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A2LA to Continue Offering Remote Baltimore Cyber Range Assessments for C3PAOs
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A2LA to Continue Offering Remote Baltimore Cyber Range Assessments for C3PAOs

The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) has issued an updated version of the R346 requirements document to reflect its decision to continue offering the remote participation option to third party assessment organizations with regard to taking the Baltimore Cyber Range (BCR) Technical Proficiency activity.

A2LA made the decision in conjunction with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) and in response to feedback received, FedRAMP said Tuesday.

In early 2021, BCR came up with a capability to remotely evaluate 3PAO assessor teams to help get through travel challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The other two options in the R346 document for participation in the BCR technical proficiency activity are onsite activities at the BCR facility in Baltimore and activities proctored remotely with a BCR proctor on-site and all team members present in the same location. 

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House OKs $768B National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022
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House OKs $768B National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2022

The House on Tuesday voted 363-70 to pass a $768.2 billion defense policy bill for fiscal year 2022. The vote came hours after the House and Senate Armed Services Committees reached a compromise on the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.

The FY 2022 NDAA, which is now headed to the Senate, includes $740 billion for the Department of Defense and $27.8 billion for national security initiatives within the Department of Energy, according to a summary of the bicameral agreement on the defense policy bill.

The defense policy measure includes a 2.7 percent pay raise for military personnel, requires the formation of an independent commission to help assess the country’s two-decade conflict in Afghanistan and directs DOD to submit a report with respect to the creation of a separate punitive article in the Uniform Code of Military Justice on violent extremism.

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DOD to Redact Delicate Info in Public Document on System Testing
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DOD to Redact Delicate Info in Public Document on System Testing

The Department of Defense plans to limit the information to be included in a public document that details the testing records and technical issues of defense systems, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

DOD’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation office will issue a publicly available report with some sensitive content removed and a more complete version that contains controlled unclassified information available only to Congress and DOD officers.

Raymond O’Toole, who leads the DOT&E office on an acting basis, said the move aims to ensure that adversaries can not access test evaluation details.

The DOT&E office releases this report every January. The current report’s uncut version has been completed and will undergo editing for the public version.

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USCYBERCOM & International Partners Demo Collaborative Cyber Defense
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USCYBERCOM & International Partners Demo Collaborative Cyber Defense

U.S. Cyber Command demonstrated collective cyber defense with international partners during the CYBER FLAG 21-1 exercise, which ran from Nov. 15 to 20 at Joint Base Suffolk in Virginia.

The exercise employed USCYBERCOM’s real-time virtual training environment with the participation of 12 countries including the U.K., Sweden, Canada, Germany, Norway and France, the command said Friday. Germany physically participated in the event while the other foreign countries took part virtually.

Participants detected simulated threats then came up with network hardening approaches during the exercise.

“Threats in the cyber domain have no geographic boundaries, so the cyber threats that can confront any given country can easily spill into another country,” said Elizabeth Phu, principal director of cyber policy at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

CYBER FLAG 21-1 is part of a wider DOD effort to bolster all-domain defense.

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DARPA Launches New AI Program to Advance Scientific Knowledge Extracting, Modeling
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DARPA Launches New AI Program to Advance Scientific Knowledge Extracting, Modeling

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has announced a new program aimed at developing artificial intelligence tools to automate knowledge extraction and modeling to support data-informed decision-making in various missions and scientific domains. 

The Automating Scientific Knowledge Extraction and Modeling (ASKEM) program will build on the progress made in the first research opportunity under DARPA’s AI Exploration program that was intended to advance the development of scientific models, the Department of Defense’s research arm said Monday.

ASKEM serves as a broader AI program aimed at creating an ecosystem that would allow subject matter experts to streamline the process of knowledge discovery, model creation and simulation.

DARPA seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of the tools developed from the program in several scientific domains, such as viral epidemics such as COVID-19 and to the causes and impacts of space weather.

The agency’s Information Innovation Office will hold a virtual proposers day on Dec. 8th to discuss the anticipated broad agency announcement for ASKEM.

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Deltek Reveals Potential High Impact Business Development Trends for 2022; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted
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Deltek Reveals Potential High Impact Business Development Trends for 2022; GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico Quoted

Deltek, the leading provider of software and solutions for project-based businesses, announced that the company’s GovWin IQ research team, made up of more than 150 veteran market analysts and industry experts, have identified four significant themes and business development trends that are expected to make the greatest impact on the federal and SLED (state, local and education) government contracting markets in 2022.

“Our research has shown that several themes are likely to make an impact on how government contractors operate in 2022,” said GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of Information Solutions at Deltek and a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient…“Understanding these themes is of great importance for public sector vendors aiming to get ahead of their competition and win more government business.”

Deltek’s GovWin IQ research team discovered that the potential impact of new funding sources and appropriations will be significant in the year to come as well as the challenges surrounding new and expanding compliance requirements, the renewed focus on small businesses as a result of upcoming government policies and many federal agencies are expected to continue consolidating contracts which will result in fewer opportunities.

