The Insider

In response to a March 4 chemical attack in the United Kingdom, President Trump has ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian officials believed to be conducting "malicious activities" in the United States and is shuttering the Russian consulate in Seattle, according to several White House officials.

Among those being expelled are 12 officials from Russia's team at the United Nations in New York.

All the officials have seven days to leave the United States and are "considered to be aggressive-collection personnel," said one White House official on a call with reporters.

The expulsions are retaliatory measures ordered in response to a nerve agent attack in the United Kingdom against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Sergei is a former Russian intelligence agent. World leaders have blamed the attack, which also injured a British police officer, on the Russian government.

The Seattle consulate was closed "due to its proximity to one of our submarine bases and Boeing," according to a White House statement. The White House officials said closing Russia's consulate in Seattle would "degrade" its intelligence gathering capability on the West Coast.

"We are prepared to take additional steps, if necessary," one official said.

"The United States takes this action in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world in response to Russia's use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world," the White House statement reads. "Today's actions make the United States safer by reducing Russia's ability to spy on Americans and to conduct covert operations that threaten America's national security. With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences. The United States stands ready to cooperate to build a better relationship with Russia, but this can only happen with a change in the Russian government's behavior."

rump has not spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the expulsions or anything else since their call last Tuesday when Trump congratulated Putin on his re-election, the officials said.

The officials assured reporters the president had signed off on the decision.

"This is absolutely his decision," one official said.

The expulsion comes as Trump's presidential campaign is being investigated for possible collusion with the Russian government.

The fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill, signed into law by the president this week, appropriates $405.5 million for the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization and blocks the Air Force from using it for anything else unless lawmakers approve a reprogramming request.

The service must also submit a report within 90 days of the budget's passage detailing its plan for sustaining and retiring the legacy JSTARS fleet, whether it is technically possible to buy more-survivable aircraft through the recap program, and the cost and schedule of the Air Force's alternative plan if the recapitalization ends, among other things.

A major Marine Corps exercise, Navy strike fighters, the Air Force's U-2 aircraft and more highlight this Friday INSIDER Daily Digest.

Some of the cutting-edge technology used in a recent Marine Corps exercise included a waterproof dune buggy that can operate underwater; lightweight helmets; counter-unmanned aerial system equipment; and unmanned ground vehicles:

Marines use different model to conduct exercise focused on operating in urban environment

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, CA -- The Marine Corps is taking a more hands-on approach when conducting its latest advanced technology exercise focused on a rifle company operating in an urban environment, according to a senior official.

Congress is directing the Navy secretary to provide a report about the status of the service's strike fighter inventory shortfall:

Congress mandates reports on strike fighter inventory, DDG-51

The omnibus appropriations bill passed by the House and Senate calls for reports to be delivered later this year about two major Navy programs.

The U-2 program office and Lockheed will partner on a "loads and environment spectral survey," which is planned to start this year and finish in fiscal year 2024:

Air Force studying whether U-2 can keep flying until 2100

The Air Force is studying whether Lockheed Martin's U-2 can fly until 2100, about five decades longer than its current expected service life, according to Susan Thornton, director for information dominance programs in the service's acquisition branch.

A new full-rate production decision for the Air Force's KC-46 tanker program could be pushed back:

Air Force eyes risk to future KC-46 FRPD; Boeing focused on first deliveries

As the Air Force and Boeing work toward the first KC-46 tanker deliveries later this year, the service expects a full-rate production decision will slip past the current estimate of May 2020.

A congressional funding boost to the Distributed Common Ground System program is about $23 million less than Senate appropriators previously planned to offer the effort:

Lawmakers add money to DCGS in FY-18 omnibus, press Air Force on plan

Congress is slated to appropriate $248.2 million for the Air Force's Distributed Common Ground System in the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill released this week, nearly $70 million more than the service requested in the base budget.

The Air Force secretary said her service hasn't yet "dug into the law" or defined where congressional help might be most beneficial:

SECAF: Air Force may seek congressional help negotiating for data rights

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said this week the service may need Congress' assistance in negotiating with industry for intellectual property rights for new programs and for older systems with obsolete or obscure parts replacement needs.

A classified request for information regarding the Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program is out:

Air Force announces GBSD request for information to shape EMD

The Air Force this week released a classified request for information that will shape the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Air Force's Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent program.

The Air Force could be getting more C-130 aircraft:

FY-18 omnibus would add six C-130Js, five MC-130Js above USAF request

Congress is proposing several Air Force aircraft quantity increases in the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill it released this week, including close to $1.2 billion to buy 11 new C-130J, MC-130J and HC-130J aircraft.

