such as increasing co-pays related to prescription drugs by $3, decreasing pay raises to 1% - below the current rate of inflation, and prohibiting further wage raises for flag officers. Departing Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Carl Levin expressed his concern that the spending caps imposed by sequestration, in conjunction with rising of personnel costs will erode military readiness.

Personnel-related DoD expenditures rose to $177 billion in FY 2014, and non-DoD spending related to veteran care and benefits totaled $235 billion (Harrison, 2014). The concurrent rise of personnel costs with budget caps imposed by sequestration on the DoD’s base budget effectively causes the DoD’s O&M, RDT&E, and procurement accounts to be disproportionately affected. 

As part of his final contributions in Congress, Mr. Levin also crafted provisions related to the creation of the USDBMI position, which will be filled in 2017. The USDBMI will be the third highest ranking official within the DoD, and will assume the current responsibilities of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Deputy Chief Management Officer (DCMO). Former DCMO Beth McGrath is a staunch supporter of the new position, and stated, “We were looking across the whole of the IT space to make sure we were more synergistic than operating separately. The DCMO office and the CIO office do so many things together already that, to me, it’s not unnatural at all.” The DoD requested a position similar to the USDBMI in the 2013 Strategic Choices and Management Review, as part of a five year initiative to find additional savings by consolidating headquarter operating costs (Boyd, 2014). By instituting cost saving measures such as reductions in personnel overhead and consolidation of the DCMO and CIO, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hopes to mitigate the effects of sequestration on O&M and procurement budget items, in order to preserve the nation’s military capabilities. 

The US Navy received an additional $2.9 billion in procurement funding, raising the total Navy procurement budget to $41.3 billion out of the DoD’s $101.9 billion procurement budget.  A total of $1.46 billion has been allocated to purchase an additional 15 EA-18G aircraft, an electronic attack variant of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which will partially meet the Navy’s unfunded priority request for 22 additional EA-18Gs. With the new order for EA-18Gs, Boeing will be able to keep the F/A-18E/F production line open until 2017. This supplemental procurement funding also enables the Navy to acquire an additional Austal built Joint High Speed Vessel, three MQ-8C Fire Scout UAVs, and partially funds the construction of LPD-28 - a new San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock vessel (Cavas, 2014).  Operations and maintenance (O&M) funds were cut to compensate for the relatively higher procurement budget; the ship operations and maintenance (O&M) budget was cut $1.7 billion and the Marine O&M budget was cut from $5.9 billion to $5.6 billion. Overall, the high-end added procurement items reflect the transition within the DoD from operating in Iraq and Afghanistan to countering great power threats from Russia and China. 

Sources

1. Congress Authorizes $577 Billion in U.S. Defense Spending, David Alexander, 2014. 
   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/12/us-usa-defense-spending-idUSKBN0JQ28B20141212
2. Congress Inserts $554B for DoD in 'Cromnibus' Spending Bill, John T. Bennett, 2014.
   http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141210/CONGRESSWATCH/312100030/Congress-Inserts-554B-DoD-Cromnibus-Spending-Bill
3. DoD Management Would Be Reorganized in NDAA, Aaron Boyd, 2014.
   http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20141205/FEDIT03/312050015/DoD-management-would-reorganized-NDAA
4. Senate Sends Massive $560 Billion NDAA to Obama's Desk, John T. Bennett, 2014.
   http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141212/CONGRESSWATCH/312120028/Senate-Sends-Massive-560-Billion-NDAA-Obama-s-Desk
5. Massive Defense Policy Bill Sent to President, Jeremy Herb, 2014.
   http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/defense-policy-bill-2014-113548.html?hp=c1_3
6. After Dramatic Day, House Approves $554B for Pentagon, John T. Bennett, 2014.
   http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141211/DEFREG/312110044/After-Dramatic-Day-House-Approves-554B-Pentagon
7. Spending Bill Shields Commissaries from Cuts in 2015, Travis J. Tritten, 2014.
   http://www.stripes.com/news/spending-bill-shields-commissaries-from-cuts-in-2015-1.318539
8. 15 Things to Know about the NDAA, Andy Medici, 2014.
   http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20141208/MGMT04/312080006/15-things-every-federal-employee-should-know-about-National-Defense-Authorization-Act
9. Navy Gains a Ship, 15 Growlers in Defense Bill, Christopher P. Cavas, 2014.
   http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141212/DEFREG/312120029/Navy-Gains-Ship-15-Growlers-Defense-Bill
10. Levin Is Leaving Congress Disappointed the NDAA Doesn’t Do More, Molly O'Toole , 2014.
    http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2014/12/levin-leaving-congress-disappointed-ndaa-doesnt-do-more/101004/?oref=d-river
11. House Passes $585B Defense Bill, Kristina Wong and Cristina Marcos, 2014.  
    http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/226039-house-passes-2015-defense-authorization
12. Chaos and Uncertainty – The FY 2014 Budget and Beyond, Todd Harrison, 2014.
    http://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2013/10/chaos-and-uncertainty-the-fy-14-defense-budget-and-beyond/
13. Analysis: Congress Reworks 10 Percent of DoD Procurement Budget, PAUL McLeary and Bradley Peniston, 2014.
    http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141215/DEFREG02/312150014/Analysis-Congress-Reworks-10-Percent-DoD-Procurement-Budget

