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DoD Updates Online Learning Tech With Course Catalog Consolidation; Lisa Hershman Quoted
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DoD Updates Online Learning Tech With Course Catalog Consolidation; Lisa Hershman Quoted

The Department of Defense (DoD) has begun modernizing its online learning and education systems for civilian and military personnel by consolidating its course catalogs into a single platform, FCW reported Monday.

The enterprise course catalog prototype now has 50,000 courses and Lisa Hershman, chief management officer at DoD, said the department expects it to transition to developmental testing by fiscal 2021 and achieve initial operating capability by fiscal 2022.

"Building these kinds of systems takes time in part because we're taking all those disparate systems and consolidating into the DOD-wide data fabric," Hershman said Monday during the keynote at the National Training and Simulation Association's iFEST event. "We're not just building a new database."

She also offered updates on DoD’s Enterprise Learner Record Repository, which seeks to combine personnel training files on various systems.

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Mike Pompeo: State Dept Backs Commerce’s New Restrictions on Huawei
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Mike Pompeo: State Dept Backs Commerce’s New Restrictions on Huawei

State Secretary Mike Pompeo said the State Department supports the Department of Commerce’s (DOC) move to add 38 Huawei affiliates to its entity list and expand its Foreign Direct Product Rule to further restrict the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker’s access to U.S. technology.

“The United States will continue to restrict most U.S. exports to Huawei and its affiliates on the Entity List for activities that threaten U.S. national security and international stability. We urge our allies and partners to join us,” Pompeo said in a statement published Monday.

He said the measures are part of the U.S. government’s efforts to safeguard national security, the privacy of citizens and integrity of 5G networks from China’s “malign influence.”

In May, Commerce moved to amend the FDP rule to restrict Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors produced using U.S. technology. The newly expanded FDP rule further prohibits the Chinese company from acquiring “foreign made chips developed or produced from U.S. software or technology to the same degree as comparable U.S. chips.”

“The United States has provided ample time for affected companies and persons – primarily Huawei customers – to identify and shift to other sources of equipment, software, and technology and wind-down their operations. Now that time is up,” Pompeo said.

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Army Prototypes Cyber Situational Awareness System
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Army Prototypes Cyber Situational Awareness System

The U.S. Army has a new prototype system designed to help soldiers assess and understand cyber electromagnetic situations.

The Cyber Situational Understanding system processes tactical data into cyber situational awareness via visualization, correlation and analytical techniques, the Army said Wednesday.

Soldiers would use this situational awareness to address cyber electromagnetic activity threats and visualize a common operational picture of the command post computing environment’s cyber status.

“The goal is that the end-user won’t see the actual Cyber SU product and will be able to work in their native environment on CPCE and see a cyber overlay of critical information in support of their mission,” said John Keenan, chief engineer for Product Manager Mission Command Cyber.

The Army will implement Cyber SU across units linked to the Tactical Server Infrastructure with fielding and initial operational capability scheduled for fiscal year 2022.

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CISA Hosts Cybersecurity Exercise for Gov’t, Industry
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CISA Hosts Cybersecurity Exercise for Gov’t, Industry

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency held a cyber exercise to evaluate the government's cybersecurity readiness, information sharing and incident response processes.

The Cyber Storm event allowed the participants to simulate a potential response to a widespread coordinated cyberattack that could affect U.S. critical infrastructure, CISA said Friday.

Established in 2006, the event aims to help the government and private sector determine areas for growth through the assessment of collective cyber incident response capabilities.

"No one company or government agency can be expected to go it alone, which is why exercises like Cyber Storm bring everyone together to discuss and exercise how we would respond collectively to a cyber-attack," said Brian Harrell, assistant director for infrastructure security at CISA.

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NOAA Picks 21 Small Businesses for Phase I SBIR Grants; Neil Jacobs Quoted
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NOAA Picks 21 Small Businesses for Phase I SBIR Grants; Neil Jacobs Quoted

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has allocated $3.1 million to support 21 small businesses in developing technologies under subject areas such as earth and ocean observation, aquaculture, weather prediction, fisheries and modeling.

NOAA said Friday the awardees represent 14 states and will receive $150K each in Phase I funding to conduct research and development activities throughout a six-month period.

The companies may compete for up to $500,000 in Phase II funds to further their respective concepts. Phase III participants are allowed to request for additional funds outside NOAA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to drive commercialization of the resulting technologies.

Kelly Wright, director of NOAA's Technology Partnerships Office, said the awardees bring significant expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and unmanned systems.

“Through collaboration with these small businesses, Americans will benefit with increased forecast accuracy and better management of our natural resources,” said Neil Jacobs, acting administrator of NOAA.

The agency began accepting applications for SBIR Phase I funding in December.

