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Pentagon’s Top Cyber Officials Step Down From Their Roles
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The Pentagon. Top DOD cyber officials Ashley Manning, Jonathan Owen and Gurpreet Bhatia have left their roles.

Ashley Manning, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy, and Jonathan Owen, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense integration and defense support to civil authorities, have stepped down from their positions at the Department of Defense, The Hill reported Tuesday.

In a LinkedIn post, Gurpreet Bhatia announced his departure from his role as principal director for cybersecurity and deputy chief information security officer at DOD.

Ashley Manning 

Manning most recently was responsible for developing and managing the implementation of DOD’s cyberspace strategy and policy and ensuring that they are aligned with national security objectives.

She previously served as acting deputy assistant secretary of defense and principal director for the Middle East and for plans and posture within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

The George Washington University graduate was selected for the DOD legislative fellows program.

The former visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy held several positions with the U.S. Air Force with oversight of security cooperation programs with countries in South Asia and Northeast Asia.

Manning gave the closing keynote address at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Cyber Summit in May.

Jonathan Owen

Before taking on the role of acting deputy assistant secretary of defense, Owen served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on extension from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. At CISA, he held roles in readiness, operational planning and continuity.

He held various roles during his time at the State Department, including diplomatic security service special agent and lead case agent for the Russia/Europe Counterintelligence Desk.

The U.S. Marine Corps veteran served as a lead associate at Booz Allen Hamilton earlier in his career.

Gurpreet Bhatia

As DOD’s principal director for cybersecurity, Bhatia provided expert policy, program, technical and DOD-wide oversight support to the DOD chief information officer on all cybersecurity matters and works with industry to enhance cybersecurity and information sharing through the defense industrial base.

“It has been an extraordinary honor and privilege to lead the Department’s cybersecurity mission—shaping policy, strengthening partnerships, and advancing our collective defense posture across the globe,” Bhatia said in his post. “Over the last three years, I’ve worked alongside brilliant minds to drive investment priorities, guide strategic planning, and foster resilience.”

Before joining the Office of the DOD CIO, he was chief of partner engagements in foreign engagements at the National Security Agency.

The University of Alabama graduate holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from Georgetown University.

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DARPA, New Mexico to Work on Quantum Frontier Project
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Quantum computing. DARPA and New Mexico to work on the Quantum Frontier Project as part of QBI.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the state of New Mexico’s Economic Development Department have signed an agreement to work on a project to advance quantum computing technology as part of the Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, or QBI.

DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative

Launched in July 2024, QBI intends to determine the possibility of creating an industrially useful computer much faster than traditional predictions. The initiative seeks to verify and validate whether any quantum computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation by 2033.

“New Mexico is the latest state to enter into partnership on QBI, and we are eager to leverage new facilities and expertise as we test and evaluate claims from a number of quantum computing companies about their progress in building a useful quantum computer,” Joe Altepeter, QBI program manager at DARPA, said in a statement published Tuesday.

DARPA-New Mexico Quantum Frontier Project

Depending on the results achieved, DARPA and New Mexico have agreed to contribute up to $60 million each over four years to fund efforts that support the Quantum Frontier Project and QBI.

“World-class national laboratories in New Mexico, such as Sandia and Los Alamos, are already a part of QBI’s independent verification and validation team, and we look forward through the Quantum Frontier Project to tapping into more of the state’s quantum R&D and testing infrastructure to help us determine whether quantum computers will work or not,” added Altepeter.

DARPA signed similar QBI agreements with other states, including Maryland and Illinois.

“New Mexico, having once pioneered applied physics, is excited to partner with DARPA on the QBI program to stay at the forefront of frontier technology and bring our world-class research, development, and entrepreneurial ecosystem into the fold,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

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Nicholas Andersen Named Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at CISA
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CISA EAD Nicholas Andersen. CISA has appointed Nicholas Andersen as executive assistant director for cybersecurity.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has appointed Nicholas Andersen, a former Department of Energy cybersecurity executive, as executive assistant director for cybersecurity.

Nicholas Andersen Named Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at CISA

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Andersen will spearhead the agency’s cybersecurity mission, focusing on mitigating cyberthreats and vulnerabilities while reinforcing critical infrastructure security and resilience, CISA announced Tuesday.

Who Is Nicholas Andersen?