Despite the relatively flat budget in recent years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is undergoing changes which will better equip the agency to collect and analyze large biomedical data sets. The cancelation of the NIH’s National Children’s Study (NCS) and the continued investment in the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative is indicative of the agency’s efforts to adapt towards recent technological advancements in big data over older more conventional means of collecting biomedical data. 

In December of 2014, the NIH announced its decision to terminate the NCS program, which has cost $1.3 billion since 2000. The NCS was envisioned as a means of discovering connections between the environmental factors that appear during an individual’s upbringing and an assortment of medical conditions that could manifest later during adulthood (Tozi & Wayne, 2014), and would have collected data on the development of 100,000 children until they reached the age of 21. However, the NCS program was plagued with a series of problems which led to its termination, including a failure to incorporate new technologies developed over the program’s 14 year period. NIH Director Francis Collins explained, “Science and technology overtook the study's designers, who weren't able to incorporate developments such as social media or data collection using mobile devices into their plans.” The NIH’s new Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) initiative, on the other hand, will seek to capitalize on recent advancements in data analytics and data management.

The BD2K is estimated to cost $656 million through the year 2020, and these funds will go towards developing new tools, software, and procedures to more cost effectively provide biomedical data to researchers.  Philip E. Bourne, NIH Associate Director for Data Science, elaborated on the challenges associated with collecting biomedical data, “The future of biomedical research is about assimilating data across biological scales from molecules to population. As such, the health of each one of us is a big data problem. Ensuring that we are getting the most out of the research data that we fund is a high priority for NIH.” NIH hopes that studies which are fully able to capitalize on large data sets will enhance the predictability of medical conditions such as heart attacks and breast cancer, as well as improve current treatment and preventative measures. A total of 12 centers will be established, of which 11 will be responsible for researching broadly applicable aspects of big data science, such as analysis of genomic data, data integration and use, and managing data from electronic health records (NIH, 2014). The last center will be dedicated solely towards coordination between the other 11 BD2K centers.

During FY 2014,  NIH spent $32 million on the BD2K initiative, and Stanford University, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, and USC were the major beneficiaries (Healy, 2014). Over the next four years, the aforementioned universities will receive $38 million towards funding their BD2K projects. USC neuroscientist Paul Thomson described the ongoing problems that result from the current methods of data analytics and data management at the NIH ENIGMA Center for Medicine, Imaging and Genomics project: “’Studies that use such data generate volumes of information that are simply too big to be transferred electronically,’ Thompson said. To review the whole-genome sequencing performed on 815 subjects with Alzheimer's disease recently, the researchers said they watched delivery trucks disgorge boxes and boxes of disc drives for weeks at a time.” 

In summary, NIH is in the process of adapting to advancements in big data which will enable scientists and researchers to assimilate previously incomprehensible volumes of biomedical data; NIH’s commitment towards developing biomedical data analytics and data management is substantial and is likely to have enduring long-term impacts. 

Sources

1. How the U.S. Government Botched Its Multibillion-Dollar Plan to Beat Childhood Disease, John Tozzi and Alex Wayne, 2014.
   http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-23/how-the-national-childrens-study-fell-apart#p1
2. U.S. Child Study Canceled After $1.3 Billion, Alex Wayne, 2014. 
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-15/huge-u-s-child-health-study-canceled-after-1-3-billion.html
3. First look: New U.S. spending deal a mixed bag for science, David Malakoff & Jeffrey Mervis, 2014. 
   http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2014/12/first-look-new-u-s-spending-deal-mixed-bag-science
4. Within NIH’s flat 2015 budget, a few favorites, Jocelyn Kaiser, 2014. 
   http://news.sciencemag.org/funding/2014/12/within-nih-s-flat-2015-budget-few-favorites
5. US research agencies finally learn their fate, Rebecca Trager, 2014. 
   http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2014/12/us-america-research-agencies-finally-learn-their-fate-budget
6. NIH invests almost $32 million to increase utility of biomedical research data, 2014. 
   http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2014/od-09.htm
7. Big data, meet big money: NIH funds centers to crunch health data, Melissa Healy, 2014. 
   http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-big-data-money-20141009-story.html
8. About BD2K, NIH, 2014. 
   http://bd2k.nih.gov/about_bd2k.html#sthash.uHBA8ccw.dpbs

