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Air Force Writes Document to Guide ABMS Activities
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Air Force Writes Document to Guide ABMS Activities

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) has created a document that would guide changes as it continues to test the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), which facilitates information sharing between commanders and pilots, Fedscoop reported Wednesday.

The document, titled JADC2 Supporting Concept, will inform how DAF will apply ABMS' data across warfighting activities. In May 2021, DAF decided to move forward with operational testing of ABMS, which would connect all sensors and weapon systems used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force.

Brig. Gen. Jeffery Valenzia leads a cross-functional team (CFT) that developed the document. The CFT is tasked to work on ABMS requirements and integration activities.

ABMS is DAF's entry to the Department of Defense's Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept, which aims to establish an integrated network of sensors across the battlefield.

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NOAA Creates Council to Tackle Climate Issues; Administrator Rick Spinrad Quoted
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NOAA Creates Council to Tackle Climate Issues; Administrator Rick Spinrad Quoted

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established a new council that will help the agency's administrator address the climate crisis. 

NOAA said Wednesday that its Climate Council, which consists of senior leaders in the agency, will apply NOAA’s services to support environmental mitigation efforts across the nation, including the most climate-vulnerable communities.

The council will also coordinate with partners and other federal agencies in pursuit of addressing climate-related issues.

“By closely coordinating NOAA’s climate science and services, we can more effectively help communities adapt to a changing climate, while also creating conditions for economic growth and innovation," said Rick Spinrad, the administrator of NOAA.

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Bipartisan Senators Introduce Legislation to Require Cyber Incident Reporting; Sen. Mark Warner Quoted
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Bipartisan Senators Introduce Legislation to Require Cyber Incident Reporting; Sen. Mark Warner Quoted

A bipartisan legislation was introduced Wednesday in an effort to make cyber intrusion reporting a federal requirement and, partly, in response to the hacking incidents that affected the Colonial Pipeline, information technology management firm SolarWinds and other public and private entities.

Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and three-time Wash100 Award winner; Sen. Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the committee; and Sen. Susan Collins, a senior committee member, presented the Cyber Incident Notification Act of 2021 that seeks to require federal agencies, government contractors and critical infrastructure owners and operators to inform the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of cyber intrusions within 24 hours of their discovery.

The reports are expected to support the government's efforts in safeguarding critical industries. Currently, individual companies are not required to report when they have been subjected to hacking activities.

“We shouldn’t be relying on voluntary reporting to protect our critical infrastructure," said Sen. Warner. "We need a routine federal standard so that when vital sectors of our economy are affected by a breach, the full resources of the federal government can be mobilized to respond to and stave off its impact.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Rubio noted that more damage can be done to American businesses, infrastructure, and government institutions when an attack goes unreported for a longer period of time.

Sen. Collins added, "Failure to enact a robust cyber incident notification requirement will only give our adversaries more opportunity to gather intelligence on our government, steal intellectual property from our companies, and harm our critical infrastructure."

The bill also seeks to incentivize information sharing by granting limited immunity to companies that reported a breach and by ensuring the protection of privacy and personally identifiable information.

Twelve other senators co-sponsored the legislation.

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Senate Lawmakers to Consider Increase to White House’s Defense Budget by $25B
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Senate Lawmakers to Consider Increase to White House’s Defense Budget by $25B

Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) members started closed-door work on the annual defense authorization bill on Wednesday and will consider adding another $25 billion to the White House’s proposed defense budget of $716 billion for fiscal year 2022 to fund the services’ unfunded priorities, Military Times reported.

Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking member of SASC, said he is confident the plan to increase the current administration’s defense budget could get bipartisan support.

Unfunded priorities are the services’ proposed program additions and equipment purchases that were not included in the White House’s budget proposal.

The U.S. Army’s unfunded priorities include $1.9 billion for aviation platforms, combat, tracked, and wheeled vehicles and $1.1 billion for strategic power projection capabilities and tactical training.

The U.S. Air Force’s wish list includes $1.4 billion for 12 F-15EXs and $825 million for weapon sustainment. The U.S. Navy’s unfunded priorities include $1.7 billion for a second DDG ship and $280 million for naval pilots’ additional flight hours.

