The U.S. Geological Survey will likely expand the use of commercial UAS services.  In addition, the FAA is enhancing its cybersecurity role, and DARPA is boosting its cyberwarfare capabilities research. Be sure to read about this and much more in this week’s Federal News Round Up.

Fed Agency Eyeing Commercial UAS Apps
TheU.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is monitoring the development of commercial UAS services in the hope they might save the agency some money and increase operational capacities.

FCC Chairman Looks to Expand Agency Role in Cyber
Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), announced that the agency will step up its role in helping protect commercial networks from cyber security threats.

DARPA’s Plan X Tech Visualizes Battle’s Cyber Effects
Three years after the Defense Department named cyberspace a new domain of warfare, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency recently discussed Plan X, its program to create revolutionary technologies to help plan for, conduct, and assess cyberwarfare like kinetic warfare.

DOD Aims to Make Smart ID Cards Even Smarter
The Department of Defense is aiming to make Smart ID cards more valuable to users, adding enhanced security capabilities.

FAA Details Next Steps in NextGen Progress
The Federal Aviation Administration is “on the cusp of finishing” several key programs that underpin NextGen, the agency’s Next Generation Air Transportation System, the agency said in its 2014 report on the project.

Air Force Gets Serious About Securing Infrastructure
In an effort to take steps to ensure the security of its support systems, the U.S. Air Force signed an initiative that will bring Air Forces Cyber and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center together to create the AFCEC-AFCYBER Nexus collaboration.