The Defense Department’s National Cyber Range earlier this month concluded a one-year beta-operation phase, announced DARPA. During this time, various Pentagon organizations conducted seven large-scale cyber experiments, according to the agency’s release. Beta operations involve ironing out the bugs of a system before the final configuration. The range is a secure, self-contained facility at which defense officials can validate cyber technologies by emulating complex defense and commercial networks. It is rapidly reconfigurable and can represent diverse types of networks and accommodate multiple activities simultaneously at different classification levels, states the release. Such flexibility is vital given the dynamic nature of real-world cyber threats, according to DARPA. The range transitioned in October from the agency’s management to the oversight of the Pentagon’s developmental test and evaluation shop, states the Nov. 13 release.
When acting Air Force Secretary Gary A. Ashworth rescinded service-wide “Family Days” last week citing the need to build readiness, he left it up to commanders, directors, and supervisors to decide if they would still permit extra days off. Here’s how Air Force major commands are taking that guidance.