Page 8 - FCW, August 2017

Trending
18F seeks to
streamline
ATO process
Innovation group 18F has launched an interagency project to make it easier for federal agencies to adopt commer- cial software and products.
Project Boise’s goals are “to reduce the burden (time, cost and pain) and improve the effectiveness of the federal government’s software security compliance processes,” according to a statement posted on GitHub.
Those security compliance processes require agencies to obtain an authority to operate (ATO) before adopting commercial software and entail additional requirements depending on individual agencies’ rules. Those reviews add a bureau- cratic hurdle for agencies that want to use commercial products.
Federal officials estimate that it takes about four months for a cloud provider’s service to be approved for government use. Jason Hess, chief of cloud security at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said in March that his agency has managed to obtain ATOs in seven days and wants to shorten that time frame to a single day.
18F officials would like all agencies to have a turnaround time closer to NGA’s.
To do that, they plan to build on the effectiveness of ongoing ATO improve- ment projects by working with chief information security officers, cyberse- curity policymakers and private-sector entities engaged in security compli- ance, among others.
The innovation shop also hopes to collaborate with the National Insti- tute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget to help turn its research into policy.
7
New bill calls for a smart wall on the U.S. border
6 August 2017 FCW.COM
— Chase Gunter
Legislation recently introduced by Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) would compel the Department of Homeland Security to create a “smart wall” by requiring DHS to assess technological solutions before building a physical bar- rier on the country’s southern border.
The Secure Miles with All Resources and Technology (SMART) Act would mandate that DHS deploy technology where it is the best option and would prevent funding for construction until a comprehensive border strategy, including a cost estimate and justifi- cation, is submitted to Congress.
Hurd quoted estimates from Silicon Valley defense technology firm Anduril Industries, which said his proposal to use more technology would reduce the wall’s costs to $500,000 per mile from the current $24.5 million-per-mile estimate for President Donald Trump’s proposed wall.
Hurd’s district in Texas includes 800 miles that snake along the Rio Grande River on the state’s southern tip. A longtime skeptic about the border wall, he has been calling for technol- ogy-rich solutions that could provide
more cost-effective and operation- ally efficient security, such as inter- linked sensors, surveillance and other detection systems.
He told CNN that the U.S. border strategy has focused on big problem areas for too long — including Tucson, San Diego and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas — sometimes at the expense of other areas. A so-called smart wall would be a cost-effective way to plan for the entire border, he said.
During a July 25 hearing of the House Homeland Security Commit- tee’s Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee, Hurd asked Customs and Border Protection officials about field agents’ access to the surveillance and detection technology used in CBP’s command centers.
Scott Luck, acting deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, told the panel that his agency’s stand-alone systems do not communicate well with one another or with agents in the field, and he would like a more effective mix of technology to support his agents.
— Mark Rockwell
agencies had active U.S. Digital Service teams as of June
Tom Coleman
@TomLColeman
Best graphic I have seen on #IoT for #disaster preparedness and readiness. Thanks for sharing Adrian Gardner. @FCWnow @IBMIoT
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5:50 AM - 25 Jul 2017
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ADRIAN GARDNER