Whose job is it to protect and defend government networks? Sounds like a simple question, but it’s really not, said James Richberg, deputy national intelligence manager for cyber in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. In fact, the lack of a comprehensive national security initiative means that “something seemingly simple like guarding the network becomes so complicated to carry out,” he said last week at AFA’s CyberFutures Conference. He made the analogy to buying a plot of land and then going down to the hardware store to buy supplies to build a house without blueprints. “Why are we still playing whack-a-mole with cyber threats and trying to figure out fundamental questions such as whose job is it to guard our networks?” Richberg asked.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.