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Gen. John Murray: Army’s Modernization Priorities to Remain in Place
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Gen. John Murray: Army’s Modernization Priorities to Remain in Place

Gen. John Murray, head of Army Futures Command (AFC) and a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the service’s six modernization priorities, including network and long-range precision fires, will stay the same and that he will continue fighting for funds to support large-scale experiments amid projections that defense budget will likely remain flat in the coming years, FedScoop reported Monday.

“We just cannot afford to pass up this opportunity,” Murray said of AFC’s work during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Monday.

Murray mentioned network modernization plans in 2021 including AFC’s intent to bring to the tactical edge its U.S.-based network infrastructure in support of the command’s long-term goal to connect sensors to warfighters.

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Janet Yellen Confirmed as Treasury Secretary
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Janet Yellen Confirmed as Treasury Secretary

The Senate voted 84-15 Monday to confirm Janet Yellen, former chair of the Federal Reserve, as secretary of the Department of the Treasury (USDT), The New York Times reported.

Yellen’s confirmation made her the first woman to hold the top post at the Treasury. She is a labor economist who also served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration. 

As head of the Treasury, Yellen will help President Biden advance the potential $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package, implement the current administration’s tax proposals and oversee U.S. economic relations with other countries.

The report said Yellen plans to make changes to the department’s mission, such as using its authority to evaluate climate change’s economic risks and support clean energy technologies through incentives.

“It is the responsibility of the Treasury secretary to strengthen the U.S. economy, foster widespread economic prosperity and promote an economic agenda that leads to long-run economic growth,” Yellen said in her written response to lawmakers.

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Executive Order Directs Agencies to Buy Domestic Goods in Support of U.S. Manufacturers, Workers
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Executive Order Directs Agencies to Buy Domestic Goods in Support of U.S. Manufacturers, Workers

President Biden signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to purchase U.S-made products and services as part of efforts to support U.S. businesses, manufacturers and workers and strengthen the enforcement of Buy American laws.

The EO orders a centralized evaluation of agency waivers of Buy American provisions and requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to post waivers on a public website, the White House said Monday.

“This Executive Order fulfills President Biden’s promise to make Buy American real and close loopholes that allow companies to offshore production and jobs while still qualifying for domestic preferences,” the document reads.

The policy creates a new position – director of Made-in-America – at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to oversee the EO’s implementation, orders an increase in the domestic content threshold and directs agencies to use the Manufacturing Extension Partnership to establish connections with domestic suppliers. 

Agencies should also submit reports on how they implement Made in America laws and offer recommendations for achieving the administration’s objectives related to such regulations.

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DOE Unveils Funding Opportunity for Direct Air Capture R&D Projects
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DOE Unveils Funding Opportunity for Direct Air Capture R&D Projects

The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest up to $15 million in funds to support research and development projects for direct air capture technologies.

The funding opportunity seeks to validate approaches that could eliminate carbon dioxide from industrial processes, fossil fuel-based power plants and the Earth's atmosphere as part of the Carbon Capture Program, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) said Thursday.

Areas of interest under the funding opportunity include initial engineering design of carbon capture, storage and utilization systems as well as testing and validation of structured material systems and component designs for DAC technologies.

NETL will oversee the projects in behalf of DOE. DOE expects to award eight projects under the funding opportunity.

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Army Unpauses Testing of Newest Medium Tactical Vehicle
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Army Unpauses Testing of Newest Medium Tactical Vehicle

The U.S. Army has continued tests of its newest medium tactical vehicle, after lessons learned from issues encountered in a previous trial that took place May 2020, Defense News reported Thursday. The Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles' A2 variant underwent changes in terms of payload capacity, ride quality, underbody protection, electronic stability and suspension.

Wolfgang Petermann, project manager of transportation systems for the Army's Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support, told Defense News that A2 entered shakedown testing in November 2020 and is expected to complete the phase this March.

Petermann's team tested 13 vehicle units across six variants, with seven units having produced positive results so far. Some variants resumed testing on Jan. 11. Oshkosh Defense holds a $476.2 million contract to deliver the latest FMTV variant.

