The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 24, 2020

By John Liang / February 24, 2020 at 2:07 PM

This Monday INSIDER Daily Digest looks forward to senior Pentagon officials' testimony on Capitol Hill, new Air Force acquisition programs and more.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley are scheduled to discuss DOD's fiscal year 2021 budget request before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday:

DOD leaders to defend budget before Congress this week

House lawmakers on Wednesday will hear from Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, who will attempt to justify their fiscal year 2021 budget request amid political opposition to the Pentagon's bankrolling of President Trump's border wall.

Meanwhile, the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is scheduled to host a hearing Thursday on "Strategic Forces Posture" with Vice Adm. Charles Richard, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, and other DOD officials:

Ahead of hearings, DOD officials claim 'sensible' approach to nuclear modernization

Pentagon officials are touting what they call the Trump administration's "sensible, reasonable and affordable" approach to nuclear modernization as the Defense Department prepares to potentially clash again with House Democrats over nuclear weapons plans.

At a media roundtable late last week, Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper touted the new directions that the Advanced Battle Management System, Air Force Ventures and Agility Prime programs are taking the service in this year:

Roper touts new programs' potential to shake up defense industrial base

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper is eyeing the service's new approach to shared network testing, commercial start-ups and even the flying car industry as potential game-changers to the Pentagon's traditional relationship with contractors and the global technology market.

The Army's fiscal year 2021 network modernization request is $2.2 billion -- $1.8 million in procurement funding and $394 million in research, test and evaluation funding, higher than the previous year's request:

Army wants to spend $3B on radios through FY-25, increase network spending

The Army is requesting a slight increase in tactical network modernization funding for fiscal year 2021 and is planning to spend more than $3 billion on radios in its future years defense program.

Last, but certainly not least, some cyber defense news from our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity:

NIST releases final update to standards central to DOD cyber certification program

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued final revisions to its cybersecurity standards for protecting "controlled unclassified information" by defense and other federal contractors.

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