U.S. Marine Corps officials requested $150 million in funds for additional Tactical Tomahawk missiles and Naval Strike Missiles.

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Army Forms Partnership to Apply AI/ML in Military Aircraft Engine R&D
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Army Forms Partnership to Apply AI/ML in Military Aircraft Engine R&D

The U.S. Army will collaborate with the U.S. Navy, Pratt & Whitney and two universities under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) to modernize military aircraft engine designs with the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The Army said Wednesday the partnership came after its researchers conducted a review of published studies on the fundamental physics of engine performance over the past decade.

The University of Maryland at College Park, University of Cincinnati and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology's Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery in Germany worked with the service branch during the literature review.

“We see that the interactions between engine components are often missed in contemporary models and this has a profound impact on predicting unsteady engine performance,” said Luis Bravo, an Army researcher.

He noted that the review redirected their focus on looking at critical propulsion issues and applying AI/ML developments.

Military, industry and academic researchers participating in the CRADA aim to develop modeling, simulation and mitigation approaches to protect military or commercial aircraft's gas turbine engines from microparticles in harsh environments that affect propulsion system performance.

Army Forms Partnership to Apply AI/ML in Military Aircraft Engine R&D

On Aug. 12th, the Potomac Officers Club – a division of Executive Mosaic – will hold its 6th Annual Army Forum, where leaders from the GovCon and government communities will share their insight on the service branch's technology programs. Visit the POC Events page to sign up for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events.

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Sen. Angus King, Tom Fanning Call for Government-Industry Collaboration to Protect Critical Infrastructure
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Sen. Angus King, Tom Fanning Call for Government-Industry Collaboration to Protect Critical Infrastructure

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, said the federal government and industry must collaborate to safeguard critical infrastructure from ransomware attacks and other cyber threats. 

“The federal government and private sector must arrive at a new ‘social contract’ of shared responsibility to secure our country's cyberspace where both parties have shared, mutual responsibilities,” King and Fanning wrote in an opinion piece published Monday on CNN Business.

They said Congress should advance proposals to address the gap between the government and critical infrastructure providers when it comes to dealing with cyberattacks and one of those measures is the "systemically important critical infrastructure (SICI)” concept.

Under a SICI measure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would classify an asset as SICI if a possible breach of that infrastructure would pose a threat to national security, public health and economic security.

Fanning and King also discussed the three potential benefits of SICI legislation before and in the event of a breach and one of those is receiving threat intelligence data on foreign actors to prevent cyber incidents.

“SICI legislation would work hand-in-hand with America's critical infrastructure providers to establish mutual accountability and collaboration in a way not previously possible,” they noted.

Fanning is a commissioner and King is co-chair of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

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Rear Adm. Bill Houston on Navy’s Next-Gen Attack Submarine SSN(X)
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Rear Adm. Bill Houston on Navy’s Next-Gen Attack Submarine SSN(X)

Rear Adm. Bill Houston, director of the undersea warfare requirements office at the U.S. Navy, said the service’s next-generation attack submarine called SSN(X) will be the “ultimate apex predator for the maritime domain,” Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

Houston said the new boat will feature the acoustics and sensors of the Virginia-class submarine, the Columbia-class submarine's service life and operational availability and the Seawolf-class submarine's speed and payload.

“We’re confident that we’re going to be able to do that because we’ve already built that on those previous platforms, we know how to do that. We just have to mesh it together with one platform,” he added.

Houston said the military branch and industry are close to completing design work on Columbia and intend to tap the same team to work on SSN(X).

“We’re going to time it such that when Columbia is ramping down in production, we’ll be ramping up in SSN(X) because we’ll have the design and the RDT&E done,” he said. 

“It takes a significant amount of time and effort for that RDT&E to develop this apex predator, but that’s what we’re going to do over the next decade as we’re working on the systems for SSN(X),” Houston added.

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NIST Releases Data Exchange Security Guide
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NIST Releases Data Exchange Security Guide

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released guidance that outlines a four-pronged strategy to protect the data organizations share with other parties via different channels for information exchange.

