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BigBear.ai Wins NAVWAR’s Artificial Intelligence Prize Challenge; CTO Brian Frutchey Quoted
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BigBear.ai Wins NAVWAR’s Artificial Intelligence Prize Challenge; CTO Brian Frutchey Quoted

BigBear.ai announced on Wednesday that the company placed first in the Artificial Intelligence and Networks Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (“AINetANTX”) Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) Prize Challenge hosted by the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR). 

“This challenge allowed us to demonstrate how our automated course of action assessment AI can assist the Navy in enabling warfighters to make critical decisions quickly in operationally relevant maritime environments,” said BigBear.ai Chief Technology Officer Brian Frutchey. “We are thrilled that our solution was awarded first prize among a great group of fellow participants across commercial, government and academic fields.”

Project Overmatch is considered a top priority of the U.S. Navy to modernize Naval warfighting, connecting platforms, weapons and sensors in a robust Naval Operational Architecture (NOA) that integrates with Joint All-Domain Command and Control (“JADC2”) for enhanced Distributed Maritime Operations. The AINetANTX AI Prize Challenge focused on leveraging the latest AI-enabled technologies to address current and future warfighting gaps. 

“Overmatch is unleashing the power of the platform with AINetANTX,” said NAVWAR Science and Technology Director Carly Jackson. “The participants had less than three months but the results we are seeing are quite compelling. By quickly leveraging the lab infrastructure and expertise resident across the Naval Research and Development Establishment, this new type of digital platform-powered ANTX enables us to identify and field technologies, components, or algorithms at the speed of the threat.”

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Ramzi Musallam: Veritas Capital to Buy Finalsite from Bridge Growth Partners
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Ramzi Musallam: Veritas Capital to Buy Finalsite from Bridge Growth Partners

A Veritas Capital affiliate has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Finalsite, a digital communications software company for schools and universities, from Bridge Growth Partners.

Currently, the Glastonbury, Connecticut-based software-as-a-service company serves more than 8,000 customers in the education communications market with its comprehensive “digital campus,” which features capabilities including virtual tours, live-streamed events, parent communications, online enrollment and other services, Finalsite said Wednesday.

Six-time Wash100 Award winner Ramzi Musallam, CEO and managing partner of Veritas Capital, said that as an investor, Veritas will scale the Finalsite platform to meet evolving needs across the growing K-12 marketing and communications market.

“We’re eager to partner with Finalsite and Bridge Growth as we accelerate the company’s growth profile and mission-critical education tools,” Musallam commented.

Jon Moser, founder and CEO of Finalsite, said Veritas’ resources and “significant industry experience” will help the company build on its recent significant growth as it moves into its next phase of development.

The transaction, whose financial terms have not been disclosed, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This announcement comes less than two months after Guidehouse, a Veritas Capital portfolio company, completed its acquisition of Dovel Technologies to create an enterprise expected to generate over $2 billion in annual revenue.

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Navy Vet Christopher Serow Named VP, Operations for Kana Systems
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Navy Vet Christopher Serow Named VP, Operations for Kana Systems

Christopher Serow, retired U.S. Navy Flight Officer, has been appointed vice president of operations for Kana Systems. 

In his new role, Serow will leverage his 25 years of experience in military and operational leadership to oversee business development and contract execution for the Lincoln, Nebraska-based defense technology company. His work will also focus on scaling Kana Systems’ infrastructure to manage growth.

“Chris knows firsthand the military’s technology pain points; he has the operational expertise to lead Kana Systems as we partner with the U.S. government in its digital transformation goals,” said Mailani Veney, CEO of Kana Systems.

Veney added that Serow’s appointment marks a “huge win” for the company and its military customers.

Prior to joining Kana Systems, Serow served as chief of plans support for the U.S. Strategic Command, where he developed concepts and requirements for Conventional-Nuclear Integration and led the integration of Nuclear Command, Control and Communications with the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative.

During his military career, Serow held multiple leadership roles including base commanding officer at the Naval Support Activity in Panama City, Florida. Additionally, Serow served as a maritime and aviation operations officer directing anti-submarine warfare efforts in the Indo-Pacific region for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.

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Report: President Biden Considers Richard Cordray for Federal Reserve’s Top Regulatory Role
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Report: President Biden Considers Richard Cordray for Federal Reserve’s Top Regulatory Role

President Biden is considering nominating Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to serve as vice-chairman of banking supervision at the Federal Reserve, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The publication cited sources that say Cordray would succeed Randal Quarles and oversee the U.S. banking system once he is nominated and confirmed by the Senate for the role.

Cordray is a chief operating officer of Federal Student Aid and responsible for the Department of Education’s $1.6 trillion student loan program. He entered politics in 1991 as an Ohio state representative and served as attorney general of Ohio between 2008 and 2011.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Cordray was one of the candidates the White House considers for the position.

The latest development came a week after Biden nominated Jerome Powell, chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, for a second term as head of the central bank.

POC - Digital Currency and National Security Forum

The Potomac Officers Club will host a virtual forum on Jan. 27 to offer the GovCon community an insight into the national security aspect of digital currencies. Click here to register.

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Navy-Backed National Security Innovation Center Opens at Stanford; Rear Adm. Lorin Selby Quoted
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Navy-Backed National Security Innovation Center Opens at Stanford; Rear Adm. Lorin Selby Quoted

The U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) helped Stanford University establish an academic center to educate and train the next generation of innovators to support the U.S. government’s national security objectives.

