Freedom of Information Act Office
IC Directors' Meeting Highlights
October 31, 2011
| To: | IC Directors |
| Subject: | IC Directors' Meeting Highlights — July 28, 2011 |
IT Security Update: Tom Murphy
Mr. Murphy noted that NIH is under continuous cyber attack and that we need to address APTs (advanced persistent threats). The issue, however, is that a secure NIH is difficult and expensive given our size and organizational complexity. NIH also lacks the resources, tool, and staff to make improvements and respond to incident response.
HHS has mandated a plan of Continuous Monitoring which went into effect in June which will require NIH-wide automated reporting for such tasks as asset, patch, and Malware management. Going forward NIH will develop new tools and methods to comply with the requirement for more centralized monitoring and near real-time reporting to DHS. The Federal government is responding to APTs and increasing funding and staff in order to support Continuous Monitoring.
NIH Prize Authority: Jim Anderson
The America COMPETES Act was passed in 2010 and gives NIH statutory authority to conduct contests and award prizes. These contests are an additional way to further the NIH mission and spur innovation.
HHS, OMB, and OSTP have all issued guidance on using Challenges and Prizes. DPCPSI and OGC are working together to develop policy and a process for NIH implementation. The NIH Director has the authority to approve Contests and appoint the panel of judges to ensure fairness and transparency. Prizes in an amount over $500,000 must have approval by the Secretary and those prizes above $50M must be approved by Congress.
Leadership Forum: Francis Collins
The Leadership Forum will be held on September 8, 2011, in the Cloisters. A draft agenda was circulated to the IC Directors. Dr. Collins noted that Session III on mHealth will be a precursor to the Target Validation Joint NIH-Industry Workshop being held on November 3 and 4 here on the NIH campus.
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