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NIST Seeks Comments on 2nd Draft Publication on Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices
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NIST Seeks Comments on 2nd Draft Publication on Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking feedback on the second draft of a special publication about cybersecurity supply chain risk management practices. 

The updated draft of the SP 800-161 Revision 1, Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations includes audience profiles, an updated structure and two new appendices focused on federal agencies.

One of the appendices offers additional guidance for federal agencies with regard to risk response, supply chain risk assessment factors, risk severity levels and assessment documentation.

The second appendix titled Response to Executive Order 14028’s Call to Publish Preliminary Guidelines or Enhancing Software Supply Chain Security outlines industry standards, practices and tools in response to directives stipulated in Section 4(c) of the cybersecurity executive order signed in May.

Public comments are due Dec. 3rd. NIST plans to issue the final draft of the publication during the third quarter of 2022.

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Government Issues Document on National Cyber Director’s Mission
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Government Issues Document on National Cyber Director’s Mission

The government has released a strategic intent document that highlights the Office of the National Cyber Director‘s (ONCD) efforts to promote cybersecurity in the country.

The document states that ONCD will work to promote government-wide cyber coherency, improve public-private cyber collaboration, align resources with cyber efforts and support all initiatives to bolster cyber resiliency, the White House said.

The office will work with partners at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the National Security Council (NSC) to realize these efforts.

ONCD will revolve its work around national and federal cybersecurity, budget review and assessment, technology and ecosystem security, planning and incident response, workforce development and stakeholder engagement.

The government established ONCD in January. Chris Inglis serves as the country’s first national cyber director. 

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Jacobs to Acquire BlackLynx; CEOSteve Demetriou Quoted
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Jacobs to Acquire BlackLynx; CEOSteve Demetriou Quoted

Jacobs has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BlackLynx, a Rockville, Maryland-based software engineering firm, in a transaction whose financial terms have not been disclosed.

Under the acquisition, Jacobs will leverage BlackLynx’s artificial intelligence/machine learning, advanced edge processing and collection automation capabilities to strengthen its cyber, intelligence and digital solutions portfolio and expand its reach in the intelligence community market, the company said Monday.

The transaction notably broadens Jacobs’ position within the Intelligence Community to 14 out of 18 agencies.

Steve Demetriou, CEO and chair of Jacobs, said BlackLynx’s embedded analytics platform will help the company to process data more quickly and efficiently in support of federal government customer’s missions as edge computing continues to gain important ground across all domains.

“The combination of Jacobs’ deep domain knowledge and BlackLynx’s next-generation technology will unlock new opportunities to create a more connected and sustainable world,” Demetriou added.

Additionally, BlackLynx CEO Doug Wolfe said the business combination will create a “new trajectory” for BlackLynx’s software-enabled services and provide new opportunities for its employees and community partners.

The acquisition follows Jacobs’ recent wins of an $8.3 billion Oak Ridge Reservation Cleanup Contract from the Department of Energy and seven pools on the GSA’s ASTRO IDIQ.

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NASA Administration, Office Reorganizes to Align With National Space Priorities; Bill Nelson Quoted
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NASA Administration, Office Reorganizes to Align With National Space Priorities; Bill Nelson Quoted

Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, has announced new leadership roles and an office merger as part of the agency’s reorganization strategy in response to the Biden Administration’s space priorities.

As part of the reorganization, NASA’s Office of Strategic Engagements and Assessments has merged with the Office of the Chief Technologist to create the newly established Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS), the company said Monday.

Nelson said that the newly formed OTPS will leverage “cutting-edge technology, strategy and policy” to ensure the agency’s continued success at a critical time in global space exploration.

He added, “These leadership roles are critical for both sustaining and advancing NASA’s missions, and this team will guide us on our significant work ahead as we continue to take care of our people, advance our technologies, make our skies safer, enable groundbreaking scientific discoveries, protect our home planet, and push humanity’s exploration farther into the solar system than ever before.”

Dr. Bhavya Lal, who previously served as NASA’s senior advisor for budget and finance, will now lead the newly formed OTPS in her new position of associate administrator, reporting to NASA’s Deputy Administrator, Pam Melroy.

Douglas Terrier, the agency’s former chief technologist, will assume the new position of associate director for vision and strategy at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Dr. Lal will serve as acting chief technologist in the interim.

Former Deputy Associate Administrator Melanie Saunders will now serve as chief resilience officer for NASA and will lead the agency’s COVID-19 response efforts such as its Future of Work program.

Casey Swails will transition from her previous role as NASA’s senior advisor and chief of staff for the associate administrator to the new position of deputy associate administrator for business operations. Swails will also act as the principal advisor to Associate Administrator Bob Cabana. 

The agency has also tapped Tom Cremins to serve as Associate Administrator for space security interests. Cremins previously held the role of associate administrator for strategic engagement and assessments.

These shifts continue NASA’s recent reorganization efforts, following the split of the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate into the two separate organizations of Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and Space Operations Mission Directorate.

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Colin Kahl: DOD to Create New Climate-Focused Role
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Colin Kahl: DOD to Create New Climate-Focused Role

Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said the Pentagon plans to appoint an official responsible for overseeing climate change response, Defense One reported Monday. 

Kahl said his team will undergo organizational changes to address climate-related issues and align its documents with the corresponding response efforts.

He said the Department of Defense might announce the new climate-focused senior official in the coming weeks. The undersecretary said DOD may also include climate-related efforts in bilateral and multilateral defense engagements.

“You can expect the Department of Defense to be there when the agenda suits the topics where our expertise I think can be most brought to bear,” he said regarding DOD’s lack of presence at the Conference of the Parties, a global climate change conference scheduled to take place from Nov. 9th to 19th at Glasgow, U.K.

