Mark Montgomery, executive director of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC), said he believes the Department of Defense (DOD) is likely to act on the commission’s recommendations to make cyber threat hunting and intelligence sharing capabilities compulsory for the defense industrial base in compliance with a provision in the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

“There’s [recommended] language in the legislation that allows the [defense] secretary once he’s had a successful report to start taking action on both the threat hunting and information sharing, so I’m excited to see that happen,” Montgomery said Wednesday at the C4ISRNET Conference.

Under the 2021 NDAA, Congress required reports to look into the feasibility of implementing those cyber-hardening requirements for defense contractors.

His remarks came as the White House responds to a SolarWinds cyber breach allegedly linked to Russia and compromised a number of federal agencies and companies.

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Chief data officers of the U.S. Army and Air Force said both military branches should break down silos to simplify the process of managing and sharing data that could support future joint force missions, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Army CDO David Markowitz said that the service will assign data officers for its warfighting, business, intelligence and enterprise information technology mission areas. He added that his office works to ensure accessibility and understandability of authoritative content.

USAF is also pursuing an approach to help service personnel access useful information and has a laboratory that explores use cases of enterprise data, according to Air Force CDO Eileen Vidrine. Both executives shared their insight at a C4ISRNET-hosted virtual conference Wednesday.

If you're interested in government data management, check out GovCon Wire's Data Innovation Forum coming up on June 15. Click here to learn more.

Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, said the service is looking to broaden the procurement of commercial space services with the acquisition of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellite data and analytical services, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

“Comms, data relay, remote sensing, and even ISR and some other things — [these] capabilities are increasingly available in the commercial market,” Thompson said during the 2021 C4ISR Conference Wednesday.

The Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO) procures satellite bandwidth access from various commercial providers to meet the needs of operational commands and Thompson said providing the CSCO the authority to purchase ISR satellite analytical and data services seek to tap the capabilities offered by companies that are racing to launch satellite constellations.

Thompson added that the Space Force can apply to its own systems the technology and innovation offered and used by commercial providers.

The General Services Administration (GSA) will auction off 9.45 bitcoin valued at $520,000 as part of its four-day cryptocurrency sale that will start on Friday, April 23rd.

GSA said Wednesday the bitcoins will be divided into 10 lots as part of the commission-free bidding that will run through April 26 on the GSA Auctions website. The upcoming event will be GSA's third cryptocurrency auction. 

The agency held its first bitcoin auction in mid-March followed by another cryptocurrency sale later that month. To date, GSA has put 7.5401 bitcoin up for sale for a total cost of $450,567.

Interested stakeholders should register in order to place an offer for the bitcoins. The winning bidder should have a digital wallet to receive the cryptocurrency and should make the payment through wire transfer by April 28th.

The Department of Energy will coordinate with electric utility companies and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency over the next 100 days to beef up defenses against threat actors that target U.S. power systems.

DOE said Tuesday that its cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response office will aim to develop tools intended to help industrial control system operators monitor, detect and respond to malicious cyber activity.

“It’s up to both government and industry to prevent possible harms—that’s why we’re working together to take these decisive measures so Americans can rely on a resilient, secure and clean energy system,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Earlier this year, President Biden implemented a 90-day suspension of Executive Order 13920 his predecessor signed in May 2020 to restrict U.S. procurement and use of interconnected electrical equipment from foreign adversaries.

The department invoked the authority of an emergency declaration last year after issuing the December 2020 Prohibition Order that banned the importation of bulk-power systems that support critical defense facilities.

DOE on Tuesday revoked the prohibition order to give way to the creation of new strategies in fortifying the energy sector cybersecurity before EO 13920 expires on May 1.

As part of the 100-day initiative, DOE is seeking ideas from companies, academic institutions, research laboratories and federal agencies on how to secure the supply chain for energy systems.

If you’re interested in cybersecurity, check out GovCon Wire’s Defense Cybersecurity Forum coming up on May 12. Click here to learn more.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will launch an industrial partnership that grants DARPA contractors access to technology made by other companies, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

DARPA will use its Toolbox Initiative to procure products from computing technology providers in support of contracted companies tasked to develop new systems. Contracted companies may also use Toolbox for intellectual property rights of other corporations, without the need for complex arrangements. 

DARPA-contracted performers would access these rights via non-production licenses. DARPA plans to host industry days and launch an internal marketing campaign for Toolbox this fall.

“I want the DARPA performers to have the same benefits as commercial industry,” Serge Leef, program manager at DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office, told FedScoop.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has chosen a multiple tranche development approach for its global satellite constellation systems for the Department of the Defense (DOD). No SDA satellites are flying yet, but the SDA has already requested industry feedback on how the Agency should upgrade its communications standards for its second generation of satellites. C4isrnet reported the story on Wednesday. 

“The whole idea is to be able to move data as rapidly as possible to get that tactical information directly to the warfighter,” commented Derek Tournear, SDA Director and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient.“The transport layer consists of hundreds of satellites that form a resilient optically interconnected mesh network that will pass data directly to existing tactical data links.

 “So what that means to the warfighter is the following: I can now move data from a targeting cell that could be located CONUS or ideally that targeting cell will actually form a target onboard on the satellites and I can send that data down directly to an existing tactical data link on a weapons platform or on a weapon itself,” Tounear added. 

SDA’s constellation will eventually be composed of hundreds of primarily low-Earth-orbit satellites. The constellation’s foundation will be its transport layer, a mesh network on-orbit connected through optical inter-satellite links. 

The transport layer will allow the DOD to move data through space rapidly and will be the glue that will connect the services’ various Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control networks.

SDA will launch its first set of 28 satellites (Tranceh zero) in 2022, and Tranche one will have around 150 in 2024. SDA is requesting industry feedback on how to build these first couple tranches of satellites in a manner that is upgradable and integrable to future more advanced satellites in Tranche two, three and beyond. 

The advanced satellites of the latter Tranches, according to Tournear, needs to be able to communicate with each other and be but also “satellite to air, satellite to ground and satellite to air and maritime assets, we had to start to look and say, ‘Okay now we really need to look at the optical comm standard and say, what is industry doing?”

SDA is expected to order its tranche one transport layer satellites this summer. Responses to the optical communications information request are due April 30.

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Danielle Metz, the Department of Defense's deputy chief information officer for information enterprise, said she wants to change how organizations view the role of a CIO, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Metz, who went from an acting role to a permanent one this year, said in an interview that CIOs help organizations formulate strategies with regard to networks, data centers and technical debt. She said CIOs have a wider, information-centric job compared to the misconception that they are in charge of just laptops and computers.

The deputy CIO also talked about progress of the Fourth Estate Network Optimization effort, which aims to update the capabilities, user guidance and security of networks. Metz said her team has awarded a few contracts, including a large one with the DoDNet software catalog.

“This is where DISA is able to purchase all of what we call common use IT: think laptops, video teleconferencing, collaboration, capabilities, etc.,” she said about DoDNet.