diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/oauth2/introspectingfilter/IntrospectingTokenService.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/oauth2/introspectingfilter/IntrospectingTokenService.java
index 46c0186b1..6196b2d46 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/oauth2/introspectingfilter/IntrospectingTokenService.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/oauth2/introspectingfilter/IntrospectingTokenService.java
@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
 
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.oauth2.introspectingfilter.service.IntrospectionAuthorityGranter;
 import org.mitre.oauth2.introspectingfilter.service.IntrospectionConfigurationService;
 import org.mitre.oauth2.introspectingfilter.service.impl.SimpleIntrospectionAuthorityGranter;
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ public class IntrospectingTokenService implements ResourceServerTokenServices {
 	private IntrospectionConfigurationService introspectionConfigurationService;
 	private IntrospectionAuthorityGranter introspectionAuthorityGranter = new SimpleIntrospectionAuthorityGranter();
 
-	private DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+	private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 	private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory factory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 
 	// Inner class to store in the hash map
diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/OIDCAuthenticationFilter.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/OIDCAuthenticationFilter.java
index 340192951..20c54b235 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/OIDCAuthenticationFilter.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/OIDCAuthenticationFilter.java
@@ -32,7 +32,8 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
 import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
 
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.jwt.signer.service.JwtSigningAndValidationService;
 import org.mitre.jwt.signer.service.impl.JWKSetCacheService;
 import org.mitre.oauth2.model.RegisteredClient;
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@ public class OIDCAuthenticationFilter extends AbstractAuthenticationProcessingFi
 		}
 
 		// Handle Token Endpoint interaction
-		DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 
 		httpClient.getParams().setParameter("http.socket.timeout", new Integer(httpSocketTimeout));
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/UserInfoFetcher.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/UserInfoFetcher.java
index cd3c541c2..35c13f5d4 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/UserInfoFetcher.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/UserInfoFetcher.java
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 package org.mitre.openid.connect.client;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.config.ServerConfiguration;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.model.DefaultUserInfo;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.model.OIDCAuthenticationToken;
@@ -57,8 +57,7 @@ public class UserInfoFetcher {
 		}
 
 		// if we got this far, try to actually get the userinfo
-
-		HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 
 		HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory factory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicRegistrationClientConfigurationService.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicRegistrationClientConfigurationService.java
index 3d381a897..1b151d905 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicRegistrationClientConfigurationService.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicRegistrationClientConfigurationService.java
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.oauth2.model.RegisteredClient;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.ClientDetailsEntityJsonProcessor;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.client.service.ClientConfigurationService;
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ public class DynamicRegistrationClientConfigurationService implements ClientConf
 	 *
 	 */
 	public class DynamicClientRegistrationLoader extends CacheLoader<ServerConfiguration, RegisteredClient> {
-		private HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 		private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory httpFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 		private Gson gson = new Gson(); // note that this doesn't serialize nulls by default
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicServerConfigurationService.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicServerConfigurationService.java
index e86402feb..584488e6c 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicServerConfigurationService.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/DynamicServerConfigurationService.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.client.service.ServerConfigurationService;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.config.ServerConfiguration;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
@@ -47,6 +47,13 @@ import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
 import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
 import com.google.gson.JsonParser;
 
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsBoolean;
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsEncryptionMethodList;
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsJweAlgorithmList;
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsJwsAlgorithmList;
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsString;
+import static org.mitre.discovery.util.JsonUtils.getAsStringList;
+
 /**
  * 
  * Dynamically fetches OpenID Connect server configurations based on the issuer. Caches the server configurations.
@@ -122,7 +129,7 @@ public class DynamicServerConfigurationService implements ServerConfigurationSer
 	 *
 	 */
 	private class OpenIDConnectServiceConfigurationFetcher extends CacheLoader<String, ServerConfiguration> {
-		private HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 		private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory httpFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 		private JsonParser parser = new JsonParser();
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/WebfingerIssuerService.java b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/WebfingerIssuerService.java
index b82fb3694..f0ee0d6fe 100644
--- a/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/WebfingerIssuerService.java
+++ b/openid-connect-client/src/main/java/org/mitre/openid/connect/client/service/impl/WebfingerIssuerService.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.client.utils.URIBuilder;
-import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.discovery.util.WebfingerURLNormalizer;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.client.model.IssuerServiceResponse;
 import org.mitre.openid.connect.client.service.IssuerService;
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ public class WebfingerIssuerService implements IssuerService {
 	 *
 	 */
 	private class WebfingerIssuerFetcher extends CacheLoader<UriComponents, String> {
-		private HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 		private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory httpFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 		private JsonParser parser = new JsonParser();
 
diff --git a/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/jwt/signer/service/impl/JWKSetCacheService.java b/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/jwt/signer/service/impl/JWKSetCacheService.java
index 1f80ba1d9..dc26461a4 100644
--- a/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/jwt/signer/service/impl/JWKSetCacheService.java
+++ b/openid-connect-common/src/main/java/org/mitre/jwt/signer/service/impl/JWKSetCacheService.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import org.apache.http.client.HttpClient;
 import org.apache.http.impl.client.DefaultHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.SystemDefaultHttpClient;
 import org.mitre.jose.keystore.JWKSetKeyStore;
 import org.mitre.jwt.encryption.service.JwtEncryptionAndDecryptionService;
 import org.mitre.jwt.encryption.service.impl.DefaultJwtEncryptionAndDecryptionService;
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ public class JWKSetCacheService {
 	 *
 	 */
 	private class JWKSetVerifierFetcher extends CacheLoader<String, JwtSigningAndValidationService> {
-		private HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+		private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 		private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory httpFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 		private RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate(httpFactory);
 
@@ -122,11 +123,11 @@ public class JWKSetCacheService {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @author jricher
-	 *
-	 */
-	private class JWKSetEncryptorFetcher extends CacheLoader<String, JwtEncryptionAndDecryptionService> {
-		private HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();
+     * @author jricher
+     *
+     */
+    private class JWKSetEncryptorFetcher extends CacheLoader<String, JwtEncryptionAndDecryptionService> {
+		private HttpClient httpClient = new SystemDefaultHttpClient();
 		private HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory httpFactory = new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient);
 		private RestTemplate restTemplate = new RestTemplate(httpFactory);
 		/* (non-Javadoc)