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CISA Hires Josh Corman, Rob Arnold to Support COVID-19 Response; Christopher Krebs Quoted
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CISA Hires Josh Corman, Rob Arnold to Support COVID-19 Response; Christopher Krebs Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has hired cybersecurity professionals Josh Corman and Rob Arnold to support CISA’s COVID-19 pandemic response efforts.

“This changing threat landscape demands an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ approach and for us to bring the best and brightest minds to the front lines, and the authority granted to us by the CARES Act makes it possible to quickly recruit and add top experts to our team,” Christopher Krebs, director of CISA and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement published Wednesday.

“Josh and Rob are two examples of the type of innovative leaders that will help us build up our technical capabilities while at the same time improve our engagement with our industry and security researcher community partners during this critical time,” added Krebs.

Corman will serve as a visiting researcher and offer advice on CISA’s industry engagement initiatives backing pandemic response and support the agency’s life safety programs and control systems. He previously served as chief security officer at PTC and director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. 

Arnold will serve as senior cybersecurity and risk management adviser within CISA’s National Risk Management Center. In this role, he will offer advice on how the critical infrastructure sector can bolster its defense against cyber threats during the pandemic and help the agency understand shifts in cyber threats.

Prior to CISA, he was founder and CEO of Threat Sketch. He also co-founded the North Carolina Center for Cybersecurity.

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Gov’t Tech Leaders on Addressing Security Risks of Edge Computing
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Gov’t Tech Leaders on Addressing Security Risks of Edge Computing

Technology executives at federal agencies and service branches said organizations should come up with security strategies to address vulnerabilities as edge computing becomes more viable driven by advancements in cloud, 5G, internet of things and other tech platforms, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

Alma Cole, chief information security officer at the Customs and Border Protection, said CBP is investing in zero trust-based technologies to address security risks as it processes more data from monitoring systems onsite.

“We’re no longer [limited to] ‘either you’re trusted and you’re on the network’ or ‘you’re off the network.’ Now we’re doing more micro segmentation in the cloud and other areas in [software-defined networking] where we can more and more comply to connect,” Cole said. “We’re really just changing the face of everything we do to push that data out to the edge where it’s needed in the most efficient way possible.”

Frank Konieczny, chief technology officer of the U.S. Air Force, discussed at a webinar Tuesday the need to process the collected data on the spot instead of transmitting the data back to a central computing location for analysis.

“The idea is always wherever you gather the data is where you want to process the data. And I think that as we go to a more 5G relevant communications technology, the data is going to stream infaster than we had before,” Konieczny said. “And there’s no way of actually moving the data down to production network to some centralized computing facility. You really need to process that mostly where it’s located. And I think everybody’s going to go that route, especially when we have smaller devices now, and we have more power than we ever had.”

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Acting OMB Head Russell Vought Urges Agencies to Leverage ‘Acquisition Flexibilities’, Domestic Production
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Acting OMB Head Russell Vought Urges Agencies to Leverage ‘Acquisition Flexibilities’, Domestic Production

Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is directing agencies to implement various acquisition and contracting strategies as the federal government approaches the busiest quarter of the fiscal year.

Vought said in a memo dated July 20th that agencies must “take full advantage of acquisition flexibilities and innovative tools” such as the Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goal management platform and other category management resources to support procurement activities.

Agencies must also drive support for small businesses, historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and the AbilityOne employment program for persons with disabilities as part of OMB’s recommended strategy, the memo states.

In addition, Vought is urging agencies to accelerate payments to contractors and comply with the “Buy American” initiative to boost domestic production of resources like steel.

“Through smart buying for America, we will deliver the services our citizens need more rapidly while strengthening our nation's economic recovery from the effects of the pandemic,” he said. 

"As the country reopens and recovers from the coronavirus (COVID) pandemic and our public servants work to meet mission needs – both nonCOVID and COVID related – agencies are encouraged to keep the following considerations in mind to support timely awards and maximize return on investment from each taxpayer dollar."

