Veterans Affairs awarded a $3.7 million contract to SMS, Inc., Aug. 14, to provide “enhanced data security encryption” for all agency computers. The plan calls for all VA laptop computers to have the new encryption program within four weeks of the Aug. 18 start date. After that, SMS will move on to desktop computers and portable media. Sen. Larry Craig, chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called this contract, and the one last week to provide credit analysis, “major steps forward” following the May 3 data theft affecting more than 26 million veterans and military members—and subsequent VA tribulations.
President Joe Biden still hopes to shift to a “sole purpose” policy for nuclear weapons in the future, even as his administration’s new Nuclear Posture Review preserves the U.S.’s longstanding policy of “flexible deterrence,” a top Pentagon official said. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, speaking at a side…