ONR said Friday the Gordon Knot Center for National Security Innovation seeks to connect defense, commercial and academic organizations by inspiring the future workforce and promoting technology areas of interest to the office.

“A Gordian Knot is a metaphor for an intractable problem,” said Rear Adm. Lorin Shelby, chief of naval research.

The center’s three lines of effort are national security innovation education, training for innovators and insight, integration and policy outreach. ONR started its partnership with Stanford when the service awarded grants in 1946 to Fred Terman, the late dean of the university’s engineering school who put the funds into Stanford Electronics Research Lab.

“Today, our nation faces many intractable problems, from great power competition to non-state actor threats, as we reimagine what naval power looks like in the 21st century. We’re seeking new disruptive technologies, new operational concepts, and new types of program management and mindsets,” Shelby added.

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Daniel Walsh Becomes Full-Time Director of Pentagon Force Protection Agency
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Daniel Walsh Becomes Full-Time Director of Pentagon Force Protection Agency

Daniel Walsh has been promoted to director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) after he held the role on an acting basis for two years.

He provided guidance for pandemic response and facility security efforts at the Pentagon while leading the federal law enforcement organization, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

The 13-year PFPA veteran will continue to oversee agency services to protect assets throughout the Pentagon Reservation and facilities DOD personnel occupy within the National Capital Region.

Walsh also served as the agency’s deputy director from September 2017 to November 2021 with responsibility for strategic security and technology programs.

He came to PFPA in 2008 from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where he supervised analysis of and response to hazardous material incidents.

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Gen. David Berger: Marine Corps Needs Training Tools That Replicate Adversaries
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Gen. David Berger: Marine Corps Needs Training Tools That Replicate Adversaries

Gen. David Berger, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, said the service branch needs industry’s help to develop simulators and other training systems that replicate the behavior of adversaries, Defense News reported Tuesday.

“We need help in creating the software, the simulation, that doesn’t replicate us, it replicates the adversary, whether it’s Russia or Iran or the [People’s Republic of China], [People’s Liberation Army],” Berger said at a conference Tuesday.

“They’re all going to operate differently, so we need the fidelity there to allow us, our practitioners, to see they’re not thinking like we are,” he added.

Berger said the services also need training platforms that can combine with systems from other service branches and foreign militaries.

“We assumed that we’re going to need an asymmetric approach. In other words, we’re not going to out-muscle, out-size this pacing threat; you have to have an asymmetric advantage. And the asymmetric advantage that we have is our ability to operate as a team,” he noted.

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DOE Issues RFI for Energy Sector Supply Chain Review
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DOE Issues RFI for Energy Sector Supply Chain Review

The Department of Energy is seeking public insights on the energy sector industrial base and associated technologies to help inform DOE’s efforts in establishing resilient supply chains for the energy sector.

DOE is conducting a supply chain review to identify current and future threats and risks, determine conditions needed to help incentivize companies and communities in the sector and pinpoint areas where collaboration between the private sector and government is needed to broaden the energy industrial base, according to a request for information published Tuesday on Federal Register.

The department is collecting information on 14 topic areas: crosscutting topics relating to the energy sector industrial base; solar photovoltaic technology; wind energy technology; energy storage technology; electric grid; hydropower and pumped storage technology; nuclear energy technology; fuel cells and electrolyzers; semiconductors; neodymium magnets; platinum group metals and other materials used as catalysts; carbon capture, storage, and transportation materials; cybersecurity and digital components; and commercialization and competitiveness.

Responses to the RFI are due Jan. 15th

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Corey Hinderstein Confirmed as NNSA Nonproliferation Office Deputy Administrator
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Corey Hinderstein Confirmed as NNSA Nonproliferation Office Deputy Administrator

Corey Hinderstein, vice president of international fuel cycle strategies at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, has been confirmed by the Senate to be deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense nuclear nonproliferation office.

“In her new role at NNSA, she will help keep our nation—and our world—safe from nuclear threats by strengthening international partnerships and advancing next-generation ideas and technologies,” Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said of Hinderstein’s confirmation.

Hinderstein previously worked at the DNN office as senior coordinator for nuclear security and nonproliferation policy affairs from February 2015 to November 2017.

She helped DOE prepare for the Nuclear Security Summit in 2016 and supported the department’s nuclear security work including efforts to tackle illicit trade and international weapons development.

Her career also includes time as deputy director at the Institute for Science and International Security and president at the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management.

GAO: DOD Should Determine Funding, Staffing Requirements for Intellectual Property Cadre
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GAO: DOD Should Determine Funding, Staffing Requirements for Intellectual Property Cadre

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report calls on the Department of Defense to identify the funding and staffing needs of a new expert group tasked with helping DOD obtain intellectual property for weapons system operation and sustainment. 

DOD IP specialists interviewed by the government audit agency believe that temporary job opportunities could act as a disincentive to hire specialized experts for the group, GAO said Tuesday.

The congressional watchdog noted that the department will provide funds to the IP Cadre at the Office of the Secretary of Defense to create and fill up to five positions through fiscal 2023.

GAO also found that the department lacks program support, valuation strategies and financial analysis expertise to help the cadre fulfill responsibilities.

Other recommendations from GAO include collaboration between the cadre director and the Defense Acquisition University president in support of IP-related priorities over the next three years and the development of additional guidance for DOD component heads to identify personnel who can benefit from IP-related training.

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