The Joint Strike Fighter could get a new mission:

Pentagon eyeing new mission for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: ballistic missile defense

The Defense Department is exploring a potential new mission for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter: ballistic missile defense, according to a senior DOD official. The move could leverage sensors on the planned fleet of 2,456 new stealthy aircraft the U.S. military plans to buy in the coming decades to help detect and track enemy launches.

More missile defense news:

DOD lags on missile defense review as officials weigh 'competing approaches'

The Defense Department expects to wrap up an assessment of U.S. missile defenses this spring, but a top official would not put a time frame on its completion as DOD weighs "competing approaches" to future threats.

MDA delays EPAA Phase 3 plans from 2018 to 2020 due to construction setbacks

The Defense Department is delaying the planned deployment of the European Phased Adaptive Approach Phase 3 until sometime in 2020, a setback of at least a year to the plan to add a second Aegis Ashore system in Europe due to slow progress with construction at the new ballistic missile defense site in Poland, according to DOD.

Some must-reads from this week's Inside the Air Force:

1. The Air Force is studying whether Lockheed Martin's U-2 can fly until 2100, about five decades longer than its current expected service life, according to Susan Thornton, director for information dominance programs in the service's acquisition branch.

Full Story: Air Force studying whether U-2 can keep flying until 2100

2. The Air Force is shifting research and development money in its fiscal year 2019 budget request to support "game-changing" directed-energy efforts, newly prioritizing an experimentation campaign set to begin this fall.

Full Story: USAF boosts directed-energy experiment funds, prepares for first tests

3. As the Air Force and Boeing work toward the first KC-46 tanker deliveries later this year, the service expects a full-rate production decision will slip past the current estimate of May 2020.

Full Story: USAF eyes risk to future KC-46 FRPD; Boeing focused on first deliveries

The Senate voted 65-32 to pass a fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill, averting a government shutdown. 

The $1.3 trillion bill, which adheres to one passed by the House, now goes to the White House for President Trump’s signature. 

The bill provides an additional $80 billion in defense spending above the cap set by the  2011 Budget Control Act. 

Lawmakers are seeking the Pentagon's reasoning behind planning the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud services acquisition as a sole source award, according to the fiscal year 2018 omnibus legislation approved by the House today.

The bill would require the Pentagon to provide a report on the JEDI acquisition, which the Defense Department is planning as a single award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with options for up to 10 years. The Senate needs to pass the legislation by midnight Friday or the government will shut down.

"There are concerns about the proposed duration of a single contract, questions about the best value for the taxpayer, and how to ensure the highest security is maintained," the legislation states.

The report should lay out the framework for all DOD entities acquiring cloud computing services, including "standards, best practices, contract types, and exit strategies to ensure government flexibility as requirements evolve," the bill states.

Additionally, the report should include DOD's "justification to include cost considerations, for executing a single award contract rather than creating an infrastructure capable of storing and sharing data across multiple cloud computing service providers concurrently, to include data migration and middleware costs," the bill continues.

The report would be due within 60 days of the bill's enactment.

A separate report due within 45 days would detail the JEDI request for proposals, which is expected to be released this May. The report should also include the money in DOD's FY-18 and FY-19 budgets, respectively, for JEDI and all other cloud computing acquisitions, the five-year budget outlook for cloud programs and the areas where other transaction authorities will be used to acquire cloud computing services, according to the omnibus.

Furthermore, the document should include a certification from DOD's chief information officer that each of the military services, the combatant commands, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the chief information officers of each of the services "have been consulted during the drafting of the RFP," the bill states.

Signaling concerns with the security of commercial cloud, the 45-day report would also need to identify "provisions within the contract to ensure security is maintained over the period of the contract," as well as "provisions for mitigation actions if the commercial entity were to provide services to or be acquired by a foreign entity or government," according to the legislation.

JEDI has garnered significant interest since Deputy Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan established a cloud executive steering group to guide the acquisition this past September.

The architects of the JEDI draft RFP envision a future where data is easily transported within DOD, whether it's between bases in the United States or warfighters overseas.

The Pentagon is planning the JEDI acquisition as a single, potentially 10-year award for commercial cloud services because "we believe that a multiple-award cloud would exponentially increase the overall complexity," Tim Van Name, deputy director of the Defense Digital Service, told reporters earlier this month following an industry day in Arlington, VA. The Defense Digital Service has led the development of the JEDI acquisition strategy.

"The systems in different clouds, even when designed to work together, would require complex integration, which raises the bar for the development, testing and ongoing maintenance," Van Name said. "The department would have to manage the seams between the various cloud hosted applications and deal with the challenges associated with accessing data in multiple cloud environments."

But many in industry believe the acquisition is being tailored for Amazon Web Services, the largest commercial cloud services provider. Late last year, several industry groups raised concerns that the single-award strategy was flawed. During the industry day this month, however, Pentagon officials made clear they are pressing forward with the single-cloud strategy.