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Daily Archives: April 26, 2017

Cybersecurity: Critical Infrastructure Authoritative Reports and Resources

CRS – Cybersecurity: Critical Infrastructure Authoritative Reports and Resources, Rita Tehan, Information Research Specialist, April 21, 2017.
“Cybersecurity: Critical Infrastructure Authoritative Reports and Resources Congressional Research Service Summary Critical infrastructure is defined in the USA PATRIOT Act (P.L. 107-56, §1016(e)) as“ systems and assets, physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health and safety, or any combination of those matters.” Presidential Decision Directive 63, or PDD-63,identified activities whose critical infrastructures should be protected: information and communications; banking and finance; water supply; aviation, highways, mass transit, pipelines, rail, and waterborne commerce; emergency and law enforcement services; emergency, fire, and continuity of government services; public health services; electric power, oil and gas production;and storage. In addition, the PDD identified four activities in which the federal government controls the critical infrastructure: (1) internal security and federal law enforcement; (2) foreign intelligence; (3) foreign affairs; and (4) national defense.In February 2013, the Obama Administration issued PPD-21, Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, which superseded HSPD-7 issued during the George W.Bush Administration.PPD-21 made no major changes in policy, roles and responsibilities, or programs, but did order an evaluation of the existing public-private partnership model, the identification of baseline data and system requirements for efficient information exchange, and the development of a situational awareness capability. PPD-21 also called for an update of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, and a new Research and Development Plan for Critical Infrastructure,to be updated every four years.This report serves as a starting point for congressional staff assigned to cover cybersecurity issues as they relate to critical infrastructure. Much is written about protecting U.S. critical infrastructure, and this CRS report directs the reader to authoritative sources that address many of the most prominent issues. The annotated descriptions of these sources are listed in reverse chronological order with an emphasis on material published in the past several years. The report includes resources and studies from government agencies (federal, state, local, and international), think tanks, academic institutions, news organizations, and other sources.”

WaPo – Tracking how many key positions Trump has filled so far

“The Post and Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, are tracking more than 500 key executive branch nominations through the confirmation process. These positions include Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsel, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other critical leadership positions. These are a portion of the roughly 1,200… Continue Reading

Daunting concept of species triage for countless endangered animals

Outside – “Professor Leah Gerber is one of the country’s leading proponents of what’s called species triage, a practice where conservationists use data and models to figure out how to spend our limited endangered species dollars as efficiently and effectively as possible. The practice has been used by governments in Australia and New Zealand, but… Continue Reading

CA Top Three Spots in Employment Growth Among Large Counties

“San Francisco, Riverside and San Bernardino led the nation in annual employment growth among the top 50 U.S. counties with the most employees, according to new U.S. Census Bureau economic statistics released today. Overall, these 50 counties accounted for 34.6 percent of employment of all establishments defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).… Continue Reading

Estimates of U.S. Population by Age and Sex

“A downloadable file containing estimates of the resident U.S. population by single year of age and sex is available on the Population and Housing Unit Estimates webpage at <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest.html>. In the coming months, the U.S. Census Bureau will release 2016 population estimates for cities and towns, as well as national, state and county population estimates by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.” Continue Reading

DATA Act: OIG Reports Help Identify Agencies’ Implementation Challenges

DATA Act: Office of Inspector General Reports Help Identify Agencies’ Implementation Challenges, GAO-17-460: Published: Apr 26, 2017. Publicly Released: Apr 26, 2017: “As of January 31, 2017, 30 Offices of Inspector General (OIG) had completed Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act) readiness reviews for their respective agencies, most of which were completed… Continue Reading

New Executive Order on Federal Control of Education Identifies Power of States Rights

Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing Statutory Prohibitions on Federal Control of Education EXECUTIVE ORDER – April 26, 2017 – – – – – – – ENFORCING STATUTORY PROHIBITIONS ON FEDERAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in… Continue Reading

2017 Tax Reform for Economic Growth and American Jobs

The White House released a one page document pertaining to the new tax reform plan. The the only official document currently available – not including news articles reporting on the plan, is a photograph of the White House document, via @ZekeJMiller. See Tax Policy Center analysis – Trump’s Familiar Tax Plan Would Add Trillions To… Continue Reading