The INSIDER daily digest -- Dec. 21, 2018

By John Liang / December 21, 2018 at 2:47 PM

The final INSIDER Daily Digest of 2018 leads off with the cyber ramifications of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' stunning decision to step down, followed by a story on the Air Force's ISR Flight Plan plus the government's "complicated" implementation of a ban on buying technology from certain Chinese companies.

We start off with a look at the cyber ramifications of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis' stunning announcement of his resignation:

Mattis' resignation letter cites progress on cyber defenses, but departure prompts questions about next steps

Defense Secretary James Mattis' surprise resignation letter references progress on a national defense strategy that has propelled Pentagon efforts on securing cyber operations viewed as crucial to enhanced lethality, along with the letter's pointed reference to differences with President Trump on "treating allies."

Document: Mattis' resignation letter

The Air Force will make spending decisions consistent with its 10-year flight plan, but how the force planning will affect ISR portions of the fiscal year 2020 budget request remain up in the air:

ISR Flight Plan group working with force structure team on future platform mix

The team in charge of the Air Force's new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Flight Plan is working with the Air Staff's strategic plans and programs branch to see how the ISR strategy released earlier this year could affect the future force structure, a service spokesman recently confirmed to Inside Defense.

Implementing a federal ban on buying from certain Chinese companies isn't as simple as one might think:

Federal agencies move to implement 'complicated' ban on Huawei, ZTE

An interagency working group is seeking a "rational approach" to implement what officials concede is a "complicated," wide-reaching federal ban on procuring or otherwise using technology made by Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese firms, according to officials speaking at a MITRE Corp. event this week.

Happy Holidays!

The INSIDER Daily Digest would like to wish our readers a safe and joyous Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year. The next issue will be published Jan. 2, 2019.

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