Federal Commission on School Safety Report

The Federal Commission on School Safety released a final report on December 18, 2018. The Commission was established by the President in March 2018 in the aftermath of multiple school shootings and is comprised of members representing the Department of Education (ED), Department Justice (DOJ), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Appendix A of the report lists 'Federal Resources for School Safety.'

READ: We will have @laurenonthehill tomorrow discussing the Federal Commission on School Safety's report. Until then, you can checkout the report here 👇https://t.co/oD5ArTndY0 pic.twitter.com/BaciyaCExt

— Washington Journal (@cspanwj) December 18, 2018

Hearing Key Points: "Findings and Recommendations of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy"

(Working Draft)

"Findings and Recommendations of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy"

Hearing held on November 27, 2018 before the:
U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services

Witnesses:

Ambassador Eric S. Edelman, Co-Chair, Commission On The National Defense Strategy
Admiral Gary Roughead, USN (Ret.), Co-Chair, Commission On The National Defense Strategy

Joint Written Testimony (3-Pages) Key Points:

• "The strategic landscape is more ominous and dynamic as violent jihadist groups, aggressive regional challengers, and ambitious authoritarian regimes challenge U.S. interests"
• "The United States must restore the hard‐power strengths that buttress its foreign policy and the global environment."

Additional resources:
MeriTalk "National Defense Strategy Commission Calls for Stronger Cyber Capabilities"

I'm catching up on reading the National Defense Strategy Commission's report, "Providing for the Common Defense," which has some sobering assessments. https://t.co/Tbh58f8liO

— Elsa B. Kania (@EBKania) November 21, 2018

DoD-Led Interagency Report on the Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency

From the September 2018 report "Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States":

VII. A Blueprint for Action

President Trump’s historic EO 13806 provided DoD and its interagency partners a unique opportunity to assess the manufacturing and defense industrial base – one of the most critical assets to our national security. The work conducted by the over 300 members of the DoD-led Interagency Task Force lays the groundwork for important actions, mitigations, and ongoing monitoring that will result in America’s ability to continue supporting a secure, robust, resilient, and ready industrial base.

Current Efforts

The DoD-led Interagency Task Force recognizes and supports ongoing efforts to address the challenges identified in the EO 13806 assessment, including:

• Increased near-term DoD budget stability with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, providing stable funding through FY2019
• Modernization of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into Chinese intellectual property theft, to better combat Chinese industrial policies targeting American intellectual property
• Updates to the Conventional Arms Transfer policy and unmanned aerial systems export policy to increase U.S. industrial base competitiveness and strengthen international alliances

More Current Efforts continue in the report and are followed by Future Efforts and Recommendations.

Here is a statement from the White House on the report.

Interagency Task Force in Fulfillment of Executive Order 13806
= "Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States" https://t.co/NJTU8uQuL7 pic.twitter.com/9sLyfVsGJN

— AmericanMadeHeroes (@AmeriMadeHeroes) October 8, 2018

The China Challenge: Economic Sticks and What To Do About Them

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding a three-part hearing series under the 'Subcommittee on East Asia, The Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy' on a topic it calls "The China Challenge." The first hearing "The China Challenge, Part 1: Economic Coercion as Statecraft," was held on July 24, 2018, the second "The China Challenge, Part 2: Security and Military Developments" was held on September 5, 2018 and the third is pending.

The first hearing was attended by two witnesses, Dan Blumenthal of American Enterprise Insititute (AEI) and Ely Ratner of Center for a New American Security (CNAS). During his testimony, Mr. Ratner presented a report prepared by CNAS titled "China's Use of Coercive Economic Measures." For a better understanding of what is meant by coercive economic measures, here is part of the introduction from Chapter 1 of the report:

China has long used economic statecraft as a pillar of its foreign policy. Historically, Chinese leaders used economic inducements ranging from gifts to the promise of loans and investments to solidify relationships with foreign governments and advance Chinese influence. [...]

In 2013, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a potentially $1 trillion, almost 70-country global infrastructure development initiative that is likely to significantly expand Chinese influence from Asia to Europe. [...]

Over the past decade, however, China has also used the “sharp end” of its economic statecraft, turning to coercive economic measures as a tool. The authors define coercive economic measures as China’s restrictions on trade or investment intended to impose financial or economic costs on a target in pursuit of a foreign policy objective or to influence a foreign government to offer policy concessions to China. As used here, coercion indicates the use, or threatened use, of economic “sticks,” but not the use of positive inducements or other tools, as commonly included in academic definitions.

Gov's Cyber Performance: 10 Key Metrics

Performance.gov published the Federal government's Cybersecurity Key Performance Indicator report for Q3 FY 2018. 10 key metrics were measured for 23 agencies.

Key Performance Indicators for Federal Cybersecurity
Source: Performance.gov

Performance.gov was created to fulfill the statutory requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 legislating the creation of an online performance reporting portal. The portal provides information about the President's Management Agenda (PMA), the Federal performance management framework, and the federal goal-setting process.

Here is a good article on the report.