The Senate confirmed Vought as permanent OMB director shortly after the memo's publication.

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Air Force Dept Unveils Strategy for Arctic Region; Barbara Barrett, Gen. David Goldfein Quoted
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Air Force Dept Unveils Strategy for Arctic Region; Barbara Barrett, Gen. David Goldfein Quoted

The Department of the Air Force has released a strategy on how to support the National Defense Strategy through unique functions in the Arctic region. The strategy would focus its efforts in alignment with inter-domain vigilance, combat-credible power projection, cooperation with allies and Arctic operational preparations, the U.S. Air Force said Tuesday.

“The Arctic is among the most strategically significant regions of the world today – the keystone from which the U.S. Air and Space Forces exercise vigilance,” said Barbara Barrett, secretary of the Air Force, who revealed the strategy the same day.

USAF and USSF support many missions in the arctic. The service branches contribute to missile threat detection and, in turn, U.S. homeland defense. Space Force servicemen also handle vital components of the U.S. military’s satellite control network.

“Our unique positioning in locations like Alaska, Canada and Greenland are integrated with multi-domain combat power,” said Gen. David Goldfein, USAF chief of staff and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. 

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IRS Stands Up New Office for Digital Modernization
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IRS Stands Up New Office for Digital Modernization

The Internal Revenue Service has launched (IRS) a new office to focus on digital transformation and streamlining efforts. Hampden Smith, IRS' deputy chief procurement officer, and Justin Lewis Abold-LaBreche, the agency's director of enterprise case management, will jointly lead the new office.

IRS said Tuesday that its new Enterprise Digitalization and Case Management office will work to deliver a streamlined digital environment through which the agency's customers and personnel may efficiently address issues.

 "To help this effort, we turned to Harrison and Justin, who bring a variety of skills and expertise to help us navigate this challenging area that holds promise for improved service and efficiency for both taxpayers and the IRS," said Sunita Lough, IRS' deputy commissioner for services and enforcement.

Smith and Abold-LaBreche will report directly to Lough and Jeff Tribiano, deputy commissioner for operations support at IRS. The office's establishment aligns with the Taxpayer First Act that aims to refine IRS in a way that focuses on taxpayer rights.

User-centric ideas will help the office determine technology and business pursuits that favor both the employees and customers of the agency. The office will also launch a series of pilot programs to augment IRS' digital technology environment and business processes.

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Army Creates Expanded Cyber Unit for Multidomain, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations
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Army Creates Expanded Cyber Unit for Multidomain, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations

The U.S. Army has established a strategic operations unit as part of a reorganization effort to expand the former cyber office's functions to include joint all-domain operations.

The Army said Tuesday that the Department of the Army Management Office-Strategic Operations (DAMO-SO) repurposes the DAMO-Cyber unit’s operations and works to integrate electromagnetic spectrum elements into multidomain and data-enabled warfighting technologies.

DAMO-SO will also serve as the G-3/5/7 lead for the service branch’s warfighting transformation activities and oversee mission areas such as enterprise systems, command, space and information dominance.

According to a FedScoop report, DAMO-SO is currently focusing on deploying cloud-agnostic software to support enterprise-wide, all-domain operations. DAMO-SO’s creation comes as part of the Army’s efforts to meet modernization objectives under the Army Campaign Plan, the service noted.

Martin Klein, director of DAMO-SO, said at a media roundtable that his office will comply with the Department of Defense (DoD) chief information officer’s decision on a service provider for the unit as well as the planned DoD Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI).

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Rear Adm. Michelle Skubic Confirmed as DLA Director
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Rear Adm. Michelle Skubic Confirmed as DLA Director

The Senate has confirmed U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Michelle Skubic to receive the rank of vice admiral and serve as director of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Skubic has succeeded U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Darrell Williams, who is slated to retire in August, DLA said Tuesday.

Skubic currently serves as commander at the Naval Supply Systems Command and leads the Navy Supply Corps as chief.