The Department of Defense (DoD) is in the midst of selecting a vendor to overhaul its electronic health record (EHR) systems, which facilitate the transfer of information pertaining to patient’s medical history, conditions, prescriptions, and other data across multiple healthcare providers over time. The Healthcare Management Systems Modernization (DHMSM) program is projected to cost $11 billion through the year 2023. DHMSM will replace the DoD’s existing EHR system, the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application (AHLTA), as well as elements of the Theater Medical Information Program-Joint (TIMP-J) and the inpatient Composite Health Care System. When DHMSM launches in 2017, it will become the largest EHR system in the United States, with more than 9.6 million patients associated with over 400 hospitals (Brewin, 2014).

The DoD’s impetus to replace AHLTA stems from the current system's lack of interoperability with other EHR systems, such as the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), which is used by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Built-in interoperability in an EHR system is difficult, as only a limited amount of information is easily categorizable or structured; information such as doctor notes or patient descriptions of symptoms is highly variable from patient to patient. Unstructured information makes up approximately 80% of all patient information stored in EHR systems (Konel, 2014). 

Despite the significant challenges of designing an interoperable EHR system, four teams of vendors have responded to the DoD’s request: 

• Leidos, Accenture Federal, and Cerner
• Computer Sciences Corporation, Hewlett Packard, and Allscripts
• IBM and Epic Systems
• PricewaterhouseCoopers with General Dynamics Information Technology, DSS Inc. and Medsphere

The IBM-Epic bid was the first team to respond, and indicated their interest back in June of 2014. The team has subsequently created an advisory board consisting of reputable EHR experts drawn from the Duke University Health System and School of Medicine, Mercy Health, American Medical Informatics Association, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Sentara Healthcare (Konkel, 2015). The IBM-Epic team has made significant process in the development of their EHR submission to DHMSM, “IBM and Epic have also built a working and interoperable system at its data center in West Virginia in order to test capabilities and make sure the group of companies had a system that could be deployed quickly if it won the contract. The early version being tested by IBM is already successfully connecting to partner organizations across the country” (Medici, 2015). The Hewlett Packard, Allscripts, and Computer Sciences Corporation will provide a strong source of competition to the IBM-Epic team, as collectively the team has extensive experience with Federal IT projects and EHR systems (McCann & Sullivan, 2014). Relevant experience of other vendors includes Leidos' (as SAIC) work as one of the major contractors on the TIMP-J program, and Accenture's efforts to improve Healthcare.gov. 

It remains to be seen if DHMSM will meet the DoD's ambitious objectives, as previous measures to overhaul the DoD's EHR systems have resulted in few tangible improvements. The DoD had previously sought to integrate its EHR systems with the VA, but the initiative was canceled in 2013 after the program costs were projected to reach nearly $30 billion (Konel, 2014). 

Sources

1. DoD opens bidding for massive EHR and IT, Erin McCann, & Tom Sullivan, 2014.
   http://www.govhealthit.com/news/dod-delivers-rfp-massive-ehr-and-it-modernization
2. IBM preps for DoD health management modernization contract, Andy Medici, 2015.
   http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/it/health/2015/01/07/ibm-defense-dhmsm-health-contract/21401461/
3. Coming Soon: Pentagon’s Multi-Billion Dollar Health Records Contract, Frank Konkel, 2014.
   http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2014/04/coming-soon-pentagons-multi-billion-dollar-health-records-contract/83230/
4. Possible $11 Billion Contract At Stake for the Pentagon’s Digital Health Records, Frank Konkel, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/possible-11-billion-contract-stake-pentagons-digital-health-records/102465/?oref=d-river
5. Race is On for Defense Health Record – but VA Backs Out of Competition, Bob Brewin, 2014.
   http://www.nextgov.com/health/health-it/2014/10/race-defense-health-record-va-backs-out-competition/97820/
6. Theater Medical Information Program – Joint (TMIP-J), 2013. 
   http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2013/pdf/dod/2013tmip.pdf

Of all the measures outlined in the President’s latest state of the union address, the three measures below are the most likely to pass the Republican controlled Congress. 

F/A-18F Super Hornets from Strike Fighter Squadron 22 operating from the USS Carl Vinson in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott Fenaroli

1.  Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF)

During his address, President Obama asked the Congress to pass an AUMF specific to combating ISIL in Iraq and Syria. The President has been in consultation with members of Congress with respect to a new AUMF since late December of 2014, and  Speaker of the House John Bohner has indicated a vote will be held on the AUMF by spring of 2015 (Bennett, 2015). A point of contention between Congressional Republicans and Democrats in negotiating an AUMF is the level of discretion the bill will afford to the President, particularly the measures that would prohibit the deployment of ground troops.

