Michael Hayduk, deputy director of the information directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), said AFRL has launched several initiatives focused on advancing quantum information science, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

He said the lab awarded 23 Small Business Technology Transfer Phase II contracts worth approximately $35 million to 15 small businesses in December 2020 for projects spanning AFRL’s four QIS technical areas: quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum timing and quantum communications and networking.

“The best-case scenario is some of those companies that we funded, say, in the quantum sensing area or quantum timing area, we can see the technologies being further developed with this STTR award—and then really going into things like the RIMPAC demonstration, as well,” Hayduk said.

AFRL plans to work with the Office of Naval Research to test QIS technologies with the Five Eyes – an intelligence alliance composed of the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. – for the RIMPAC 2022 naval exercise. The event is expected to combine electric field sensors, radiometers, gravitational sensors and other components with clocks.

“We know it’s going to be a challenge for 2022. These technologies are still being developed in the lab. But by being able to think ahead, figuring out how you can engineer them, organize them, make them fieldable, will give us really good insight at 2022 RIMPAC,” Hayduk said. “And then we expect in 2024 to really further refine the technologies and really make steady improvements.”

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Department of Justice (DOJ), said the DOJ’s office of the chief information officer has stopped the method the threat actor uses to access the department’s Microsoft O365 email environment after learning of the malicious activity related to the SolarWinds cyber incident on Dec. 24th. 

“At this point, the number of potentially accessed O365 mailboxes appears limited to around 3-percent and we have no indication that any classified systems were impacted,” Raimondi said in a statement published Wednesday.

In mid-December, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive directing all federal civilian agencies to mitigate a compromise that threat actors are exploiting in SolarWinds’ Orion Network Management products.

Raimondi said DOJ has classified the activity as a major cyber incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and has begun to initiate measures.

“The Department will continue to notify the appropriate federal agencies, Congress, and the public as warranted,” he added.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun assessments on the use of facial recognition amid the pandemic where individuals usually wear masks that cover up most of the face, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. 

NIST is conducting studies on image quality and facial recognition performance when the scanned face is partially covered by a mask.

The agency seeks to update existing guidance on facial recognition technologies to accommodate this pandemic-driven norm.

Patrick Grother, a computer scientist and biometrics expert with NIST, said on Federal Monthly Insights – Digital Transformation that some facial recognition algorithms focus on the area with the eyes.

“We started maybe two or three different bits of work, one on quality assessment – can you look at an image and say it’s a good quality image? That is important to performance downstream, Grother said. 

He said the biometrics industry will need to make cameras more flexible over the long term.

The Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting ocean environments, will work with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address a range of issues affecting the waters. NOAA said Tuesday it agreed to help the nonprofit study how ocean acidification and climate change affect coasts and oceans.

“When it comes to advancing science, conservation and our understanding of the largely unknown ocean, NOAA is committed to building diverse and productive collaborations like the one with The Ocean Foundation,”  said retired Navy RDML Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. 

The partnership also aims to boost coastal resiliency against these effects, protect monuments and other forms of heritage in marine environments and economically develop U.S. marine aquaculture.

“These partnerships help accelerate NOAA’s mission to predict changes in climate, weather, the ocean and coasts, share that knowledge with communities, strengthen the Blue Economy, and conserve and manage healthy coastal and marine ecosystems and resources,” Gallaudet added. 

NOAA and The Ocean Foundation will also jointly support the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, a group of coastal sites that serve as sanctuaries and research grounds for estuarine systems. Estuaries are habitats where fresh and salt water have mixed.

“Our partnership with NOAA will allow both partners to continue our long-established international scientific relationships and research collaborations," said Mark Spalding, president of The Ocean Foundation.

Adm. Charles Richard, who leads U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and was a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, said the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) network is working properly despite concerns about the system's cybersecurity.

"There is a very visible endorsement of the importance of NC3 and the steps that we have to go do," Richard said. Richard noted that NC3 works differently from other systems and does not have the same vulnerabilities, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 raised concerns about NC3's cybersecurity and ordered a report on the how to improve the system in that aspect. Richard's statement on NC3's status responds to these concerns.

NC3 consists of computers, radios and satellites that grant the U.S. president control of the country's nuclear assets. Richard told Breaking Defense that NC3 will gradually received cyber defense updates through the NC3 Next program. 

"I look forward to providing that report to Congress, because we’re already doing all of that: we already have that concept; we already have those responsibilities defined. And so it’s simply a matter of writing it all down and reporting it to Congress,” he added.