FCW Insider: Feb. 14

A federal court judge ordered a temporary block on work on the Pentagon's $10 billion cloud computing contract known as JEDI. Amazon Web Services, which is protesting the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure award to Microsoft in a lawsuit in the court of federal claims, sought the injunction before work was scheduled to begin on the contract. Lauren C. Williams reports.

The Defense Department, arguing against the JEDI injunction, said stopping work would mean delaying the testing and validation of a tool that would automate cumbersome functions of provisioning classified cloud. Adam Mazmanian explains.

The Department of Energy has a new top cyber official. Alexander Gates, who comes from the National Security Agency will head the Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response office. Karen Evans is leaving the department after about 17 months leading CESER, a relatively new function at DOE. Mark Rockwell has more.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's strategic plan for protecting the 2020 elections from foreign interference looks to help empower stakeholders to defend against hacks, influence operations and other threats. Derek B. Johnson has the story.

A new bipartisan bill from Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) would enshrine the General Services Administration's Centers of Excellence program in law. Mark takes a look at the legislation.

Quick Hits

*** A bill establishing a program at the Federal Communications Commission to reimburse telecommunications infrastructure owners for removing and replacing some Chinese-made gear from their networks would cost $726 million through 2030, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. The Senate Commerce Committee passed the United States 5G Leadership Act of 2019 in July of last year.

*** Is it RICO? It is for Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei, which was charged Feb. 13 by the Justice Department in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations.

In a joint statement praising the indictment, Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that "Intellectual property theft, corporate sabotage, and market manipulation are part of Huawei's core ethos and reflected in every aspect of how it conducts business. It uses these tactics indiscriminately against competitors and collaborators alike. Huawei's unlawful business practices are a threat to fair and open markets, as well as to legitimate competition in a tech space that is critical for the global economy."