The ISIL related AUMF will greatly augment the President’s legal justification for Operation Inherent Resolve, which has been previously justified by the nearly 14 year old AUMF passed after September 11th 2001. Since combat operations in late 2014, the US has launched over 1,800 airstrikes in both Syria and Iraq at a total cost of $1.2 billion. 

2.  Trans-Pacific Partnership

“…as we speak, China wants to write the rules for the world’s fastest-growing region. That would put our workers and our businesses at a disadvantage. Why would we let that happen? We should write those rules. We should level the playing field” – POTUS

The President made a strong case for the necessity of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement over strong objections of congressional Democrats. The TPP is in the final stages of negotiations, and its member states (United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, and Malaysia) collectively comprise 40% of the world’s economy. The TPP is considered to a core element of the Pacific re-balance’s economic component and would effectively enable the US to serve as an economic counterweight to China’s growing regional clout (Boyer, 2014).

Several influential Republicans have voiced support for passage of a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill with respect to the TPP. Both Senator Hatch (R-Utah), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Paul Ryan (R-Wis), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, support passage of the TPA. Evan Medeiros, a senior adviser to the President on the TPP, expects negotiations to be finalized before the end of 2015.

 

 President Obama with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Image retrieved via Politico

3.  Cyber Security Bill

In the days leading up to his state of the union address, President Obama rallied support for sweeping new cyber security measures. The President’s proposal would grant legal immunity to companies who share information to the DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, and includes measures to protect customer privacy. Company information shared with DHS will be anonymized non-personal data, unlike the information that would have been shared under previously failed Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act legislation (Tucker, 2015). Furthermore, the data accessed by DHS will primarily relate to computer system information rather than content. The proposal also calls for new laws to criminalize the sharing of stolen US financial data, increases the authority of federal law enforcement to pursue spyware utilized in ID theft, and grants courts authority to close botnets engaged in distributed denial of service attacks (Roberts, 2015).

An ongoing concern with the President’s proposal among scientist and cyber security researchers is that the bill amends the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) laws such that research into system exploits and vulnerabilities will be prosecutable. Research into system vulnerabilities has proven to be among the most effective methods of mitigating vulnerability to cyber attacks (Tucker, 2015).

In the aftermath of the Sony cyber attack, strong bipartisan support exists for improving the nation’s cyber security protections. It remains unclear to the extent in which these new information sharing agreements will improve the private sector and the government’s ability to prevent, contain, and investigate cyber attacks especially from more capable state entities. A recent New York Times article highlighted that despite the NSA’s elaborate and extremely sophisticated methods used to penetrate and monitor North Korean networks, Sony did not receive a warning of an imminent attack. However, the information gleaned from North Korean networks was instrumental towards conniving the President that North Korea was responsible for the attack which subsequently lead to additional sanctions. 

Sources

1. Obama, GOP Agree the US Needs New War Powers To Fight ISIS, Alex Brown, 2014. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2015/01/obama-gop-agree-us-needs-new-war-powers-fight-isis/102861/?oref=d-channelriver 
2. What the Cyber Language in the State of the Union Means to You, Patrick Tucker, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/01/what-cyber-language-state-union-means-you/103425/?oref=d-topstory 
3. Hatch says trade promotion authority a necessity, Vicki Needham, 2015. 
   http://thehill.com/policy/finance/230028-hatch-says-trade-promotion-authority-a-necessity 
4. Obama unveils cybersecurity proposals: 'Cyber threats are urgent and growing danger', Dan Roberts, 2015. 
   http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/13/obama-cybersecurity-bill-privacy-campaigners-warning?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2 
5. Obama, Citing China as Rival, Warns Lawmakers Over Inaction on Trade Measure, Michael Forsythe, 2015. 
   http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/obama-urges-congress-not-to-leave-a-trade-vacuum-for-china/ 
6. State of the Union 2015: Barack Obama urges Congress to approve new use of military force, Philip Ewing and Jeremy Herb, 2015.
   http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/state-of-the-union-2015-barack-obama-isil-114429.html 
7. How Obama Fell Short on Cybersecurity, Joel Brenner, 2015. 
   http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/state-of-the-union-cybersecurity-obama-114411.html?ml=m_u1_1 
8. Trade tops Ryan's Ways and Means 2015 agenda, Vicki Needham, 2015. 
   http://thehill.com/policy/finance/229313-ryan-makes-trade-a-top-priority 
9. Obama urges big labor to accept free-trade deal with Asia, Dave Boyer, 2014. 
   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/11/obama-urges-big-labor-accept-free-trade-deal-asia/ 
10. Boehner: Islamic State AUMF Vote by Spring, John T. Bennett, 2015. 
    http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/01/21/aumf-islamic-state-isis-boehner/22112617/ 

The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) recently hosted its 26th annual Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) Symposium and Exhibition. The three day event hosted several notable speakers including: General Joseph L. Votel - Commander of US Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn (Ret.) - former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and Lieutenant General Marshall B. Webb, Commander - NATO Special Operations Headquarters. The event covered topics such as the challenges related to combating ISIL and a more assertive Russia, as well the increasing demand for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the growing desire for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technologies. 

