CSIS Names New Defense-Industry Director. Andrew Hunter, the Defense Department’s director of the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell, will take over as director of the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group in the Center for Strategic and International Studies next month. Hunter previously served as chief of staff for the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, working for both Ashton Carter and Frank Kendall. He has also worked for the HASC, leading the staff’s acquisition and industrial base portfolio. Hunter’s move to CSIS comes as both former employers undertake an acquisition reform effort, to which CSIS and other think tanks have provided insight and recommendations.
Piecemeal Cyber.
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel says that the Obama Administration has “evolved” its thinking about legislation on cyber security and believes that instead of favoring a comprehensive bill is willing to accept piecemeal laws. “I do think it would be easier for us to get smaller pieces of cyber legislation rather than one giant comprehensive bill,” he says at a forum hosted by the Center for National Policy. “And so a lot of our efforts are involved with getting whatever we can passed and on whatever vehicle we can get it attached to, as long as the policy and the legislation itself is acceptable.” That’s a change from the past few years when the administration has pushed for one big bill that covers everything from liability protections for the private sector to solidifying the Department of Homeland Security’s authorities in the cyber realm. Daniel adds that there is still plenty the administration can do under existing authorities.
Technology on the Border. Driving home a point about the increased focus on security along the nation’s Southern border the past 14 year, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says technology has been increasingly deployed to advance security. Comparing technology deployments in 2000 versus 2014, he says at a speech hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that previously there were few, if any, underground sensors to detect illegal migration versus 11,683 today. The Border Patrol currently has 107 aircraft versus 56 in 2000, adding that back then the agency had no unmanned aerial vehicles against eight now for use on the southwest border.
…Even More. The expansion of technology assets used for border security includes a number of systems. Johnson says that in 2000 the Border Patrol had two boats to patrol waterways along the southwest border versus 84 today. He also notes that the agency currently has 40 Mobile Surveillance Systems, which include camera and radar, versus just one 14 years ago, and has 178 mobile video surveillance systems now compared to “little if any” in 2000. On top of all that, the Border Patrol has 273 fixed-remote video surveillance systems, up from 140 in 2000, 9,255 pairs of night vision goggles currently and 600 thermal imaging devices versus little to none 14 years ago. He says that in the past 15 years the federal government has spent more on border security than at any other time in the nation’s history.
Secret Service Review. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Friday announced four panelists that will lead an independent review of the Secret Service, primarily focused on the security of the White House compound, in the wake of a series of embarrassing scandals and security lapses that have plagued the agency recently. The panel’s assessment and recommendations are due to Johnson by Dec. 15. The panelists are: Tom Perrelli, a former Associate Attorney General of the United States in the Obama administration, Mark Filip, a former Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. under then President George W. Bush; Danielle Gray, a former Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary to Obama; and Joe Hagin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations under Bush.
New Assistant USAF Energy Secretary. The Senate confirms in September Miranda Ballentine as assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, energy and logistics. According to her LinkedIn page, Ballentine says she is responsible for the oversight, formulation, review and execution of plans, policies, programs and budgets for installations, energy, environment, safety and occupational health. Ballentine comes over from Wal-Mart, where she spent nearly seven years as director of sustainability, renewable energy and sustainable facilities. While at Wal-Mart, Ballentine says she supported colleagues across logistics, operations, energy, real estate and design and construction to reduce environmental and social impacts across the company’s global operations. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in January.
SBIRS Payload. Northrop Grumman delivers a Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) payload to Lockheed Martin Sept. 30, the third payload delivered on the SBIRS follow-on production contract in 15 months, according to an Air Force statement. The payload, which contains scanning and staring sensors, will be integrated with a SBIRS geosynchronous (GEO) spacecraft in preparation for projected launch in summer 2016. The fourth GEO satellite is the last production unit required to complete the GEO portion of the SBIRS constellation. The fifth and sixth GEO satellites, which were placed on contract earlier this year, will replace the first two GEO satellites at the end of their mission lives. SBIRS is designed to provide global and persistent infrared (IR) surveillance capabilities like missile warning missile defense, technical intelligence and battlespace awareness. Lockheed Martin is prime contractor for SBIRS. 
New ORB-3 Launch. Orbital Sciences and NASA reschedule the company’s Orb-3 Cargo Resupply Services (CRS) delivery mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for Oct. 24 at 7:52 p.m. EDT, according to a company statement. The launch will take place at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on the eastern shore of Virginia. Orbital says the mission schedule has been revised to account for normal pre-launch processing and testing of the Antares rocket at Wallops Island and to build flexibility into the overall mission schedule. For Orb-3, the company will deliver its largest load of cargo to date, carrying approximately 5,050 pounds.
Boeing Aeronautical Antenna. Boeing completes environmental and performance qualification testing for what it calls its most advance aeronautical antenna. Boeing is developing an aircraft satellite communications antenna system for multipurpose satellite operator Al Yah Satellite Company (Yahsat) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The system has passed customer-witnessed acceptance testing and its required data transfer rate has been validated in over-the-air satellite tests, according to a company statement. The Yahsat contract calls for Boeing to deliver the first of eight low-profile antenna systems later this year for installation on various aircraft.
F-35 Drag Chute Contract. The Navy on Sept. 30 awards Lockheed Martin a $247 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to develop, test and certify two drag chute systems for the low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot VII F-35 aircraft, according to a Defense Department statement. Work is expected to be completed by July 2019. International partner funds of $90 million are being obligated at the time of award.
…More F-35. The Navy on Oct. 9 awards Lockheed Martin a pair of contract modifications worth a total of around $68 million to a previously awarded Lot V contract, according to DoD. The first contract modification, worth $37 million, provides for non-recurring efforts associated with procurement of training spares for Israel and Japan and two full mission simulators in support of Japan’s F-35A air system for pilot training. The second contract modification, worth $31 million, provides for non-recurring efforts associated with the procurement of two full mission simulators in support of Israel’s F-35A air system for pilot training.