The INSIDER Daily digest -- Nov. 4, 2021

By John Liang / November 4, 2021 at 1:25 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on the Pentagon's revamped Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program, Navy shipyards and more.

The Pentagon has revamped its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program:

Pentagon tweaking CMMC program

The Defense Department announced today it is revamping its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program after completing a months-long internal review.

The Navy's top civilian official wants to make sure its two biggest shipyards continue to have work in the future:

Navy to seek multiyear destroyer procurement to bolster Bath Iron Works shipyard

The Navy will pursue a multiyear destroyer procurement which will support General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine, service Secretary Carlos Del Toro said Thursday.

The Pentagon's annual report on China's military developments notes the country has notched progress in fielding a weapon designed to outmaneuver U.S. and allied missile defense systems:

DOD publicly concedes China winning hypersonic race, dominates near-space for now

The Defense Department assesses that China in 2020 fielded a hypersonic strike weapon -- the DF-17, a maneuvering glide body paired with a medium-range ballistic missile with an estimated range of 1,500 miles -- a public declaration that Beijing has operationalized a technology the U.S. military has not yet fielded and tacit admission the Chinese military for now dominates the near-space domain.

Related, in case you missed it:

China looking to increase nukes and network all military capabilities by 2030

The Pentagon believes China is planning to significantly increase its stockpile of nuclear weapons by the end of the decade, and is also aiming to integrate all its military capabilities under a broadly configured network by 2027, according to an annual report on Chinese military strength.

Document: DOD's 2021 report on China

New policies announced by the Biden administration would delay the Dec. 8 deadline for all federal contractors to be fully vaccinated and would allow businesses with more than 100 workers to use testing and masking in lieu of proving full vaccination:

White House relaxes vaccine mandates, pushes back contractor deadline

The White House has announced new policies to loosen COVID-19 vaccine mandates that had previously drawn concern from defense contractors facing reluctant workforces and lawmakers who said they were worried about the Pentagon’s industrial base.

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee says years of consolidation in the defense industrial base have hurt innovation and driven up the costs of weapon systems:

Reed sees challenges in defense contractor consolidation

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) today cited increased merger and acquisition activity among large defense contractors as a key challenge to reforming Pentagon acquisition.

213147