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DOJ Updates Annual Report Data Tool on Freedom of Information Act Website
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DOJ Updates Annual Report Data Tool on Freedom of Information Act Website

The Department of Justice has updated the Annual Report Data page on the Freedom of Information Act website and uploaded all fiscal year 2020 FOIA reports prepared by 119 agencies onto the online platform.

DOJ said Tuesday annual reports show that agencies received 790,772 FOIA requests and processed 772,952 of those requests in the previous fiscal year. The department’s office for information policy is working on a summary of annual FOIA reports submitted by agencies for FY 2020.

The updated data page combines into a single interface the Basic and Advanced Report functions to allow the public to collect governmentwide data, search individual agency and data points in annual FOIA reports since FY 2008 and compare information from several agencies.

DOJ introduced FOIA .gov in 2011 to serve as a dashboard for all agencies’ data related to their annual FOIA reports. In compliance with the law, federal agencies and departments submit each year a report to the attorney general providing details about the number of received and processed FOIA requests, the duration of processing those requests and other data regarding their FOIA activities. 

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Gen. John Raymond: Space Force Begins Work on Declassification Strategy
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Gen. John Raymond: Space Force Begins Work on Declassification Strategy

Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, chief of space operations and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said the U.S. Space Force is working on a declassification strategy to help facilitate integration across the joint forces and with international partners, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Raymond said Wednesday at a virtual event with the National Press Club that parts of the new service’s mission are being hampered by the classification mechanism.

“The main mission of the United States Space Force is to deter conflict from beginning or extending into space, and I’m convinced that if you want to change the deterrence calculus, if you will, of an adversary, you have to be able to communicate. If you have everything classified, that really limits your ability to deter conflict,” said Raymond.

He noted that the service is also working to improve integration with commercial partners by providing them more access to classified data.

“You’ll see us as we develop new programs and review older programs, review it with a lens of deterrence and a lens of integration. And so you’ll see us continue to make classification decisions that will enable that deterrence and that integration,” added Raymond.

POC - 2021 Industrial Space Defense Summit

Raymond will deliver a keynote speech at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2021 Industrial Space Defense Summit on March 23 to share his insights on space innovation and collaboration. To register for this virtual summit and view other upcoming opportunities, visit the Potomac Officers Club Events page.

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DOE Earmarks Funding for Energy Infrastructure Threat Mitigation Pilot
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DOE Earmarks Funding for Energy Infrastructure Threat Mitigation Pilot

The Department of Energy has invested $4 million for a research and development effort focused on information sharing concepts to help mitigate risks to U.S. energy infrastructure.

DOE said Monday it is looking for national laboratories to participate in the research effort, which is aimed at preventing geomagnetic disturbance and electromagnetic pulse impacts to critical energy systems. The program falls under the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response (CESER).

The R&D initiative has three increments focused on modeling, testing and mitigation to help the DOE pilot technologies while identifying potential security risks to energy companies.

“The proposed solutions in these investments will emphasize the partnerships needed to optimize grid security and minimize events that could disrupt energy flow,” said Patricia Hoffman, acting assistant secretary at CESER.

The department noted that the program is meant to address CESER’s goal of advancing concepts that can “elevate the energy sector’s ability” to prevent EMP and GMD disruptions.

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MDA Reports New Missile Defense Radar on Track for Initial Operational Capability
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MDA Reports New Missile Defense Radar on Track for Initial Operational Capability

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has announced that a missile detection radar under development is progressing on schedule towards initial operational capability expected this fiscal year, Defense News reported Tuesday. 

The U.S. Air Force's Lockheed Martin-made Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) is now in the process of installation at Alaska-based Clear Air Force Station, despite pandemic-caused delays experienced last year.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) initially reported that USAF will not be able to fully procure the radar before fiscal year 2023, but MDA announced in late February that all critical production tasks have been completed.

LRDR is designed to detect whether an incoming missile carries a warhead or is only a decoy. The radar would generate precision metric data perform this function against ballistic missile threats. Lockheed also applied its open gallium nitride foundry model into the solid state GaN radar.