Andersen is an industry veteran with nearly two decades of experience in cybersecurity, information security and network security. He most recently served as president and chief operating officer at Invictus International Consulting, where he was responsible for shaping the company’s strategic direction, driving operational execution and managing financial performance.

The national security and cybersecurity leader briefly worked as chief information security officer at Lumen Technologies after serving at the Energy Department for over a year. He was an assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response, and deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure security and energy restoration.

Andersen was the federal cybersecurity lead and senior cybersecurity adviser to the Executive Office of the President and a council member and cyber chair at the Department of Homeland Security. He also served as CISO for the state of Vermont.

The executive was the chief information officer of naval intelligence and CIO for the U.S. Coast Guard. Before that, he briefly worked at MANTECH as an information security engineer. Andersen spent over six years as a Marine Corps Intelligence Activity systems engineer.

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GSA Secures $3.1B OneGov Agreement With Microsoft to Accelerate AI Adoption
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General Services Administration logo. GSA announced a OneGov agreement with Microsoft aimed at advancing gov't AI adoption.

The U.S. General Services Administration announced a multibillion-dollar OneGov agreement with Microsoft, delivering steep discounts on Microsoft 365, Copilot, Azure Cloud Services and other technologies. The partnership is expected to generate $3.1 billion in savings for agencies in the first year, GSA said Tuesday.

Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, a 2025 Wash100 Award recipient, called the agreement a “paradigm shift in federal procurement,” consolidating demand across agencies to achieve significant cost savings. “GSA is accelerating access to AI for federal agencies and delivering on the President’s AI Action Plan,” he said. “We appreciate Microsoft’s partnership in this modernization and its commitment toward an interoperable digital federal ecosystem.”

Expanding Access to AI Tools

As part of the agreement, the new U.S. government-exclusive Microsoft 365 + Copilot Suite will be offered at no cost for a year to G5 customers, with additional discounts for subsequent years. Agencies can also access reduced pricing for Dynamics 365, Azure Monitoring, Microsoft Sentinel and Entra ID Governance, along with implementation and adoption workshops.

GSA Deputy Administrator Stephen Ehikian said the agreement supports the Trump administration’s push for wider adoption of artificial intelligence across federal agencies.

According to Chris Barry, corporate vice president for U.S. Public Sector Industries, Microsoft is committed to providing federal agencies with the tools they need to harness AI “to advance the public good.”

The agreement, which agencies can opt into through September 2026, is expected to strengthen government efforts to improve operational efficiency, decision-making and citizen services while lowering costs.

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GAO Finds Inadequate Training in VA’s Implementation of Category Management Approach to Acquisition
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Government Accountability Office logo. GAO issued a new report on the VA's acquisition process

The Department of Veterans Affairs may not be getting the full benefits of a program meant for buying goods, such as medical and IT products, in bulk, said the Government Accountability Office.

In a new report, the congressional watchdog revealed that VA officials lack the proper training to effectively implement the category management approach to acquisition.

GAO Finds Inadequate Training in VA's Implementation of Category Management Approach to Acquisition

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VA’s Category Management Challenge

In 2019, the Office of Management and Budget launched an effort to leverage the government’s purchasing power and save taxpayer money. Called category management, the acquisition approach encourages the purchase of common goods and services as an organized enterprise to reduce contracts, improve management of suppliers, and increase overall value and savings for federal agencies.

In 2020, the VA assigned category leads to oversee common purchases and implement key responsibilities in line with OMB’s category management guidance.

In its report, GAO revealed that the VA met its annual category management goals from fiscal years 2020 through 2024. The agency managed 91.7 percent of contract obligations in fiscal 2024 according to category management principles. VA savings also accounted for 7.6 percent of its contract obligations during the period.

However, GAO found that category leads did not set or manage toward category-specific savings goals. Although workforce training for implementing category management principles, some category leads admitted that they did not undergo such training.

GAO Recommendations for VA

The congressional watchdog urged VA officials to establish performance requirements to ensure that category leads are held accountable for fulfilling their responsibilities and receive training relevant to their roles. The VA must also identify category-specific savings goals and track progress.

VA concurred with the recommendations.

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Amazon Kuiper Joins TraCSS Pilot Program
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TraCSS logo. Amazon Kuiper has joined the TraCSS pilot program.

