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Control room ergonomics are a matter of health and safety and an issue of efficiency and overall productivity.

Well-designed control room balance fits the demands of the job to the capability of the operators. An important aspect of any successful ergonomic control room upgrade is the console. Acting as a central nervous system, the console in any control room connects the operator to the technology, with significant impact on ergonomics.

The cost vs. benefits of incorporating an ergonomically designed console in a control room is analyzed from regulatory compliance, health and safety, and operator efficiency.

Regulatory Compliance

What comes to mind when you think of simplicity? Something that is readily apparent and understandable with little additional guidance? A simple algorithm or a simple mathematical solution? Or rather a simple solution to all problems? When we think of simplicity, we think of Edsger Dijkstra’s words: “Simplicity is the prerequisite for reliability.” Essentially, we’re talking about a solution that is simple, reliable, secure, and that meets all ends at any given stage in a single complicated journey.

Misinformation is the spreading of wrongful information without intentionally doing so. It can be a simple matter of getting the facts wrong, misremembering some details or sharing a meme.

Disinformation, on the other hand, is deliberate and without regard for second or third-order effects. Russia spreading conspiracy theories on social media to sow discord in other countries is one example; fraud scams are another. Intent makes all the difference. Malice or nefarious intent generally accompanies disinformation while misinformation stems from a generally innocent source.

Disinformation, like misinformation, is everywhere. Plain and simple. It is plentiful in all communities—especially intelligence—and across the globe.

Many agencies today lack a way to effectively and securely govern access across multicloud environments. Though the use of multiple cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure and Google give agencies the freedom to match the requirements of each use case to the unique strengths of each cloud platform, it also leaves businesses vulnerable to the risks and costs of noncompliance, cyber attacks and human error.

Lack of governance can also stifle productivity and growth—if users can’t get the access they need when they need it, work doesn’t get done. Managing who has access to what and with which privileges is a major challenge in the cloud due to rapid change and its large scale.

With the election looming, policymakers both inside and outside the government are working overtime to prepare for what’s ahead. “No matter who wins this election, whether Trump gets a second term or we get a different president, there’s going to be an awful lot of changes,” said Duane Blackburn, S&T policy analyst for The MITRE Corporation, during an interview with AFCEA Asks.

As the Department of Defense (DOD) continues its digital transformation efforts with systems upgrades and emerging technology, it needs to consider the foundational piece—the network infrastructure. Network infrastructure—including fiber and copper cabling, antennas, wireless access points and switches—is the backbone for all current and future devices that run on the network.

High on the list of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is productivity, with multiple sectors of the economy having slowed. As industries and workers find their path forward, many are taking a renewed look at telework, and for good reason.

Some industries, such as hospitality or healthcare, require at least some face-to-face contact with customers, and they must take the necessary precautions to keep employees safe and functioning where possible. However, for other industries, this crisis presents an opportunity to rethink remote work and how well it can fulfill organizational goals and missions.

Over the past few months, I have participated in a forum to help competitive graduates find quality internships and jobs after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University’s prestigious engineering and computer science programs. Listening to the next generation of technologists, innovators and leaders has helped me understand their concerns and desires in the hiring process. I have also gained new perspectives on what applicants think employers do right and wrong.

The following tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) are meant to help those in the government and defense sectors attract tech talent today.

There was massive technological growth in 2018; things like artificial intelligence and blockchain have gained much support recently. IT departments often enable improved efficiency and security in their organizations by adopting emerging technologies, but that's only if they have the freedom to do so. A few years ago, IT had very less influence over business decisions, but now times are changing: IT is gaining an increased role in business decisions with implementation of cloud computing, data centres and enterprise mobility.

For military intelligent sensor systems constrained by size, weight and power (SWaP), custom microelectronic processing devices using advanced 3D packaging and thermal management are the only solution for success.

When the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) went looking for technology to enable alliance officials to use smartphones without being eavesdropped on by hackers or spies, they immediately came up against a problem.

“There were a very limited number of solutions that had been accredited by member-nation security agencies to protect sensitive but unclassified voice [and text] communications,” NCIA General Manager Kevin Scheid said.

From the end of the Cold War to the present era, there has been a growing need for military platforms to coordinate for operations and to share information. The Link 16 family of data links has been central to providing critical battlefield information to the U.S. and its allies since the 1980s.

But Link 16 has primarily been used for theater-wide operations, connecting fast jets and large platforms like ships. One area where the data link has not seen much use was in tactical missions on the ground connecting helicopters, ground vehicles and dismounted troops.