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Matthew Graviss on State Department’s Data Initiatives
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Matthew Graviss on State Department’s Data Initiatives

Matthew Graviss, chief data officer of the State Department, said he envisions data as a vital asset for both industry and government and that his department plans to establish a one-stop shop for dataset access.

Graviss said at an interview with Federal News Network aired Tuesday that the State Department is focusing on data management issues and that the Data.State initiative will enable the sharing of information across bureaus.

He noted that data management, along with culture and technology, will enable the department to benefit from analytics. According to Graviss, the State Department is working on enlisting more talent and developing the skills of current personnel for data-focused functions.

Speaking on the department’s partnerships with allied agencies like the intelligence community, Graviss said that data sharing is “really important within the federal government” and that it is a critical part of efforts under the department’s COVID-19 working group.

The group, which falls under Graviss’ management, is focused on sharing the right data to support pandemic response initiatives including vaccination, according to Graviss.

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Gen. Mark Milley: Universal Data Standards Key to Joint Warfighting
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Gen. Mark Milley: Universal Data Standards Key to Joint Warfighting

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that he plans to implement foundational data standards and pitch his concept for joint warfighting that leverages networked forces, Defense One reported Tuesday.

Milley told reporters he seeks to deliver his Joint Warfighting Concept 1.0 to Lloyd Austin, the secretary of the Department of Defense (DOD) and 2021 Wash100 Award winner, and Kathleen Hicks, the deputy defense secretary and a fellow 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, ahead of budget hearings with Congress.

A joint system that builds on common standards across the services branches must be in place by the end of the year, he said.

Milley’s comments come as the U.S. Northern Command continues experiments with other combatant commands to help inform the Joint All-Domain Command and Control program.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of USNORTHCOM, previously told reporters that the command’s Global Information Dominance Experiments are focused on showcasing the value of data. VanHerck also cited the command’s Pathfinder program focused on integrating radar-collated data with machine learning.

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Stacey Dixon: NGA Should Deliver at ‘Speed of Mission Need’
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Stacey Dixon: NGA Should Deliver at ‘Speed of Mission Need’

Stacey Dixon, deputy director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, said NGA needs to come up with faster platforms and services as the U.S. edge in GEOINT is being challenged, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. 

“We’re asking for your help to help us reimagine the geoint enterprise,” Dixon said Tuesday at the virtual NGA Industry Strategy Summit 2021. “We need to be able to deliver at the speed of mission need.”

In 2020, NGA introduced an innovation strategy called “moonshot” to reflect the need for a concerted effort in order for the U.S. to win the GEOINT arms race. Dixon said this strategy could spur acquisitions and investments in the next few years.

“Moonshot for us is way more than a buzzword,” said Dixon. “It all started because of a need to focus on the reemergence of great power competition. We need to think big not only as an agency, but as this larger community, as an enterprise.”

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AVIAN Names Pete Sarrat as CGO; Kevin Switick Quoted
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AVIAN Names Pete Sarrat as CGO; Kevin Switick Quoted

AVIAN has appointed Pete Sarrat, the company’s vice president for Federal Solutions, as chief growth officer, AVIAN reported on Tuesday. 

“For many years as a small business owner I learned how to wear multiple ‘hats’ for various roles in the company,” said Kevin Switick, chief executive officer at AVIAN. “The hope was that AVIAN would grow and one day I could transfer the hats to others in the organization that would lead the way. It brings me great joy to transfer the growth strategy hat to Pete, who I know will take AVIAN to the next level and beyond.”

As AVIAN’s new chief growth officer, Sarrat will lead strategic planning to accelerate growth as the company enters new markets. He will also collaborate with leaders in the organization to execute the corporate vision, developed by Switick. 

Sarrat has more than two decades of experience in business development. Prior to his tenure with AVIAN, Sarrat served as a vice president for Business Development for Whitney, Bradley and Brown (WBB). Before that, Sarrat was the vice president for Business Development at Constellation Software Engineering.