The threat posed by ISIL was at the centerpiece of many discussions between SO/LIC event speakers and panelists. General Votel stated that at least 19,000 foreign fighters have surged into Iraq and Syria from over 90 countries. Votel further added that SOCOM has been closely observing ISIL’s operations in North Africa. Similarly, Lieutenant General Flynn offered a stark appraisal of the threat posed by ISIL, and cautioned that the ongoing international effort to defeat the group would likely last decades. 

Despite the heavy emphasis on combating terrorism at the symposium, the rise in Russian military activity in the Arctic and Eastern Europe was also a frequent discussion topic for General Votel: 

“A resurgent Russia is now employing coercive techniques against its neighbor using [special operations] forces, other clandestine capabilities, information operations, other cyber operations and groupings of ethnic proxies and surrogates to drive wedges into our key allies in East Europe…it is important for us to engage and understand what is happening out there and understand the spaces in which they can begin to assert some of their influence.” 

RQ-21A Blackjack. Image Credit: US Navy

 
To combat the wide range of threats to American interests, Votel called for increased Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities from additional UAVs. SOCOM already operates a wide assortment of UAVs, including the RQ-21A Blackjack, RQ-7 Shadow, Viking 400, MQ-1 Predator, and MQ-9 Reaper (Hoffman & Schechter, 2013). Votel indicated that SOCOM would continue to invest in UAV technology, and would work with industry on future projects (Magnuson, 2015). Michael Dumont, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict, also stressed SOCOM’s growing interest in incorporating COTS technology as a means to maintain a technologically superior force:

“Many of our adversaries have acquired, developed and even stolen technologies that have put them on somewhat equal footing with the West in a range of areas…Recognizing this future direction requires understanding the current reality: The US government no longer has the leading edge developing its own leading-edge capabilities, particularly in information technology”

Dumont also discussed broader DoD wide measures to ensure the Military’s technological superiority, such as Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work’s “Third Offset Strategy” and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall’s “Better Buying Power 3.0”.  This new technological offset strategy, in tandem with Better Buying Power 3.0, is meant to secure the technological edge of US forces under a constrained fiscal environment. Both Votel and Dumont also discussed the difficulties of maintaining a high level of operational readiness under sequestration. However, even in the midst of sequestration, SOCOM’s budget has been relatively stable when compared to other portions of the DoD’s budget. Marcus Weisgerber recently examined SOCOM’s FY 2015 budget, which accounted for 1.8% of the DoD’s base and overseas contingency operations (OCO) budget, at $10 billion. The figure does not include the personnel costs of the 70,000 operators under SOCOM or major equipment and weapon procurements which are covered under the budgets of the individual armed services. 

Sources

1. Peeling the Onion Back on the Pentagon’s Special Operations Budget , Marcus Weisgerber, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/01/peeling-onion-back-pentagons-special-operations-budget/103905/?oref=d-river 
2. SOCOM's Gen. Votel Sees Tensions in Arctic, ISIL Expansion as Future Threats, Stew Magnuson, 2015.
   http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1722 
3. Special Ops Commander Discusses Challenges, Priorities, Jim Garamone, 2015. 
   http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128047 
4. Special Operations Eyes Present, Future Threats, Jim Garamone, 2015. 
   http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128054 
5. The text of General Flynn’s speech, Thomas E. Ricks, 2015. 
   https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/27/the-text-of-general-flynns-speech/
6. SO/LIC Agenda, NDIA, 2015.
   http://www.ndia.org/meetings/5880/Documents/Agenda.pdf 
7. Spec Ops Leaders Want Off-the-Shelf Gear Fast, Paul McLeary, 2015. 
   http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/show-daily/solic/2015/01/27/specops-special-operations-technology-jihadists/22425981/ 
8. SOCOM seeks runway-independent UAV, Erik Schechter, 2013. 
   http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/socom-seeks-runway-independent-uav-394362/ 
9. Up to $250M from US SOCOM for L-3’s Viking UAVs, Defense Industry Daily, 2009. 
   http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Up-to-250M-from-SOCOM-for-L-3s-Viking-UAVs-05803/ 
10. SOCOM Wants to Deploy MQ-9 Drones to Remote Areas, Michael Hoffman, 2013. 
    http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/09/16/socom-wants-to-deploy-mq9-drones-to-remote-areas.html 

The RAND Corporation recently published a groundbreaking report, Hidden Heroes America's Military Caregivers, which depicts the immense scope of military caregiver work in the United States as well as detailing the shortfalls of current veteran’s care policies and programs. The study distinguishes between healthcare providers and military caregivers, with the latter group assisting with activities related to daily living, rather than diagnosing or prescribing treatment. RAND estimates that 5.5 million military care givers support at least 3.8 million disabled veterans nationwide with roughly 20% of military caregivers assisting post-9/11 veterans. This article will provide a summary of the report’s key findings with respect to military caregivers and the efficacy military caregiver related of Government programs. 

