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• Defense Department procurement officials are drawing up a cybersecurity blacklist. The “do not buy” list has been in the works for the past six months. It includes companies whose technology the Pentagon doesn’t believe it can trust, mainly firms with roots in China and Russia. Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment, said DoD is working closely with the intelligence community to build the list, but it’s not always easy because some of the foreign vendors are hidden inside holding companies. (Bloomberg)

• President Donald Trump is planning to nominate James Gfrerer to be the next assistant secretary for information and technology and chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department. It’s been 18 months since VA had a permanent CIO and has had only two permanent technology executives since 2009. If the Senate confirms him, Gfrerer would join the VA after working in cybersecurity at Ernst and Young. He also is a retired Marine. (Federal News Radio)

• The Commerce Department is one step closer to filling out a key management position. President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Tom Gilman to be the agency’s chief financial officer and assistant secretary of administration. Gilman comes from the private sector where he’s held a variety of senior management positions, including most recently as the former chairman and CEO of Chrysler Financial. (White House)

• A federal judge rejected a move by government transparency groups to disclose White House visitor logs. The groups said the records belonged to the Secret Service,and were subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. But a New York district court ruled the records belong to the president, and fall beyond the reach of FOIA. But the judge said the Secret Service is still required to release visitor logs for the Office of Management and Budget and the Executive Office of the President.

• The Environment Protection Agency’s communications staff sought to discredit two former employees, who criticized former Administrator Scott Pruitt before leaving. That’s according to the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and emails released under the Freedom of Information Act. They showed a former agency spokesman telling conservative media outlets about how the employees left the EPA for six-figure pensions. But one of the employees said his pension only comes out to less than $40,000 a year. (Federal News Radio)

• The Federal Labor Relations Authority told both the Education Department and the American Federation of Government Employees, the agency bargained in bad faith when it ended negotiations and implemented its own management document. This comes after AFGE filed an unfair labor practice charge. The FLRA’s findings carry little weight, however, since it lacks a general counsel. The union and agency are supposed to work out disputes on their own or wait for the president to appoint an FLRA general counsel. (Federal News Radio)

• The General Services Administration made the largest award under the 6-year-old governmentwide cyber program. Six agencies are primed to receive the next generation of cybersecurity tools under a $1 billion contract award. The GSA picks Booz Allen Hamilton for the DEFEND Group B task order under the continuous diagnostics and mitigation or CDM program. The six agencies, HHS, GSA, NASA, SSA, Treasury and the Postal Service, will receive ongoing support for current CDM tools as well as new capabilities. This is Booz Allen’s second win under the five DEFEND task orders.

• The Director of National Intelligence said a reorganization of his office is completed. ODNI Chief Dan Coats rolled out what he calls a new organizational structure, developed with the help of Principal Deputy Sue Gordon. He said the new set-up was more agile, and is composed of four directorates. They cover intelligence integration, enabling national security partnerships, resources and capabilities, and aligning activities with strategy. The new structure also has a new statements for vision and core values. (Office of the Director of National Intelligence)

• Leadership on the Senate Intelligence Committee recognized intelligence community employees with a Senate resolution. The resolution thanks current and former intelligence employees for their service. Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced the resolution. It has bipartisan support from Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Susan Collins (R-Maine), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). (Sen. Mark Warner)

• Sailors’ personal lives can be negatively affected by their service according to a new survey from the Navy. Forty-five percent of unmarried male sailors and 52 percent of unmarried women sailors say military service reduced the likelihood they would get married. Almost half of childless ones say it makes it less likely they will have or adopt children. (Navy)

• The Air Force finished up the first iteration of its futuristic pilot training program called Pilot Training Next. The 15-month program used state-of-the-art simulations that trainees could access anytime. It also collected biometric data from trainees, which the Air Force hopes to use to improve future training. (Federal News Radio)

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