National Science Foundation unveils sexual harassment reporting requirements for universities

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• Universities will need to keep the National Science Foundation in the loop about sexual harassment investigations. A new notice from NSF asked for comments on new reporting requirements for sexual and other forms of harassment. Universities would have to reveal if a Principal Investigator on an NSF award is found to have committed any of those acts. (Federal Register)

• The Trump administration wants to bring back an experienced research and development expert to help run a new office at the Defense Department. President Trump will nominate Lisa Porter to be the next Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. She would return to the government after serving as executive vice president and director of In-Q-Tel Labs. Porter was the first director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and worked for NASA.

• FBI Director Christopher Wray made his pick to run the bureau’s IT wing. John Adams will serve as executive assistant director of the FBI’s Information and Technology Branch. Adams has been with the FBI since 1997 covering an array of crime areas including espionage, drug trafficking, violent crime, and terrorism. (FBI)

• HHS is hiring a different kind of CPO. The Department of Health and Human Services has brought in a familiar face to fill the new role of chief product officer for IT. Todd Simpson, the Food and Drug Administration’s CIO, started today as the HHS CPO. HHS CIO Beth Killoran charged him with building the technology that the mission areas will use. In this new role, Simpson will not run technology, but take the requirements from the mission areas and apply modern capabilities such as robotics or artificial intelligence. Simpson comes to headquarters after spending the last three-plus years turning around the FDA’s IT infrastructure. (Federal News Radio)

• Five centers of excellence are to be set up by the Agriculture Department under the Trump administration’s IT modernization plan. Congress still needs to appropriate the funds to pay for the project though. The Technology Modernization Fund would authorize over $250 million for 2018 and 2019 under the Modernizing Government Technology Act.

• Look for Congress to move closer to authorizing and funding the government this week. Appropriations staffs in the House and Senate will spend this week drafting a trillion-dollar-plus bill. The so-called omnibus would head off a government interruption March 23 when the continuing resolution runs out. Bloomberg Government reported that likely amendments would reauthorize the Homeland Security Department and, more specifically, the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration. The bill would hit the full House next Monday.

• The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is seeking new tech for first responders. S&T released a Request for Information to participate in a Next Generation First Responder event later this year. It wants industry to propose technologies to help make first responders better protected, connected and fully aware. Submissions for the RFI are due by March 30. (Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate)

• DHS released its plan to hire 10,000 new border patrol agents and five-thousand new immigration officers. Chief Human Capital Officer Angela Bailey said the agency would likely finish the hires in the next five to 10 years. She told Senate overseers a new contract with Accenture will help Customs and Border Protection complete the full hiring process. (Federal News Radio)

• The Marines are the latest to set up a dedicated military career field for cyber operations. The new Cyberspace Occupational Field includes seven separate specialties for Marine Corps commissioned officers, warrant officers and enlisted personnel, including some that are dedicated exclusively to offensive or defensive cyber operations. Although the service has been busily building cyber teams for years, it’s drawn its personnel from other occupational fields, like communications. Officials believe the change will make a significant difference in retaining cyber experts, who will be able to stay in the field up through the rank of Master Gunnery Sergeant or Lieutenant Colonel. (Marines)

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