Through their comprehensive survey, RAND identified several differences between pre-9/11 military caregivers and post-9/11 military caregivers. Individuals caring for service members who joined the military after 9/11 are more likely to be non-white, a friend or spouse of the service member (rather than the service member’s child), employed, are less likely to have a support network, and provide care for an individual who is more likely to have mental health or substance use conditions, when compared to pre 9/11 caregivers. The comparatively higher prevalence of mental health conditions and physical disabilities among post 9/11 veterans has substantially affected the work of post 9/11 military caregivers:  

“Two times as many (58 percent) of post-9/11 care recipients have a disability rating compared with pre-9/11 care recipients (30 percent); similarly, two times as many (32 percent) of post-9/11 care recipients have a rating of 70 percent or higher compared with pre-9/11 care recipients (15 percent)… 64 percent of post-9/11 military care recipients have a mental health or substance use disorder; nearly 50 percent of all post- 9/11 military care recipients have depression, twice as many as their civilian and pre-9/11 military counterparts” 
        
The increased burden on post-9/11 caregivers is evident through a host of reported medical ailments including high blood pressure, increased vulnerability to sickness, depression, back pain, and sleep deprivation. The burden of caregiving is especially pronounced in post-9/11 caregivers, largely as a result of limited health care access when compared to pre-9/11 caregivers; roughly 33% of post-9/11 military caregivers do not have adequate healthcare coverage, compared to 20% of pre-9/11 military caregivers. 

Despite the stark findings of the report, RAND identified several government programs that have had a demonstrable positive impact on post-9/11 caregivers, including: 

1. The Special Compensation for Assistance with Activities of Daily Living program provides post-9/11 disabled service members a stipend usable by their primary caregiver, which helps offset the income lost by the military caregiver as a result of higher than average missed work days per month; and
2. The Department of Veterans Affair’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers provides eligible post 9/11 caregivers with access to healthcare coverage, mental healthcare, a monthly stipend, and caregiver training.   

RAND makes a series of recommendations to further improve the quality of care provided by post-9/11 military caregivers and to reduce their burden, including supporting caregiver’s efforts to obtain healthcare coverage, providing training programs that cover an entire spectrum of required skills, and increase public awareness of the vital role of military caregivers.

Earlier in February, the Obama Administration released its fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget request for the Department of Defense (DoD) with a base budget of $534 billion and an overseas operations contingency (OCO) budget of $51 billion. The President’s budget submission does not account for sequestration, which imposes a base budget cap of $499 for the DoD and does not affect the OCO budget. A strong consensus exists among defense and budgetary analysts that Congress is unlikely to repeal the Budget Control Act (BCA) in FY 2016. House Armed Services Committee Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.) remarked, “I fully expect that Congress will again fight proposals to allow the Department of Defense to deal with the damaging effects of sequestration. We have seen this act before.” 

The appropriations and authorization committees will hold hearings on the budget from February to March and are likely to make significant changes to the President’s budget, in a similar manner as the DoD’s FY 2015 budget.  Despite the low probability of the base budget exceeding FY 2016 BCA caps, the President’s budget request does provide valuable insight as to the DoD’s current funding priorities, including: prioritization of the Navy and Air Force over the Army, developing technologies and capabilities relevant to great power threats under the third offset strategy, and improving the nation’s cyber security.

Budget allocations by use and department. Image Credit: DoD.

Under the President’s FY 2016 request, the Air Force and Navy would be the largest beneficiaries of increased spending. The Air Force would receive an additional $16 billion, with a total budget of $152.9 billion, and the Navy would receive an increase of $11.8 billion to bring the total budget up to $161 billion. In contrast, the Army’s budget was increased by only $7 billion, to $126.5 billion. The Air Force received a disproportionally large increase in procurement funding, which comprises more than half of all additional procurement funds (CSIS, 2015). A major production ramp up of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is expected with an order of 57 aircraft in FYC 2016 from 38 in FY 2015. Air Force officials have consistently stated their desire to protect the F-35 program from the effects of sequestration, along with the Long Range Strike Bomber and Boeing KC-46 tanker programs (Wasserbly, 2014). The prioritization of the Air Force and Navy over the Army is consistent with DoD discussions of the Pacific rebalance which is reliant upon air and sea power. The rebalance was listed first among the five strategic priorities of the FY 2016 budget: 

