GovConJudicata Weekly Debrief (5/25–29)

This week's Weekly Debrief covers several interesting topics, including Federal agency cyber efforts, NSA's warning on Russian hackers, Pentagon's return to normal operations, JIAC and cloudONE, NASA/SpaceX's launch, and an article on COVID contractors, fraud, and a WFH weapons dealer.

Cyber

• NextGov – Government’s Annual Cyber Report Shows Improvements Across the Board

• ​"The number of government agencies actively exercising measures to account for their contractors’ handling of sensitive federal information is significantly lower than the number meeting other performance criteria in the Federal Information Security Management Act, the government’s main cyber compliance law."

• FCW – NSA warns Russian hackers exploited email flaw

• ​"Russian hackers have compromised a longstanding vulnerability in a widely used email delivery software program since at least August of last year, according to an advisory from the National Security Agency. The flaw is serious, and allows what NSA characterizes as 'pretty much any attacker’s dream access.'"

Defense

• GovExec – Pentagon Sets New Rules for ‘Return to Normal Operations’ Worldwide

• ​"The Defense Department is easing its global travel restrictions and laying out guidelines for reopening the Pentagon in preparation to “return to normal operations,” officials announced on Tuesday."

• Breaking Defense – Joint AI Center Turns To Air Force cloudONE As JEDI Stalls

• ​"The legal battle over the JEDI cloud-computing contract has slowed down the Pentagon’s AI program, the director of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center acknowledges. In the meantime, Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan told an AFCEA webcast last week, JAIC will turn to a new Air Force program our longtime readers are already familiar with: cloudONE."

NASA

• Space.com – How to watch SpaceX's historic 1st Demo-2 astronaut launch live online

• ​"After a delay due to bad weather, SpaceX's historic first astronaut launch for NASA is now set for Saturday (May 30) and when it comes to watching the event live, to say "you have options" is an understatement. You'll be able to watch the launch live online (of course) as well as on TV, cable, satellite and pretty much every streaming app around."

Other

• ProPublica – A Closer Look at Federal COVID Contractors Reveals Inexperience, Fraud Accusations and a Weapons Dealer Operating Out of Someone’s House

• ​"A firm set up by a former telemarketer who once settled federal fraud charges for $2.7 million. A vodka distributor accused in a pending lawsuit of overstating its projected sales. An aspiring weapons dealer operating out of a single-family home."

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