Inside the Pentagon highlights

Some must-reads from this week's issue of Inside the Pentagon:

1. Democrats reclaimed a majority in the House last night, ousting GOP committee chairmen from perches of influence and tightening the pressure on defense hawks who must now contend with a White House seeking new fiscal restraint and progressive-minded lawmakers ready to cut defense spending.

Full story: Dems reset Congress as GOP defense hawks face uphill push on spending

2. BALTIMORE, MD -- The Defense Department has launched initiatives for mitigating cybersecurity risks in two key areas -- supply-chain vulnerabilities and consolidating cloud services -- viewed as crucial to the military's mission, according to DOD Deputy Chief Information Officer for Cybersecurity Donald Heckman.

Full story: DOD's deputy CIO highlights initial steps in addressing emerging cyber risks

3. The Defense Information Systems Agency wants to automate more processes used to protect Defense Department networks from cyberattacks and use data analytics to study intrusions and develop algorithms to identify potential threats.

Full story: DISA seeking automated defenses, data analytics to boost DOD cybersecurity

4. The Pentagon in the coming year will be able to implement about one-third of the 300 classified policy recommendations in its recent report on the defense industrial base, according to Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy Eric Chewning, who helped manage the study.

Full story: Pentagon moving on defense industrial base policy changes