1. Rebalance to the Asia-Pacific 
2. Maintain a strong commitment to security and stability in Europe and the Middle East 
3. Sustain a global approach to countering violent extremists 
4. Prioritize and protect key investments in technology
5. Reinvigorate efforts to build innovative partnerships

Before his departure, former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had launched a number of defense initiatives designed to promote innovation in technologies relevant to conflicts with great power adversaries like China and Russia. The President’s budget request increased the research development testing and evaluation (RDT&E) budget by $6.3 billion to a total of $69.8 billion. FY 2016 briefing slides listed a few technological areas the DoD hopes to develop as a result, including high energy lasers, rail guns, improve navigation and positioning, and high speed strike. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is expected to be a vocal advocate of increased DoD investments in RDT&D:

“…the most important advocate for the future will have to be the presumptive Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter. Protecting these [technology] investments, many of which have their roots in Dr. Carter’s tenure as Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, will likely be a priority for the new Secretary, and he will be the one to commit to maintaining these future investments over other near-term priorities.” – Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2015

Keep an eye out for Part II of this series, will focus on analysis of cyber developments for FY 2016, including budgetary analysis; the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center; and Executive Order 13691. 

Sources

1. Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Request, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2015.
   http://www.defense.gov/pubs/FY16_Budget_Request_Rollout_Final_2-2-15.pdf 
2. DoD Official: No Alternate Sequester Budget in '16, Paul McLeary, 2016.
   http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/02/19/pentagon-budget-sequestration/23664853/
3. DoD Budget Sectors: A Mixed Bag, Paul McLeary, 2016. 
   http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/budget/2015/02/11/budget-congress-pentagon-base-supplemental-land-air-naval-cap-bca/23242027/
4. Pentagon Unveils $585 Billion Budget Request, Gordon Lubold Marcus Weisgerber, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/management/2015/02/pentagon-unveils-585-billion-budget-request/104277/?oref=d-channelriver
5. Obama Wants More Money for Military Spy Satellites, Lasers, Space Fence, Patrick Tucker, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/02/obama-wants-more-money-military-spy-satellites-lasers-space-fence/104364/?oref=d-channelriver
6. Work: 2016 Budget Submission Reverses Five Year Defense Spending Decline, Sam LaGrone, 2015
   http://news.usni.org/2015/01/29/work-2016-budget-submission-reverses-five-year-defense-spending-decline
7. Navy’s 2016 Budget Preserves Shipbuilding and Aircraft Procurement Plans, Valerie Insinna, 2015.
   http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1734
8. Obama boosts defense spending, but faces uphill battle, Jon Harper, 2015. 
   http://www.stripes.com/news/obama-boosts-defense-spending-but-faces-uphill-battle-1.327483
9. Pentagon budget 2015: New long-range bomber moves ahead with funding uptick, Daniel Wasserbly, 2014. 
   http://www.janes.com/article/35244/pentagon-budget-2015-new-long-range-bomber-moves-ahead-with-funding-uptick 
10. The FY 2016 President’s Budget, Ryan Crotty, 2015. 
    http://csis.org/publication/fy-2016-presidents-budget
11. The FY 2016 Budget: The Defense Impact, CSIS - Ryan Crotty, Kathleen H. Hicks, Melissa Dalton, John Schaus, Andrew Philip Hunter, Stephanie Sanok Kostro, Maren Leed, Mark W. Lawrence, Thomas Karako, Sharon Squassoni, T.J. Cipoletti, Angela Weaver, 2015. 
    http://csis.org/publication/fy-2016-budget-defense-impact
    

The President’s FY 2016 budget includes $14 billion for cyber security funding across all federal agencies, including $5.5 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD).  The proposed budget would increase cyber defense spending by ten percent over the enacted FY 2015 budget levels, which is higher than the overall proposed DoD budget increase of seven percent. The increased cyber defense funding within the FY 2016 budget is part of a larger effort by the Federal Government to bolster the nation’s cyber defenses. Other steps taken toward this goal include: the development and integration of new software and systems, increasing the staff of US Cyber Command, Executive Order 13691, and the establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's new Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC). 

The FY 2016 budget request would allocate $582 million towards the integration of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program across federal agencies. CDM stores and catalogues information related to individuals who have network access, and enables network managers to diagnose potential cyber vulnerabilities (Boyd, 2015). Another program to strengthen the cyber defenses of federal agencies is the DHS’s EINSTEIN internet monitoring intrusion prevention program. The increased pace of cyber-attacks has accelerated the deployment of the EINSTEIN Phase 3: the original goal was to implement the program in 2018, but it has now been pushed to a 2015 deployment.

