The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

• Navy documents obtained by the Washington Post, show the Naval Criminal Investigative Service tried and failed several times to pin corruption charges on Leonard Francis, former CEO of defense contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia. NCIS opened 27 separate investigations starting in 2006. All of them were dropped due to lack of evidence. Francis has since pleaded guilty to defrauding the Navy of $35 million. (Washington Post)

• Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin, said she gave President-elect Donald Trump a “personal commitment” to aggressively drive down the cost of the F-35. Hewson said she had a “good conversation” with Trump after he tweeted his concerns about the high cost of the fighter jet. He even said he asked Lockheed’s competitor Boeing to “price-out” a comparable F-18 Super Hornet. Hewson said she trusts Trump “wants the very best capability for our military at the lowest cost for taxpayers,” and that the company is ready to deliver just that. (Lockheed Martin)

• A major linchpin of the Defense Department’s IT modernization strategy faces additional scrutiny — both from Congress and the Pentagon’s internal watchdog. The Joint Regional Security Stacks that are now partly-operational in the Southeastern U.S. and in Europe were the first major deliverable in DoD’s Joint Information Environment, a multiyear project to unify Defense networks and improve their security. But a provision in the Defense authorization bill President Barack Obama signed last week bars DoD from declaring full operational capability on JRSS until it conducts a formal test and evaluation process to show the systems are effective. Also, the DoD inspector general said it’s planning the first in a series of audits to figure out whether JRSS has actually improved the military’s cybersecurity posture.

• The Obama administration has spent most of 2016 laying the groundwork for security clearance reform. The Performance Accountability Council has approved the IT plans for the new background investigation system. The administration also developed a new training guide for background adjudicators to help them find mistakes and false information from a subject’s clearance application. (Federal News Radio)

• Construction of a new Labor Department (DOL) headquarters took a step forward. The General Services Administration issued a request for proposals (RFP) for phase one of the new DOL headquarters. The headquarters is shortlisted for three sites in Washington, D.C. The RFP required the site’s owners to submit their plans for what they will build and how they plan to fund it. (General Services Administration)

• The Air Force has spent $31 million on hardening its command and control systems. The service said it is looking for cybersecurity flaws, as it realized cyber defense is needed in more than just IT systems. The contract was awarded to Engility in the fourth quarter of 2016 and will last for five years. (Federal News Radio)

• The federal government has battled cyber hackers on an increasing number of fronts in 2016. While the White House pondered how to deal with the alleged Russian election hacking, the Justice Department indicted three Chinese individuals for hacking U.S.-based international law firms. They’re also charged with insider trading on purloined information. A fourth man was arrested in Macau. The hackers, working from Hong Kong, allegedly took 40 gigabytes of confidential data. Affected law firms advised drug companies on mergers and acquisitions. (Department of Justice)

• Applications are being accepted for the Agriculture Department’s Cyber Physical Systems Program. Up to $5 million has been made available for internet connected tools that can be used throughout the food supply chain like self-driving tractors and smart irrigation scheduling. These tools are said to make agribusiness more efficient. Applications are due by March 6. (USDA)

• A team at the National Cancer Institute said it hopes its “software middleman” will make it easier to link cancer patients with clinical trials. A new application programming interface should help patients, doctors and advocates access trial information from a large database, and use it in a way that’s most helpful to them. (Federal News Radio)

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