NIST said Tuesday that the “Managing the Security of Information Exchanges” guide offers sample agreement templates and recommends several measures to secure shared data.

The four phases described in the Special Publication (SP) 800-47 Revision 1, which aligns with the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-130, encompasses planning, establishing, maintaining and discounting the information exchange. 

“In order to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information commensurate with risk, the information being exchanged requires protection at the same or similar levels as it moves from one organization to another,” the agency noted.

The document deviated from the technology-based information access and instead focused on imparting a redeveloped scope of information exchange and tackling the potential security risks in conducting data-sharing activity.

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Jacobs Announces Enhanced Sustainability Business Approach PlanBeyond 2.0; Chair, CEO Steve Demetriou Quoted
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Jacobs Announces Enhanced Sustainability Business Approach PlanBeyond 2.0; Chair, CEO Steve Demetriou Quoted

Jacobs announced on Wednesday its PlanBeyondSM 2.0, a global sustainability business approach. The plan is a company-wide foundation for sustainability through its operations and it is in accord with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

"As a purpose-led company, we recognize that our biggest opportunity to positively address climate change and societal inequalities comes from the solutions we provide our clients from the world's largest infrastructure projects to mission-critical outcomes and sustainable design," commented Steve Demetriou, Jacobs chair and CEO

"We consider it not only good business, but our obligation to channel our expansive capabilities in resilient infrastructure, regenerative design, clean water, green energy and social value toward benefitting people and the planet, while continuing to outperform and drive superior stakeholder value,” added Demetriou. 

The company recognizes that all 17 SDGs must be worked on together and not one at a time. As such Jacobs identified six core SDGs through stakeholder engagement and a robust materiality assessment. These SDGs have been translated into actionable sustainable business objectives.

The objectives include advancing the health and wellbeing of society, delivering solutions for the global water and sanitation crisis, fostering a culture of technology and innovation important to the advancement of society, creating a fair and inclusive future for all. 

Additionally, the company aims to develop efficient and resilient solutions that deliver net environmental and societal gain and accelerate solutions that address the climate emergency. 

Those objectives lie at the core of the company strategy and define Jacob’s responsibilities for how the organization and its stakeholders in creating sustainable communities.  

Jacobs is also educating its employees across all disciplines with training courses and project tools that promote sustainability plans and targets, as well as climate risk and resilience practices, In an attempt to ensure all client solutions across its global markets are designed to support a sustainable and robust future.

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MetTel To Provide Internet Protocol Services To The SEC; Robert Dapkiewicz Quoted
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MetTel To Provide Internet Protocol Services To The SEC; Robert Dapkiewicz Quoted

MetTel announced on Wednesday that the company was selected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) to provide Internet Protocol Services (IPS) under the General Services Administration (GSA) Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract.

“MetTel will equip the SEC with a forward-looking IPS solution that can facilitate upgrades and enhancements as telecommunications technologies and services evolve and advance,” commented Robert Dapkiewicz, MelTel Federal Programs general manager and SVP.

“Utilizing the MetTel EIS Portal, the SEC will have access to the latest technology to monitor and report performance details in near real-time on the internet services delivered via the MetTel network. The portal will provide improved visibility into operations and service level agreement compliance,” added Dapkiewicz.

The SEC will transition its IPS service to EIS contract providers in accord with Federal Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) directives and as part of its digital transformation. The contract requires MetTel to provide 10 gigabit Ethernet IPS connectivity at the SEC’s second data center.

The selection illustrates that the company’s federal practice is growing. Since last year, MetTel has won contract awards from over a dozen federal organizations totaling over $2 billion in total contract value after all options.

During the last 18 months, MetTel announced information technology (IT) Communications projects with many city and federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, General Services Administration, Department of State, and the Veteran’s Administration.

The SEC was created in 1934 during the Great Depression and is tasked with protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly and efficient markets and facilitating capital formation. The agency comprises 11 regional offices and an IPS network that is fully converged with agency data, voice and video services.

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