Bob Kolasky, assistant director of the National Risk Management Center (NRMC), said the key to 5G implementation is having software security tools to isolate sources of risk and prevent subsequent vulnerabilities, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) official said that isolating elements will make networks easier to handle and enable tech teams to “deal with issues as they emerge.”

Thyagarajan Nandagopal, acting deputy division director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering directorate within the National Science Foundation (NSF), said that implementing 5G will require concurrent operations with LTE-driven 4G networks.

He noted that the rolling out of next-generation equipment will enable customers to transition out of LTE and into a 5G network over time.

Ryan Vega, the lead for diffusion of excellence at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Center for Innovation, noted that testing and evaluating emerging technologies like 5G for the benefit of patients and clinicians will serve as a key focus area for the department this fiscal year.

He added that he expects to see more prevalent usage of connected devices in homes as well as acute care.

Lt. Gen. Laura Potter, the U.S. Army’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, G-2, said her office focuses on four priorities and those are people, readiness, modernization and allies and partners, National Defense reported Wednesday.

She said the service is advancing the “people” priority by identifying the skills future intelligence analysts should possess and looking for ways to help them excel in artificial intelligence and machine learning areas.

“If you think of the volumes of data that we have to analyze, the speed with which we will have to analyze it, and the way we have to synchronize for high-end conflict, we really need to look at what those analysts’ skills look like,” Potter said Wednesday during an Association of the United States Army-hosted webinar. 

When it comes to readiness, Potter said the Army is pursuing the regionally aligned readiness and modernization model or ReARMM.

“Army ReARMM will inform intelligence ReARMM, and that will help us steer the level at which we modernize the entire force and ensure that we've got units capable of supporting each one of the theaters,” Potter said. 

The Potomac Officers Club will hold its 3rd Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 30 to foster discussions on how to advance AI technology at speed and how private-public partnerships are key to maintaining the competitive advantage within the tech race. To register for this virtual summit and view other upcoming events, visit the Potomac Officers Club Events page.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) should set new expected dates of completion for tasks in the third phase of its organizational plan that are past their planned completion dates and prioritize tasks that are key to mission effectiveness.

GAO made the recommendation after it found that CISA had concluded only 37 of 97 planned phase three tasks by mid-February and that 42 of those unfinished tasks were past their planned dates of completion, including the release of a memo that outlines incident management roles across CISA and finalization of mission-critical functions of divisions within the agency, according to a report published Wednesday.

“Until it establishes updated milestones and an overall deadline for its efforts, and expeditiously carries out these plans, CISA will be hindered in meeting the goals of its organizational transformation initiative. This in turn may impair the agency's ability to identify and respond to incidents, such as the cyberattack discovered in December 2020 that caused widespread damage,” the GAO report reads.

CISA’s organizational transformation initiative has three phases and the congressional watchdog found that the agency within the Department of Homeland Security completed the first two of the phases that led to the consolidation of multiple centers for incident response and creation of a new organization chart, among others. The third phase is focused on implementing CISA’s planned organizational changes.

GAO also recommended that CISA establish an overall deadline to complete its organizational plan, develop a strategy for workforce planning and devise plans to develop outcome-oriented performance measures to assess whether the agency’s efforts meet the goals of its organizational transformation initiative.

The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology (DHS S&T) directorate has released 23 topics for a broad agency announcement (LRBAA) that seeks to gather proposals on novel approaches that may address DHS’ operational needs.

DHS said Tuesday that it aims to build prototypes, test and mature various technologies for homeland security usage through the LRBAA.

The topics are divided into six research and development areas such as managing incidents, protecting from terrorist attacks, preventing terrorism and securing borders, aviation and cyberspace.

“Unlike a traditional acquisition solicitation or even a conventional broad agency announcement, the LRBAA covers a wide range of DHS R&D needs with broad topics to facilitate the ability to partner on unique and creative solutions,” said Dusty Lang, LRBAA program manager at DHS S&T.