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NASA’s Deep-Space Satellite Dish Goes Online
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NASA’s Deep-Space Satellite Dish Goes Online

NASA has added another antenna to its Deep Space Network (DSN) that will handle communications with space missions including the Perseverance rover that is slated to land on Mars in Feb. 2021. The agency said Saturday the Deep Space Station 56 (DSS-56) satellite dish has begun live operations and will serve as the first antenna to work with DSN across all communication frequencies.

DSS-56, which spans 34 meters, operates as an “all-in-one” dish and is meant to serve as a backup antenna for the inventory of satellite dishes located at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain. Construction of the antenna began in 2017 in an effort to address frequency-band limits in the existing dishes at the Madrid location.

NASA envisions DSS-56 to support the interplanetary switchboard network in managing navigation and communication operations for subsequent deep-space missions including the upcoming Artemis manned flight to the moon.

Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator and program manager of the Space Communications and Navigation unit at NASA, said DSS-56 represents the agency’s goal of supporting real-time functionalities for over 30 missions in deep space. DSN operates under SCaN and encompasses ground stations in Spain, Australia and California.

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Christopher Hanson to Chair Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Christopher Hanson to Chair Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Christopher Hanson, a commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), has been appointed to concurrently chair the same agency under President Biden’s administration. He succeeds Kristine Svinicki who left the Department of Energy (DOE) on Jan. 20 after about 13 years with NRC, the Department of Energy said Saturday.

Hanson formerly served as senior adviser of DOE’s nuclear energy office and managed nuclear and environmental cleanup programs under DOE’s chief financial officer. He also handled DOE’s coordination with congressional appropriation committees.

The energy expert, during his time with the private sector, spearheaded energy-related government-industry engagements as a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton.

“I look forward to building on Chairman Svinicki’s many accomplishments as the Commission takes on new challenges and faces new opportunities as nuclear energy technologies continue to evolve and uses of nuclear materials expand in the future,” Hanson said.

Five commissioners, each serving a five-year term, run NRC to develop policy and issue licensee orders related to nuclear energy.

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John Seel Becomes Leader of NSWC Dahlgren Division’s Warfare Control & Integration Department
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John Seel Becomes Leader of NSWC Dahlgren Division’s Warfare Control & Integration Department

John Seel, formerly software senior scientific and technical manager for Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division‘s (NSWCDD) strategic and computing systems department, has been named head of the division’s warfare control and integration department.

He assumed leadership of the latter department on Jan. 4, succeeding Michael Till who plans to retire this month after a 23-yer tenure with NSWCDD, Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday. Till and John Fiore, technical director of NSWCDD, have been working together to refine the division’s test and evaluation technologies.

Seel was a warfare systems engineer for Dahlgren, and has held roles at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He also contributed active military service to the U.S. Army as a ground intelligence analyst.

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Keith Jones Rejoins Federal Government as State Department CIO
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Keith Jones Rejoins Federal Government as State Department CIO

Keith Jones, former principal deputy chief information officer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has returned to the federal government as CIO of the State Department, FedScoop reported Friday.

He concurrently serves as assistant secretary-level head of the State Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Management.

Jones previously held senior-level positions at the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2001 to 2008. He also served as deputy executive director in the Department of Homeland Security’s information technology services office before moving to the USCIS in April 2012.

He retired from USCIS in October 2018 after more than 36 years of federal service.

His private sector career has included time as president and CEO of Edgewater Group DC, a principal consultant to principal consultant to government management consulting firm Deep Water Point and a strategic adviser for the Government Technology and Services Coalition.

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William Scherlis Cites Current State of AI Dev’t
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William Scherlis Cites Current State of AI Dev’t

William Scherlis, director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) information innovation office, said artificial intelligence is at the early stage of its rapid development. Scherlis said in a statement published Friday that artificial intelligence (AI) currently lacks robustness and does not have trustworthiness yet.

He cited three waves in the development of AI. The first wave involved the usage of explicit rules, while the second wave featured neural nets to imitate human thinking processes. Scherlis noted the third wave uses elements from the first two waves and will potentially serve as a "game changer."

"This is a wide open research area, but there's a lot of good work in this area — and I think it's very promising," added Scherlis.

He noted that various AI components should come together to support warfighter needs.

"If you want to do strategy planning, then you're gonna have a mashup of machine learning with, maybe, game theory and a few other elements," Scherlis said.

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