Category: IA News

Today the Obama Administration announced a new strategy to help agencies build the cybersecurity workforce. The Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy is designed to “grow the pipeline of highly skilled cybersecurity talent entering federal service” and to retain and invest in that talent. In a blog post announcing the Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy, the authors discuss the persistence […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report assessing the Department of Defense’s (DoD) progress incorporating the Homeland Response Force into the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) response enterprise. DoD is expected to play a prominent role in supporting civil authorities in a CBRN incident, and the Homeland Response Force is intended to bridge […]

On June 30, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the release of the State Department’s 2016 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The report focuses on strategies to prevent human trafficking around the globe, analyzing governments’ prosecution, protection, and prevention efforts. The 2016 report also builds on previous reports, featuring ways governments can identify people most at-risk and reduce […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Benghazi has released their proposed report on 2012 terrorist attack that killed four Americans. The report includes “many new revelations” and is critical of the Obama administration’s response. The report details relevant events in 2011 and 2012 that led up to the terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities in […]

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Advisory Council released the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Subcommittee interim report. The report focuses on the spread of violent extremist ideology and the recruitment of American youth to extremist groups, and how DHS can leverage partnerships in multiple sectors to counter such recruitment. The subcommittee’s report asserts that […]

On June 22, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security Thomas Atkin told members of the House Armed Services Committee that the Department of Defense (DoD) has made significant progress in implementing is cyber strategy. In his address, Atkin spoke of our increasingly interconnected world and our increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks. According to […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) implementation of the National Disaster Recovery Framework, which provides the overarching interagency coordination structure for the recovery phase of incidents and calls for a “whole community” approach to recovery. The report, GAO-16-476, examines FEMA’s implementation of the framework in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New […]

Nearly 800 representatives from U.S. government agencies, private industry, and foreign nations recently participated in Cyber Guard 2016, a nine-day exercise that concluded on June 18. U.S. government participants included representatives from the FBI and the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, among others. Non-government entities included power companies and port facilities. This year’s Cyber Guard exercise scenarios involved […]

Last week, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued guidance on national security professional development interagency personnel rotations. On June 15, Acting Director Beth F. Cobert announced OPM’s guidance aimed at assisting participating agencies in meeting the requirement mandated by section 1107(e) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. The guidance encourages agencies to […]

On June 9, RAND Corporation released two reports examining the deployment of Department of Defense (DoD) civilians. The full case study is included in Expeditionary Civilians: Creating a Viable Practice of Department of Defense Civilian Deployment, and while a shorter report, Expeditionary Civilians: Creating a Viable Practice of Civilian Deployment Within the U.S. Interagency Community and Among Foreign […]