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Former Peraton Exec Trey Theimer Joins Serco as Chief Growth Officer & SVP; CEO Dave Dacquino Quoted
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Former Peraton Exec Trey Theimer Joins Serco as Chief Growth Officer & SVP; CEO Dave Dacquino Quoted

Trey Theimer, a 20-year business development veteran for military and civilian agencies, has been appointed as chief growth officer and senior vice president for Serco, effective November 8, 2021.

In her new position, Theimer will oversee Serco’s growth strategy, including mergers and acquisitions, as well as business development operations such as market intelligence, capture and proposals management and identification of business opportunities, the company said Monday.

She will report directly to two-time Wash100 Award winner David Dacquino, chairman and CEO of Serco.

“Trey Theimer has proven success in winning new business and contributing to accelerated company growth,” Dacquino said.

Dacquino added that the new executive “is a great fit with our culture, which values innovation, collaboration, and inclusiveness,” and will help guide Serco in its next phase of growth.

Theimer joins Serco from Peraton, where she served as vice president of growth, citizen security and public services following Peraton’s May 2021 acquisition of Perspecta, where Theimer previously served as vice president of business development and capture.

Prior to her time at Perspecta/Peraton, Theimer led business development and strategy efforts for Computer Sciences Corp’s defense and intelligence unit and served as the director for Accenture’s Department of Homeland Security account.

Additionally, Theimer serves on the board of directors for both the Homeland Security and Defense Business Council and the National Defense Industrial Association.

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Treasury Orders Sanctions Over Iran’s UAV Programs; Wally Adeyemo Quoted
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Treasury Orders Sanctions Over Iran’s UAV Programs; Wally Adeyemo Quoted

The Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on two companies and four individuals that have supported Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle programs that have been used to conduct attacks on U.S. forces and international shipping.

“Iran’s proliferation of UAVs across the region threatens international peace and stability. Iran and its proxy militants have used UAVs to attack U.S. forces, our partners, and international shipping,” Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury, said in a statement published Friday.

Adeyemo added that the department will continue to hold the Middle Eastern country accountable for its violent and irresponsible acts.

The department’s office of foreign assets control designated Saeed Aghajani, a brigadier general of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for leading the planning and training for the IRGC aerospace force’s UAV operations and Iran-based company KIPAS for its involvement in improving the force’s drone program.

“As a result of today’s designations, all property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction of the persons designated are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with the designated persons or their blocked property,” the department’s statement reads.

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Jen Easterly: CISA Begins Classifying Systemically Important Critical Infrastructure Entities
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Jen Easterly: CISA Begins Classifying Systemically Important Critical Infrastructure Entities

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has started identifying parts of U.S. critical infrastructure considered primary systemically important amid cybersecurity threats, CyberScoop reported Friday.

CISA Director Jen Easterly shared during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that the agency is classifying entities “based on economic centrality, network centrality and logical dominance in the national critical functions.”

The idea of labeling systemically important critical infrastructure was first presented by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to Congress, but lawmakers have yet to convert the proposal into law.

“Notwithstanding whether this ends up in legislation or not, and I certainly hope it does, we are already thinking through the model,” shared Easterly.

However, the official conceded that, without any legislation, CISA could not incentivize important infrastructure to meet cybersecurity standards and penalize entities failing to shore up their defenses.

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Grundy County, Illinois Selects CentralSquare Technologies Pro Suite to Improve Compliance, Speed Response Times; Chris Kindelspire Quoted
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Grundy County, Illinois Selects CentralSquare Technologies Pro Suite to Improve Compliance, Speed Response Times; Chris Kindelspire Quoted

CentralSquare Technologies announced on Thursday that the company has been selected by Grundy County, Illinois to provide its Public Safety Suite Pro as its public safety suite including CAD, 911, RMS, and Jail.

“The Pro platform exploits other resources allowing for greater access into these modules when working in the field. This provides a greater situational awareness to our member agencies,” said Chris Kindelspire, Director Electronic Operations, Grundy County ETSB.

Grundy chose CentralSquare Pro Suite over other software platforms to improve compliance, speed response times and create data entry and module efficiencies. With the Pro Suite, Grundy County can integrate the platform with their current partner agency’s body camera systems, adhering to state law enforcement mandates. 

With CentralSquare’s Pro Suite, Grundy County anticipates reduced time spent on dispatching calls and data entry due to improved mapping data, e-citation capabilities, integrated CAD on mobile devices, and Automated Vehicle Location capabilities.

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DOE Funds Prairie Study on Carbon Capture Tech for Future Commercial Use
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DOE Funds Prairie Study on Carbon Capture Tech for Future Commercial Use

The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the University of Illinois’s Prairie Research Institute (PRI) $4 million to fund a front-end engineering design study for the potential commercialization of an industrial carbon capture technology. 

PRI will explore a system that uses pressure swing adsorption and cryogenic refrigeration capabilities to separate up to 95 percent of carbon dioxide emissions at industrial plants, LafargeHolcim, a study partner, said Thursday. 

For the FEED study, the institute will equip the Cryocap FG system from industrial gas company Air Liquide at LafargeHolcim’s Holcim Ste. Genevieve cement plant in Missouri featuring the largest kiln in the world.

As part of the DOE funding, PRI will also provide a potential business case for Cryocap FG and the technology’s impact on the economy and the environment.

“It’s exciting to collaborate with LafargeHolcim in the U.S. to explore the application of this carbon capture technology at a commercial scale, in a way that has the potential for significant impact,” shared Kevin O’Brien, the project’s principal investigator at PRI.

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