“The impacts of contract consolidation and expanded compliance requirements will be vital for contractors to understand, while the opportunities unlocked by new funding sources and an increased focus on small businesses can help proactive companies expand their government contracting operations,” GovCon Expert Kevin Plexico added.

In early 2022, the GovWin research team will also explore details of these trends in a two-part webinar series covering both the federal and SLED markets.

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Splunk CGO Teresa Carlson: Data Will Drive Innovation in the New Hybrid, Multi-Cloud World
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Splunk CGO Teresa Carlson: Data Will Drive Innovation in the New Hybrid, Multi-Cloud World

Splunk released four reports on Tuesday providing key insights from technology experts across the federal landscape and key Splunk senior leaders detailing the importance of data in the future and the significant trends to watch in data security, cloud acceleration, ransomware and more.

“Technology continues to provide us with a unique ability to address many of the global economy’s challenges — and by leveraging the power of data, we can take immediate action to create solutions,” said Teresa Carlson, president and chief growth officer with Splunk and a six-time Wash100 Award winner.

More specifically, Splunk’s reports provided a look into executive and emerging technologies as well as data security, IT and observability and the public sector. Some valuable insights included a prediction that many companies will look towards M&A activity once they adjust to the challenges of the pandemic as well as developing a new approach to recruitment and edge computing in 2022.

Splunk’s results also expect ransomware to increase as the importance of cyber hygiene continues to work its way into the majority of organizations. The company anticipates that cloud acceleration has left some major gaps in the customer experience and public and private sector collaboration will be vital towards long-term success for both areas in the coming year.

To access the 2022 Splunk Predictions reports across Executive and Emerging Technologies, Data Security, IT and Observability, and Public Sector, please visit:

https://www.splunk.com/en_us/campaigns/future-predictions.html

 

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Russ Langford Joins Acuity International as CGO; Bob Stalick Quoted
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Russ Langford Joins Acuity International as CGO; Bob Stalick Quoted

Russ Langford, former Dell Technologies executive, has been appointed as chief growth officer for Acuity International, previously known as Caliburn International.

As part of his new role, Langford will be responsible for helping the company achieve its growth objectives through connecting enterprise-wide go-to-market strategies, the Reston, Virginia-based Acuity said Tuesday.

Bob Stalick, Acuity International’s CEO, said Langford is “uniquely qualified” to drive company growth based on his background of delivering new technologies to create value in public and private sector markets.

“His depth of experience in sales and marketing, proven results driving revenue and growth, and strong leadership skills will be a great asset to the company as we continue to enable mission continuity and stability for our global customers,” Stalick said of the new CGO.

Langford’s career encompasses three decades of technology and federal government leadership experience. He joins Acuity International from Dell Technologies, where served as director of the company’s FSI and channel partner sales teams.

Prior to his time with Dell, Langford was director of the federal global services sales team at EMC Global Services. In this role, Langford created and executed the company’s campaigns and program capture as well as its annual go-to-market strategy.

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Army Futures Command Chief Gen. John Murray Retires
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Army Futures Command Chief Gen. John Murray Retires

Gen. John Murray, head of Army Futures Command and a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, is retiring after nearly four decades of military service, the service reported Monday.

He became the first commanding general of AFC in 2018 and spearheaded efforts to gather and apply insights from academic researchers, tech industry innovators and other experts to help inform Army modernization.

Murray, who joined the Army as an infantry officer in 1982, was deputy chief of staff for the G-8 unit prior to assuming the leadership role at AFC.

He previously served as director of force management at the Department of Defense; director of the Joint Center for Operational Analysis at U.S. Joint Forces Command; and assistant deputy director of joint training, J-7, at the Joint Staff.

Murray commanded the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, during Operation Iraqi Freedom and served as commanding general for Joint Task Force-3 and deputy commanding general – support for U.S. Forces Afghanistan.

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Heidi Shyu: DOD Seeks Early Industry Engagement in Military Tech Design
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Heidi Shyu: DOD Seeks Early Industry Engagement in Military Tech Design

Heidi Shyu, Department of Defense undersecretary for research and engineering, said collaboration with vendors should begin early in the product development cycle to align technology with specific military requirements, DOD News reported Monday.

She told an audience at the Reagan National Defense Forum that companies value early engagement with defense agencies but are discouraged by the cost of adapting a commercially available system for military applications.

“If we can work with them upfront early in the design stage, we can leverage their capability for a commercial product into the DOD,” added Shyu, a previous Wash100 Award inductee.

Heidi Shyu: DOD Seeks Early Industry Engagement in Military Tech Design

Shyu is scheduled to deliver an opening keynote address at the Potomac Officers Club’s 8th Annual Defense Research and Development Summit on Jan. 19th to give her insight and perspective into R&D priorities at the department.

Visit PotomacOfficersClub.com to learn more and discuss the Department of Defense’s current innovation priorities, technology advancements and general strategy to stay ahead of the curve in the evolving defense sector.

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