Prior to her current capacity, she held the role of commander at DLA Land and Maritime. She also performed operational assignments aboard USS Acadia and led a DLA support team in Kuwait.

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NASA Vet Susan Motil Appointed Glenn Research Center Director
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NASA Vet Susan Motil Appointed Glenn Research Center Director

Susan Motil, a 31-year NASA veteran, has been named deputy director at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Motil has succeeded Marla Perez-Davis, who assumed the role of director in January 2020, the agency said Wednesday.

Motil will help Perez-Davis plan, organize and oversee the center's agency-level initiatives and projects under her new role.

Prior to her appointment, Motil supervised the European Service Module Integration Office for NASA's Orion program. She also led Glenn Research Center's various projects including the Space Environmental Test and Altair efforts.

Motil obtained her bachelor's degree at Cleveland State University.

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NSF, OSTP Invest $75M for Quantum Science R&D Institutes; Michael Kratsios Quoted
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NSF, OSTP Invest $75M for Quantum Science R&D Institutes; Michael Kratsios Quoted

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has partnered with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to allocate $75 million for the creation of three institutes focused on quantum science research and development.

NSF said Tuesday that the Quantum Leap Challenges Institutes include 16 academic institutions, eight national laboratories and 22 industry partners that will work to accelerate studies on quantum information science (QIS) and report results over a five-year period.

The three centers will also develop training and education programs including online and in-person curricula to support the development of a “quantum-ready U.S. workforce”, the agency noted.

The first Quantum Leap institute will focus on sensing and distribution concepts and will be led by the University of Colorado. The second, headed by the University of Illinois, will conduct studies on hybrid quantum architectures and networks. The University of California will lead the third institute which will cover quantum computing efforts.

"America's future depends on our continued leadership in the most cutting-edge industries of tomorrow,” said Michael Kratsios, U.S. CTO and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner. “With the announcement of three new quantum institutes, the Trump Administration is making a bold statement that the United States will remain the global home for QIS research.”

The institutes’ creation comes as part of efforts to meet goals under the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018, according to NSF.

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Ball Signs Two VPPAs to Expand Renewable Energy in Europe; Kathleen Pitre, John Powers Quoted
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Ball Signs Two VPPAs to Expand Renewable Energy in Europe; Kathleen Pitre, John Powers Quoted

Ball Corporation has successfully completed two virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs) in Europe to expand its total wind energy by 93.4 megawatts (MW) and add to the company’s commitment to achieve and maintain 100 percent renewable energy in Europe, Ball announced on Wednesday. 

"These milestone renewable energy deals in Europe affirm Ball's steadfast commitment to reduce absolute carbon emissions within our operations and through our value chain," said Kathleen Pitre, chief commercial and sustainability officer.  "Both projects will allow us to address a substantial portion of our European electricity use with new wind energy and accelerate progress toward our recently approved science-based targets."

The VPPAs, consisting of Corral Nuevo project with wpd and one for the Brattmyrliden project with Falck Renewables, will allow Ball to address approximately 63 percent of the European electricity load utilized in its aluminum beverage packaging plants with renewable energy. 

The wind developments in Spain and Sweden will enable Ball to reduce its Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions generated in Europe by approximately 60 percent compared to 2019. To meet Ball’s renewable energy initiative, the company's regional strategy is to pursue PPAs when they are available and attractive. 

Ball has purchased Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs) to align with its commitment. The company has scheduled to launch the VPPAs online in 2021. The company’s share of the Corral Nuevo and Brattmyrliden wind projects will generate nearly 308 thousand megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable electricity in Europe each year. 

"By taking a portfolio approach and executing two wind deals simultaneously in two different countries, Ball is diversifying across geographies and advancing innovation in the industry. We want to congratulate Ball on this sustainability milestone and for furthering its commitment to accelerate the global renewable energy transition," said John Powers, vice president of strategic renewables for Schneider Electric. 

About Ball Corporation

Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging solutions for beverage, personal care and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 18,300 people worldwide and reported 2019 net sales of $11.5 billion.

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