In a rapidly changing and dynamic world, we are lacking a most important ingredient for policy making: honest, constructive political debate. Civil discourse, in which responsible and thoughtful people discuss proposed policies and events based on facts, logic and reason in an atmosphere of mutual respect, has all but disappeared. It is being replaced by one-sided, confrontational politics wrapped in narrowly focused biases that give no quarter to opposing views. Emotion and deception have ousted integrity and truth. Moderate voices are being driven to the sidelines or silenced altogether.

Mission assurance and resilience can be interpreted differently, but having the tools, capabilities, partnerships and skilled work force that can respond to a variety of scenarios in a flexible manner is the ultimate goal. 

The solutions possible in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region are as varied as the challenges, and the speakers at TechNet-Asia Pacific were cautiously optimistic because of the tools they have. But they also emphasized that the United States needs to rely on much more than technical prowess. The human factor is equally important.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is evolving from its early component focus to today’s mission focus, and its unity of effort and management reform initiatives serve as a foundation for continued transformation.

“One of the key things in unity of effort is we have to get it right up front," explained Chip Fulghum, deputy under secretary for management, DHS, at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference. DHS must build strategy that turns into operational plans, he said, but he allowed that the Department has a ways to go. “Requirements are being built from the ground up, and we want to eliminate redundancy.”  

It is about time federal contractor employees received benefits equal to their in-house peers. 

In November, the long-awaited final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor mandated that federal contractors provide paid sick leave to certain employees. The regulation covers both new federal contracts and replacements to expired contracts.

Although some cities and states require that employers offer paid sick leave, no federal law mandates the employment benefit across the board. The United States is the only industrialized nation without paid leave. 

Much debate has taken place recently on the topic of American “greatness.” While I believe this country remains great today, I also believe it has lost some of its momentum for a number of reasons, including a struggling economy. Wages are not climbing, consumer spending is stagnant, and the national debt keeps growing. We need to reinvigorate the middle class with more opportunities for higher-paying jobs so that Americans feel confident and prosperous again. Those opportunities exist, but unlike the last century, more will come from small businesses than big businesses.

I recently had the honor of speaking with the men and women of the National Capital Region’s Warrior Transition Brigade at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The question they asked most often was, “What’s it like to take off the uniform?” I thought about that question and realized that for many of these service members, the transition would be markedly different than it was for me. Not only are some of them leaving the only profession they have ever known, but also they are leaving it with new physical and/or psychological challenges.

Silos are products of the inherent lack of ability for teams to communicate with one another. Not because they don't want to, but because they can't. They don't have the communication skills, the soft skills, the same user experiences, the same motivations, experts report.

Even the White House joined the fray to celebrate Back to the Future Day.

But be warned, the endeavor can be time consuming and today's a working day, after all. 

All day Wednesday, the White House blog hosted a series of conversations with scientists and innovators as administration staffers (some boasting a witty sense of humor) solicited input on what the nation thinks the future will look like in 30 years, capitalizing on the fact that October 21, 2015, marked the date in which Marty McFly traveled into the "future" in the movie Back to the Future Part II released 30 years ago.

We are so conditioned these days to the exciting advances in the world of cyber: Information technology leaps ahead relentlessly, Moore’s law tells us these changes will accelerate endlessly, the consumer world reflects the shared excitement when the new Apple Watch appears, and we all warily watch the explosion of the aptly named Internet of Things, with more than 20 billion devices predicted to be attached to the Web by 2020.

Yet the big revolution of the 21st century will not be in information and cyber. It will be in biology, and it will profoundly affect both day-to-day life and national security.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published Friday its final guidelines for federal agencies to follow when they provide controlled unclassified information for use on nonfederal systems, such as information on systems used by contractors or universities that work with the government.

The guidance aims to ensure sensitive information remains confidential. The government established the controlled unclassified information (CUI) program to standardize how the executive branch handles unclassified information requiring protection, such as personally identifiable information.

A spate of commercial airliner crashes along the equator in Southeast Asian waters has taken the lives of several hundred passengers and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in aircraft equipment. A lack of concrete evidence of mechanical causes often results in a default decision of pilot error.

Yet, the aircraft may have been done in by an unavoidable freak atmospheric effect unique to the equatorial region. The airline flights involved include: Air France AF447, lost June 1, 2009, over the Atlantic near the equator; Adam Air DHI 574, January 1, 2007; Malaysia Airlines MH370, March 7, 2014; and most recently, AirAsia Flight QZ 8501, December 28, 2014.

So often these days, as I sail along in my second year of retirement, people—very nicely—say to me, “Thank you for your service.” I appreciate that deeply, and I think every veteran does. Some veterans have served just a year or two, of course, and some grizzled folks like me stayed in for well over three decades. But regardless of the length of service, we all enjoy that momentary sense of being part of something far larger than just ourselves—Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and so on.

But lately, I have been thinking about the many ways people serve their nation.