“While growing AVIAN is a team effort for our employee-owners, I am incredibly excited to have Pete provide the guidance and direction for the future,” Switick added. Sarrat has prior military service in the U.S. Navy and a bachelor of science degree in finance from Georgetown University.

"The opportunities available for AVIAN's growth are limitless," Sarrat said. "I am excited to be in the position to lead growth efforts at AVIAN in support of our strategic business plan."

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Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, Joint Staff CIO, Recommends Areas to Improve JADC2
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Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, Joint Staff CIO, Recommends Areas to Improve JADC2

Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, chief information officer (CIO) of the Joint Staff and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, recently addressed how the military’s future network-of-networks operational construct, Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), can increase innovation and agility by leveraging big data, FedScoop reported on Wednesday.

Crall said the solutions he is looking for range from data management and tagging to identity, credential, and access management (ICAM). “Everything we do from this point forward, it really is all about the data,” he said.

He added that one way to improve JADC2 solutions is to move away from data standards, because the military data from sensors in battle will be presented in a variety of formats, measurements and readability. 

“There is going to be diversity; you have got to embrace the diversity,” he said. Crall added that the Joint Staff is looking to incorporate “light” and “nimble” interfaces across a data lake that can help sift through and sort incoming information. 

Crall added that, in order to send, share and collaborate with data securely as part of JADC2, there must be solutions to verify the identities of users and data sources on a network. He said it’s one of the core building blocks for the military’s use of artificial intelligence (AI). 

Last year, Crall further discussed JADC2’s strategy and how his unit will work to advance the network, as well as technology solutions. 

In Nov. 2020, Crall said that the JADC2 Strategy will formulate objectives for JADC2 around three areas, including collecting data from every platform on the battlefield and accelerating the transmission of data to warfighters for use in decision-making. 

“We’re looking at things that really are open, easy to see, easy to adjust, easy to manipulate, and truthfully work well with other things,” Crall said. He added that the Department of Defense (DoD) does not want to rely excessively on proprietary technology platforms for JADC2 and is not interested in vendor lock-in arrangement. 

“And industry has asked us, ‘Would DoD please lead and tell us what those standards, attributes, interfaces and architectures are?’ And that’s precisely what we’re building in the annexes that go with the strategy document for JADC2. So that will soon be revealed — exactly what these inputs and outputs look like from a mission engineering perspective,” Crall stated.

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Dr. Will Roper, Former USAF Executive, Joins Volansi Board of Directors
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Dr. Will Roper, Former USAF Executive, Joins Volansi Board of Directors

Volansi has appointed Dr. Will Roper, the former assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, to its Board of Directors, where he will help drive the company’s strategy, operations and growth in defense markets, Volansi reported on Wednesday.

“Dr. Will Roper joins Volansi’s board with a reputation as a transformative, forward-looking leader,” said Volansi CEO and co-Founder Hannan Parvizian. “His deep expertise in emerging technologies and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in logistics operations will be instrumental in aiding Volansi’s mission to change the future of supply chain.

With the U.S. Air Force, Roper was the assistant secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, where he supervised an annual budget of $60 billion. In the role, he was responsible for all research and development, test, production, modernization and logistics efforts for the Air Force and Space Force. He also helped accelerate acquisition processes and develop disruptive innovative culture inside of government.

Roper spearheaded open defense market opportunities to commercial companies and private investors. He launched innovative initiatives, such as AFWERX and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) reform.

Additionally, Roper led Air Force-wide technology transformations for software development, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital engineering. He also initiated high tech programs for hypersonic weapons, autonomous drones and a militarized internet of things (IoT).

“Commercial technology companies like Volansi are leading a wave of disruptive innovation for defense missions,” said Dr. Roper. “Bringing speed and agility historically absent in government procurement, many vendors have early revenue-generating opportunities in national security as a path to commercial success,” Roper said.

Volansi has developed deep relationships with the Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD). The company has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) through the Department of the Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Center of Excellence innovation program.

“Volansi is uniquely positioned in the commercial UAV market because of their focus on cargo and logistics, both huge components of modern militaries. I am excited to help them think through opportunities to bring on-demand, life-saving capabilities to men and women in uniform,” Roper added.

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