By Debbie Gregory.

Just how much should be budgeted to create the Space Force military branch championed by President Trump? The estimates offered up by senior defense officials are not even close.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan believes the price tag will come in a “single digit, not a double-digit” billions of dollars. “It might be lower than $5” billion, he said, although he did not specify what time frame that estimate would cover.

But Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson has estimated that standing up a Space Force and a new combatant command for space warfare would cost about $13 billion over five years.

“Our cost estimate that we gave to a lot of people in the Pentagon in September was the cost of a fully-fledged, stand-alone department and also a unified combatant command,” Wilson said. “The president is going to be making some decisions to put forward a proposal in concert with his fiscal year 2020 budget proposal that will go to the Congress in February. The costs will be really based on what are the elements in the model in that proposal.”

Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, estimated it would cost the Pentagon an additional $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion over five years to stand up a new service, based on the assumption that more than 96 percent of the cost would be covered from existing budget accounts within DoD. Harrison’s numbers, however, are hard to compare directly with Wilson’s because they do not include costly items that she put into her proposal, such as a Space Command and additional programs and people needed to fight rising space rivals China and Russia.

By Debbie Gregory.

Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication, often times directing users to enter personal information at a fake website nearly identical to the legitimate site. Spear phishing is a targeted aimed at a specific victim.

These two cyberattacks can put your business is at risk if you don’t take the proper steps to thwart them.

A phishing email will attempt to trick you into thinking it is from a legitimate, trusted source. Of course, you wouldn’t just give out passwords to a stranger, but if you think the email is from someone you trust, you might.

A spear phishing email appears to be from a very specific sender. For example, the email could look like it’s from your IT services provider, using identical colors, logo, contact name, and even an email address that’s very close to the correct email address.

So how do you spot the fakes and protect your company?

Training and educating your employees is priority one. When your staff understands what to look for to identify these scams, they will be able to avoid opening and responding to the wrong emails. Check not only the email address the email appears to come from, but also check to make sure it’s not a spoofed email address. Also, look for typos and mistakes in grammar.

Hover your mouse over any links embedded in the body of the email. If the link address looks weird, don’t click on it. Also, analyze the salutation. Legitimate businesses will often use a personal salutation with your first and last name.

Another weapon in your arsenal should be limiting administrative access to your company’s social media channels. Cybercriminals may try to get you to access a file that deploys in your system and copies your entire contact list. Then the criminals can access all of your contacts’ data, not just the company’s data.

If you can spot the irregularities in these communications, then you can avoid the scams. Start by checking. If it does not match a legitimate web presence that you can search for online, then do not open it. It’s likely a scam.

By Debbie Gregory.

We previously reported on the heartwarming story of homeless veteran Johnny Bobbitt using his last $20 to help supposedly stranded New Jersey motorist Katelyn McClure, who had run out of gas on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia.

It turns out that the story was completely fabricated, with Bobbitt, McClure and co-conspirator Mark D’Amico preying on the generosity of strangers to collect more than $400,000 to help Bobbitt get back on his feet. All three are facing criminal charges of theft by deception.

The money was collected through a GoFundMe page set up by D’Amico and McClure.

On the GoFundMe page, McClure wrote, “I wish that I could do more for this selfless man, who went out of his way just to help me that day. He is such a great guy, and talking to him each time I see him makes me want to help him more and more.” Less than an hour after the couple set up the page to solicit donations, McClure sent a text message to a friend acknowledging the story was “completely made up.”

Initially, GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne had said the company was working with law enforcement to ensure that Bobbitt got all the money raised for him. Now, the powers that be at GoFundMe are working to ensure that all monies will be returned to the donors.

Prosecutors began investigating after Bobbitt claimed he wasn’t getting the money that had been raised on his behalf. He later sued the couple.

Investigators searched the Florence, New Jersey, home of D’Amico and McClure in September in order to determine what happened to the money they raised for Bobbitt.

Although it’s not exactly clear where the money went, Bobbitt’s attorney has said it’s all gone.

By Debbie Gregory.

It looks like the IT system failures that resulted in 340,000 GI Bill students being shorted on their fall semester Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) has not been fixed. As of November 8th, the backlog was currently impacting at least 82,000 GI Bill students, it doest look like a fix will happen before the beginning of the spring semester.

Two sections of the Forever GI Bill, which extends or expands many benefits, change the way the VA pays a monthly housing stipend. Previously the stipend was based on the ZIP code of where the veteran lived — now it’s based on the ZIP code of where he or she goes to school.

This, apparently, upended the entire system, and left the VA with a huge backlog of claims to be processed.

According to John Lawrence, the undersecretary at the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the VA is working on “fallbacks” for the likelihood that problems will continue past the start of the spring semester.

Based on testimony, Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said “we have no earthly idea” when veterans can expect the system will be functioning, or how much the fix will cost.

Many are frustrated that there is no solution in place. No cases as yet have been filed of veterans who have been unable to enroll because of the system failures.

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert M. Worley II, the director of education services at the VBA,  noted that about 1,000 veterans had been waiting more than 60 days for housing allowance payments that could exceed $2,000 per month. He said about 11,000 had been waiting for at least 30 days.

Worley appeared to be first in line to take the fall for the VA’s failures. He is slated to be removed as director of education services and is being re-assigned within the VBA.

For the time being, benefits claims-processing employees are working mandatory overtime, and the agency has brought on an additional 202-person processing staff. The VA said it is processing an average of 16,000 claims per day, but expects that the backlog will continue through the rest of the year.

By Debbie Gregory.

Silicon Valley and the U.S. military have built their successes on completely different cultures: tech companies have a culture of rapid innovation, while the Pentagon is slow-moving. And recently, a wave of anti-government sentiment has driven several prominent technology firms to cancel major Washington contracts. But much to the disappointment of many of their employees, there are still many Silicon Valley companies that are eager to sell artificial intelligence (AI) products to the U.S. military.

Despite pressure from many in the tech world to keep their products off the battlefield, there is a less vocal but still sizable group of companies that argue that working with the government can help save lives.

The concept of lethal AI is just one area where hundreds of tech workers are trying to influence corporate behavior and ethics by signing a pledge not to work on lethal autonomous weapons. A group of Google employees protested the company’s involvement in Project Maven, the Defense Department’s flagship AI program, which uses sophisticated algorithms to analyze drone footage. Microsoft has pledged to have a dialogue with the Defense Department and policymakers about ethical issues surrounding AI, including autonomous weapons.

But companies such as Intel, IBM, GE, Oracle and Raytheon have expressed interest in providing AI for the military.

The Pentagon has spent the last few years trying to cultivate deeper ties with firms in Silicon Valley that are building the technologies needed to maintain its battlefield edge.

“If big tech companies are going to turn their back on U.S. Department of Defense, this country is going to be in trouble,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Bezos’ eagerness to cooperate with the Pentagon stems from his desire to keep America safe. “I know everybody is very conflicted about the current politics and so on,” he said, and added, “This country is a gem.”