“Einstein 3 is designed to quarantine emails and block malicious Web domains that ‘spoof’ legitimate sites, according to CenturyLink. The service defends the perimeter of federal civilian networks. It senses aberrant activity using threat ‘signatures,’ or tell-tale signs of a hacker derived from U.S. intelligence and private research. These indicators can include certain email headers or IP addresses... DHS ultimately expects to deploy phase 3 across all federal agencies. The new system consists of commercial technologies and government-developed software.” – Sternstein, 2014

The FY 2016 budget request would set aside $587.5 million for DHS cyber operations, including the integration of EINSTEN across federal civilian agencies.

US Cyber Command is has met only half of its staffing requirements for its original goal of maintaining 6,000 personnel by 2016. A total of 780 personnel would be tasked with defending vital industries under the National Mission Teams, 2,700 would be responsible for defending military domain systems, and 1,620 will support combat operations (Sternstein, 2015).  Despite its difficulty to fully meet its 6,000 personnel requirement, US Cyber Command has grown rapidly from deploying two cyber mission units to twenty five over the course of 2014. Lt. Gen. Edward Cardon, Commander of US Army Cyber Command, recently indicated the need for more integration between DoD agencies with Cyber Command, as well as for increased collaboration with the private sector (Golden, 2015). Both Executive Order 13691 and CTIIC will foster deeper cooperation between the federal government and the private sector with respect to cyber security issues.

On February 13th 2015, the President issued Executive Order 13691 with the intent of fostering information sharing through Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs) created by the DHS.

“…the development of information sharing organizations that may include industry-specific ISACs but also broaden further to create organizations that may share information in geographical regions or even in response to a particular threat. It also directs the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work with participants to identify baseline standards and practices to guide information sharing.” – King, 2015

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s CTIIC was created with objective of promoting intelligence sharing and coordination between federal agencies on cyber security threats. Under the current system, the DHS, National Security Agency, and US Cyber Command have had somewhat conflicting roles with respect to defending against cyber-attacks (Sanger, 2015). CTIIC will receive a small initial budget of $35 million and is expected to be staffed by roughly 50 personnel from several federal agencies. Overall, the Obama Administration is undertaking a series of robust cyber security measures over the next two years which will significantly mitigate the damage of future cyber-attacks. 

Sources

1. US Cyber Command Has Just Half the Staff It Needs, Aliya Sternstein , 2015.
   http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2015/02/us-cyber-command-has-just-half-staff-it-needs/104847/?oref=d-channelriver
2. Is Obama’s $14 Billion Cybersecurity Request Enough? , Aliya Sternstein , 2015.
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/02/obamas-14-billion-cybersecurity-request-enough/104421/?oref=d-channelriver
3. What a New $35 Million Agency Is Expected To Do for US Cyber Defense, Dustin Volz, 2015.
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/02/what-new-35-million-agency-expected-do-us-cyber-defense/105048/?oref=d-channelriver
4. Obama Administration Plans to Open Center to Fight Cyberattacks, David E. Sanger, 2015. 
   http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/us/politics/obama-administration-plans-to-open-center-to-fight-cyberattacks.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=2 
5. Cyber Teamwork Between Federal Agencies Still Too Hard, Says Army Cyber Commander, Hallie Golden, 2015. 
   http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2015/02/cyber-teamwork-between-federal-agencies-still-too-hard-says-army-cyber-commander/106179/?oref=d-river
6. Obama asks for $14 billion to step up cybersecurity, Dara Kerr, 2015. 
   http://www.cnet.com/news/obama-adds-14b-to-budget-for-stepped-up-cybersecurity/
7. Obama seeks $14 billion to boost U.S. cybersecurity defenses, Andrea Shalal and Alina Selyukh, 2015.
   http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/02/us-usa-budget-cybersecurity-idUSKBN0L61WQ20150202
8. President budgets $14 billion for cybersecurity, Aaron Boyd, 2015.
   http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/cybersecurity/2015/02/02/president-budgets-14-billion-cybersecurity/22751149/
9. FACT SHEET: Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center, Office of the Press Secretary, 2015.
   http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/25/fact-sheet-cyber-threat-intelligence-integration-center 
10. Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM), DHS, 2014. 
    http://www.dhs.gov/cdm 
11. Obama Signs Info Sharing Executive Order, But Concerns Remain, Rachel King, 2015.
    http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/02/13/obama-signs-info-sharing-executive-order-but-concerns-remain/
12. Obama to sign executive order on cybersecurity info sharing, Jon Skillings, 2015.
    http://www.cnet.com/news/obama-to-sign-executive-order-on-cybersecurity-info-sharing/