The Wrap: CSRB Tweaks; Artemis Cost Problems; AI Begs for Data Privacy

Welcome to The Wrap for Wednesday, January 17!

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From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

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Cyber Safety Review Board Tweaks?

Witnesses told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ’s (DHS) Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) – created in 2022 to investigate large-profile cyber incidents and report on lessons learned – is in need of some changes after its initial two-year run of activity. Thus far, the CSRB has released two reports: one on the?Log4j software vulnerability?and one on the?Lapsus$ hacking group. It is currently in the middle of its third review on the recent?Microsoft Exchange Online intrusion?and cloud security as a whole. How can the board be improved? “First, please fund an independent civilian agency staffed with full-time investigators,” said Tarah M. Wheeler , CEO of Red Queen Dynamics. “The two CSRB reports so far have had very simple consensus-based resolutions … but that’s not necessarily useful information,” she said. “Second, do not introduce classified information into investigations or require clearances to sit on the CSRB,” Wheeler said, adding, “the CSRB must build trust by operating openly as the stakes grow higher in cyberspace – lack of transparency around how people are currently nominated to the CSRB and how the board selects which investigations they pursue may decrease trust in its impartiality.” Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., appeared to have open ears to that input. “We plan to continue to be actively engaged in looking at reforms and perhaps codifying some of the rules that are in place right now,” the senator said.

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Artemis Cost Problems

Getting to the moon is really hard; getting the cost end of things right in that effort may be just as difficult. That was a bottom-line takeaway from today’s House Science, Space, and Technology Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing?on NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration ’s Artemis project which has its sights set on landing astronauts on the moon and providing a lunar space station for future research and exploration efforts. George A. Scott, CFE , NASA’s acting inspector general, talked about the project’s high-dollar funding needs in his testimony. “Overall, we projected that total Artemis costs will reach $93 billion between 2012 and 2025,” Scott said. “To its credit, the agency recognizes the need to reduce costs and is attempting to do so,” Scott said. “Our work, however, has found that some key cost-reduction efforts may fall short,” he said, adding, “this is due in part to NASA not capturing certain costs when developing estimates or relying on unrealistic assumptions.” While the high-dollar price tag for Artemis is daunting, committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said the Artemis program continues to be of high importance in light of interest by China to pursue the same type of program. “I remind my colleagues that we are not the only country interested in sending humans to the moon,” said the chairman. “The Chinese Communist Party is actively soliciting international partners for a lunar mission, a lunar research station, and has stated its ambition to have … human astronauts on the surface by 2030.”

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AI Begging for Data Privacy

Continuing the current rocket-ride of AI development depends on many things, but one of the most important of those is creating privacy regulations that offer people some measure of protection for the data they create. That was a dominant theme from Arati Prabhakar , director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), who told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today that data privacy legislation needs to work in harmony with efforts in Congress coming this year to also create guardrails on artificial intelligence development. “It creates enormous problems for the industry to not have the full harmonization [in privacy],” Prabhakar said, adding, “this is an area where President Biden continues to call on our Congress to act on privacy legislation.” Legislators have taken some big swings – and ultimately, misses – at national data privacy legislation over the past ten years, notably with vehicles like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) in the 117th Congress. OSTP’s Prabhakar also pointed to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation as a possible guiding light for future U.S. efforts.

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Got Grid Cyber Tech?

If so, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ’s?Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) wants to hear from you. The CESER office today?announced?a $30 million funding opportunity to support the research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of next generation tools to protect clean energy delivery infrastructure from cyberattacks. What’s at stake? Up to $3 million for each of ten awards in areas including forensic analysis of infected renewable energy field devices, mitigating threats to inverter-based gear, and increasing security of virtual power plants. If that sounds like you, applications are due by March 18.

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Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more tomorrow. Until then please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy. And finally, please hit the news tip jar [with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents] at [email protected].