New GOP Appropriators. The House Appropriations Committee announced it would have four new Republican members in January: David Jolly, from the Florida district of the late long-time appropriator and defense industry supporter Bill Young; Scott Rigell, whose Virginia district includes Naval Base Norfolk and surrounding military installations and contractors; as well as Even Jenkins (R-W.Va) and David Young (R-Iowa). Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), who took over as the defense subcommittee chairman when Bill Young died last year, will retain his chairmanship. 
Cyber Mission Force.
United States Cyber Command Commander Adm. Michael Rogers tells a House panel that Cyber Command has generated about 40 percent of the force it currently needs to conduct its missions. The cyber mission force is responsible for defending the Defense Department’s networks, meeting the needs of the department from defensive to offensive, and when tasked by the president and Secretary of Defense to help defend critical infrastructure in the U.S., Rogers tells the House Intelligence Committee. The force is being stood up between FY ’13 and FY ’16 and is “progressing well,” he says. “I always remind people, this will be an iterative journey and where we are right now is not necessarily where we’re going to end up. Cyber is an environment and mission set that continues to change.”
…Good News on the Workforce. Rogers also says that he has been “pleasantly surprised” by the ability of Cyber Command to recruit and retain people for its workforce, both uniformed and civilian. He says that when he began working in the cyber area more than 10 years ago recruitment and retention were the primary concerns. While Cyber Command can’t compete with the private sector over salaries, Rogers believes that the command has been successful with its workforce because–like other elements of DoD–people are attracted to serving the nation and higher cause, and because of the “neat things” they will get to do and the responsibilities they get at a young age. Cyber Command’s workforce is about 80 percent uniformed military and 20 percent civilian, he says.
…Clear Authorities. There is “broad agreement” as to who has what responsibilities if U.S. critical infrastructure comes under a cyber attack, Rogers tells Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) at the hearing. He says that 18 months to two years ago “we were spinning our wheels about who was going to do what. We’re way past that.” For DoD to get involved in defending private infrastructure will require presidential authority as would the use of offensive capability to respond to such an attack, he adds. What still needs to be done is to get “beyond the broad agreement” to the level of execution detail, Rogers says. Once there is high-level agreement, the “military culture” is about repeatedly training and exercising “and that’s what we’ve got to do next.”
Border Security Hearing. The House Homeland Security Committee will host a hearing on Dec. 3 to hear from and question Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson regarding the impact on border security of President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the committee, says in a statement that “The president’s decision to bypass Congress and grant amnesty to millions of unlawful immigrants is unconstitutional and a threat to our democracy. There is no doubt our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, but this does not mean the president has the authority to act without Congress.” McCaul says the president’s action will spawn a new wave of illegal immigration into the United States and that as the committee’s chairman “I will use every tool at my disposal” to stop the action.
Webb Tosses Hat in Ring. Former Navy secretary, assistant defense secretary and for reserve affairs and senator Jim Webb announced Wednesday he has launched an exploratory committee for a 2016 presidential campaign. In a 14-minute video, he touted his bipartisan service–as a Democratic senator and in the Reagan administration. Webb focused his message on economic inequality, though he discussed his national security views at length as well, saying America needed to redefine its national security obligations and avoid unnecessary and potentially destabilizing international engagements. With an exploratory committee, Webb can begin raising money while gauging public interest in what is assumed to be a campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Global Hawk Sustainment. The Air Force Oct. 1 awards Northrop Grumman a $306 million contract to continue logistics and sustainment services on the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), according to a company statement. The new agreement continues an existing contract for maintenance, inventory management, parts procurement and other tasks necessary to ensure the availability of the Global Hawk. This includes the aircraft as well as mission control elements and forward operating location support. Global Hawk is a high altitude, long endurance (HALE) remotely piloted autonomous unmanned aircraft intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system.
ATK HARM Protest. GAO on Oct. 14 denies ATK’s protest of the terms of an Air Force request for proposal (RFP) for an upgrade of the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) control section. ATK challenges the terms of the solicitation and the agency decision that there are no organizational conflict of interests concerns resulting from Raytheon’s participation in the competition. Raytheon was awarded a contract around 2010. HARM is an air-to-surface missile designed to seek and destroy enemy radar-equipped air defense systems. Raytheon develops HARM.
NETCENTS-2 Protests. The GAO on Nov. 3 sustains protests by CSC, HP, Harris IT Services and Booz Allen Hamilton over the assertion that the Air Force incorrectly evaluated the proposals and made unreasonable source selection decisions for Network Centric Solutions-2 (NETCENTS-2). The protesters generally assert that the agency incorrectly evaluated the proposals and made unreasonable source selection decisions. HP additionally alleges that the agency conducted inadequate and unequal discussions. NETCENTS-2 is for the acquisition of network operations, infrastructure and service-oriented architecture information and transformation services and solutions for the Air Force and other DoD agencies at locations worldwide.
NASA Science Balloons. NASA awards Orbital Sciences’ technical services division (TSD) a contract worth up to approximately $185 million over a five-year term to operate the civil space agency’s science balloon operations program, according to a company statement. The contract was competitively selected. Orbital’s TSD will provide program management, mission planning, engineering services and field operations for the scientific balloon program.
EELV Certification. The Air Force is “still striving” toward a December certification decision for Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s (SpaceX) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) certification, according to the service’s Space and Missile Systems Center (AFSMC). SpaceX wants certification to be able to launch military payloads. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) chief Gen. John Hyten said in September the service was shooting for a Dec. 1 certification date.
LITENING Award. DoD awards Northrop Grumman $116 million to upgrade AN/AAQ-28(V) LITENING advanced targeting systems, according to a company statement. Under the terms of the existing indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract, Northrop Grumman will provide upgrades and spares to the Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard and Marine Corps. This award will bring all Air Force block 1 pods to the G4 configuration, completing the service’s transition to the latest version of the LITENING system.
Joint STARS Contract. The Air Force awards Northrop Grumman a $210 million contract to continue sustaining its E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) fleet, according to a company statement. The award is a continuation of Northrop Grumman’s Joint STARS sustainment contract, which was first awarded in 2000.