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OIG Report: DHS Must Secure Funding, Improve Mgmt of IT Modernization Programs
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OIG Report: DHS Must Secure Funding, Improve Mgmt of IT Modernization Programs

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) inspector general is recommending the department’s chief information officer to improve the management of modernization initiatives and create risk-rating procedures for information technology investments.

The DHS Office of the IG said in a report released Aug. 10th that DHS components “remain hindered in their ability” to deliver up-to-date technologies to personnel and efficiently handle programs involving cloud computing, IT modernization and data center migration.

According to the report, not all DHS components adopted cloud-based systems and consolidated data centers in line with the department’s 2019-2023 IT strategy. DHS also failed to leverage the Modernizing Government Technology Act to accelerate IT modernization programs, the OIG said. The report states that pursuing funding under the legislation will enable DHS to prevent reliance on outdated and legacy IT systems.

“DHS has not made sufficient progress in replacing or augmenting these IT systems due to ineffective planning and inexperience in executing complex IT modernization efforts,” the OIG noted.

“Until DHS addresses these issues, it will continue to face significant challenges to accomplish mission operations efficiently and effectively.”

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DOE, Israel to Jointly Fund Energy Cybersecurity Tech
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DOE, Israel to Jointly Fund Energy Cybersecurity Tech

The Department of Energy (DOE) and its Israeli counterpart have launched a solicitation for proposals on energy security technologies. The U.S.-Israel Energy Center seeks tools that protect critical infrastructure in energy-cyber and cyber-physical aspects, DOE said Friday.

Interested research institutes, companies and universities may compete for three years of funding worth $6M for projects that must follow a 50-percent cost-share basis. The center may award additional funds for maximum funding of $10 million over five years of work.

The Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, the center’s operating agent, will hold a webinar on Sept. 10 to inform interested parties on the funding opportunity’s requirements and details. Proposal applications will remain open through Oct. 29th.

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Gen. John Hyten: DoD Needs Int’l Network, Integrated C2 Ops for Future Warfighting
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Gen. John Hyten: DoD Needs Int’l Network, Integrated C2 Ops for Future Warfighting

Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, has said the Department of Defense (DoD) needs to establish a coalition framework with international partners, Defense News reported Saturday.

Hyten told attendees at a Hudson Institute event that the coalition network will operate as part of the planned Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) system envisioned to unify U.S. defense and deep-strike capabilities.

According to Hyten, the DoD should expect the distinct operations of service branches to be blurred or eliminated in the combat space of the future.

“What I’ve noticed is that, as opposed to everything I’ve done my entire career, the biggest difference is that in the future there will be no lines on the battlefield,” he said. “So that’s the path we’ve been going down for a while. And it’s starting to actually mature and come to fruition now."

Hyten’s comments come as the DoD works to develop a joint warfighting capability concept by the end of the year, according to the report.

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Lt. Gen. David Allvin Nominated as Air Force Vice Chief of Staff
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Lt. Gen. David Allvin Nominated as Air Force Vice Chief of Staff

President Trump has nominated Lt. Gen. David Allvin, director for strategy, plans and policy at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to serve as vice chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force.

Upon confirmation, Allvin will succeed Gen. Stephen Wilson, who is noted as the longest-serving vice chief of staff at the service branch,  USAF said Friday. Allvin currently serves as a senior member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Military Staff Committee.

Prior to his current capacity, Allvin assumed the role of director of strategy, plans and policy at U.S. European Command. He also led NATO Air Training Command – Afghanistan as commanding general. Allvin logged over 4,600 hours in more than 30 aircraft models as a command pilot.

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Accenture Extends IT Services Partnership with Anglo American; Pavan Sethi Quoted
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Accenture Extends IT Services Partnership with Anglo American; Pavan Sethi Quoted

Accenture and Anglo American, a global mining company, have signed an agreement to extend Accenture’s partnership as strategic IT services provider to 2023, Accenture reported on Monday.

Under the agreement, Accenture will accelerate the development of Anglo American’s information management (IM) capabilities. Accenture will provide new technologies and delivery practices through a collaborative approach to drive innovation.

Accenture’s agreement with Anglo American will build on the successful relationship between the two companies, which began in 2011 when Accenture was selected as a key technology services provider.

Accenture is the only company that has a complete stack of technology consulting services from IT strategy to a broad range of IT as-a-service capabilities, including cloud, application development and ERP. 

The company has supported a variety of modernization efforts, including IT transformation end-to-end, ranging from high-velocity, decomposed, digitized platforms; cloud broker; systems architect and application services provider.

“Prior to the extension of the agreement, Anglo American and Accenture worked together to co-create future services and determine key priorities,” said Pavan Sethi, managing director for Accenture Technology in Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa. “We are honored to continue our work with Anglo American and help fulfil their IM ambitions and mandate.”

 About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. 

We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. With 513,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises.

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