The topics are:

• Advanced Computing Technologies
• Air Based Technologies
• Biometric Technologies for Extending, Augmenting, or Improving DHS Identity and Verification Capabilities
• Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems
• Data Analytics
• Detection Canine Technologies
• Distributed Denial of Service Defense
• Enhanced Contact and Non-Contact Trace Explosives Sampling and Detection
• GMD and Nuclear EMP Critical Infrastructure Risk
• Low-Cost Tactical Communication Devices for Information Sharing in Remote Environments
• Maritime Domain Awareness Technologies
• Mobile Security & Resiliency R&D
• Non-Invasive, Minimally Disruptive Sensors and Systems
• Predictive Analytics
• Prevention, Diagnosis and Mitigation of Transboundary Agricultural Pests and Diseases
• Resilient Position, Navigation, and Timing
• Screening at Speed
• Screening of Dense Material in Air Cargo Skids
• Software Assurance
• Technology Acceptance
• Threat Prevention
• Vehicle Ramming Mitigation Technology
• X-Ray Screener Tools

NASA has prepared a clean, controlled facility where personnel would assemble an upcoming lunar rover, which will travel to the Moon's south pole in search of ice and water. 

The space agency said Wednesday that it established the Surface Segment Integration and Test Facility at Houston-based Johnson Space Center for the assembly of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).

The cleanroom, which measures over 1,000 square feet, features new particle counters and air filtration units designed to maintain the facility's cleanliness. NASA must make sure that the rover is not contaminated with anything that would interfere with the spacecraft's solar arrays and scientific measurement tools.

The team in charge of the rover also built a full-scale VIPER replica to practice for the actual vehicle's assembly over a three-month rehearsal period. David Petri, system integration and test lead for VIPER, said his team needs to immediately address errors that might affect the rover's development timeline.

The space agency wants to build VIPER by summer 2022, before the launch scheduled for 2023. VIPER's findings would support NASA's Artemis program, an effort to revive manned space exploration.

The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $30 million in a new round of research projects on quantum information science. DOE said Tuesday it will finance efforts that apply QIS to address climate change and other critical matters such as national security.

Researchers may use QIS to quantify, process, analyze and present information, with applications in power outage forecasting and smart device development.

“From developing novel materials to building better batteries to moving clean electricity across the country more efficiently, the field of quantum information sciences can help us accelerate discoveries to solve complex problems in energy and beyond," said Jennifer Granholm, secretary of energy.

DOE will divide the $30 million funding opportunity among five Nanoscale Science Research Centers:

• Center for Functional Nanomaterials
• Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
• Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
• Center for Nanoscale Materials
• Molecular Foundry

The U.S. Army teamed up with Clemson University to develop an artificial intelligence-based digital life cycle system that will design, study and fabricate parts for various applications. The platform is intended to produce 3D-printed components including air and ground vehicle structures, the Army said Tuesday.

"As part of the new project, we will develop a database of raw materials, including metals, plastics and composite materials, that could then be used to train artificial intelligence and create digital models of potential new feedstock materials," Srikanth Pilla, a Robert Patrick Jenkins-endowed professor at Clemson University's college of engineering, computing and applied sciences and director of Clemson Composites Center.

Pilla added the center is using thermophysical testing equipment, high-speed cameras, spectroscopic gear, quasi-static and dynamic drop-tower test infrastructure, optical metrology and 3D printers to build the platform.

A team of researchers will print and test samples dubbed as coupons to validate the components' thermophysical, chemical and mechanical traits. The Army Research Laboratory also teamed up with 3D systems to assemble a composite printer for the project.

ARL and Clemson University are set to hold a symposium to tackle their collaborative programs and discuss topics such as manufacturing sciences and engineering.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched a commission aimed at selecting a new undersecretary that will lead the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

The VA said Tuesday that the commission will work to assess candidates for undersecretary of health, which will be responsible for VHA’s $61 billion annual budget and health services delivery to over 9 million veterans.

Other duties include oversight of over 1,200 VA health institutions such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, domiciliaries, nursing homes and other centers for veteran care.

Candidates for the role must have substantial experience in programs related to VHA initiatives in addition to “a demonstrated ability to conceptualize and implement a vision”, according to the VA.