The Office of Space Commerce has announced that Amazon Kuiper is the latest participant in its pilot program for the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS.

The program already includes Iridium, OneWeb, SpaceX, Maxar, Planet and Intelsat, OSC said Tuesday.

What Is TraCSS?

The TraCSS program, which aligns with the Space Policy Directive 3, is designed to provide vital space situational awareness, or SSA, data to civil and private space operators. It aims to enhance spaceflight safety by providing operators handling over 8,000 spacecraft with spaceflight safety screening. Amazon Kuiper’s inclusion in the program expands the system’s reach to almost 80 percent of all active spacecraft.

The program, first released in September 2024, provided conjunction data messages, or CDMs, to beta users to reduce the risk of collision in orbit. The TraCSS Program Increment 1.2, released in May 2025, offers on-demand operational ephemerides screening and enables bulk submission for large satellite constellation operators. They can submit ephemerides and receive conjunction analysis results within two to five minutes.

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HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill to Lead CDC as Acting Director
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Jim O’Neill. The HHS deputy secretary has been named acting CDC chief.

The White House on Thursday tapped Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, to serve as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Washington Post reported.

HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill to Lead CDC as Acting Director

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O’Neill’s appointment came days after Susan Monarez’s dismissal as head of the CDC over federal vaccine policy.

According to people familiar with the matter, O’Neill will continue to serve as deputy to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. while leading CDC.

In June, O’Neill took oath as deputy secretary of HHS days after the Senate confirmed him to the position in a 52-43 vote.

“I’m eager to help my colleagues find the root causes of chronic disease, support families making healthy choices, and help businesses make health care more affordable and accessible. Together all of us can make America healthy again,” O’Neill said in a statement.

Who Is Jim O’Neill?

O’Neill most recently served as CEO of SENS Research Foundation, where he led research and development efforts focused on regenerative medicine solutions for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and other age-related diseases.

He served as CEO of the Thiel Foundation and co-founded the Thiel Fellowship, where he supported young entrepreneurs who founded science and tech companies.

According to his LinkedIn profile, the Yale University graduate was managing director at Mithril Capital Management and Clarium Capital Management.

O’Neill also held leadership roles at HHS during President George W. Bush’s administration, including principal associate deputy secretary, member of the steering committee for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and associate deputy secretary.

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Oliver Wise Resigns as Commerce Department CDO, Acting Under Secretary
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Oliver Wise. Oliver Wise has resigned as acting under secretary and chief data officer of the Department of Commerce.

Oliver Wise announced on LinkedIn Friday that he has stepped down as acting under secretary for economic affairs and chief data officer of the Department of Commerce. He officially departed the department on Aug. 30.

“I leave with deep gratitude and immense respect for the public servants across Commerce and the federal government who devote their careers to the national interest,” said Wise.

Oliver Wise’s Career Highlights

Wise served in the department for over three years, overseeing the strategic direction of the Census Bureau and Bureau of Economic Analysis as the acting under secretary for economic affairs. As CDO, he spearheaded the department’s data strategy to unlock the potential of Commerce data to boost public service. He was instrumental in publishing the Generative AI and Open Data: Guidelines and Best Practices.

Before joining the Commerce Department, Wise spent nearly four years at Tyler Technologies, serving as director of recovery solutions and of Socrata Data Academy. He worked as a digital government principal at Socrata, which was acquired by Tyler Technologies in April 2018.

Wise also worked at the City of New Orleans’ Office of Performance and Accountability for over seven years, serving as its director from January 2011 to November 2017.

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Army CIO Issues Guidance on AI Compliance With Records Management, FOIA
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Leonel Garciga. The Army CIO issued a memo offering guidance to ensure that AI tools used within the Army comply with FOIA.

Leonel Garciga, the U.S. Army’s chief information officer and a two-time Wash100 awardee, has signed a memorandum providing guidance for the service branch to ensure that artificial intelligence products used within the Army comply with records management, or RM, privacy protections and the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

The Aug. 26 memo was posted on the Army Publishing Directorate’s website.

The document requires application and system owners to capture, sustain and manage records generated through AI tools and low-code/no-code platforms. They must ensure that all user interactions, including prompts and AI-generated content, are properly identified, retained and secured as official records.

System and application owners must also treat prompts as the foundation for generating and refining content when using AI tools. They must also capture and manage all aspects of the AI interaction to support compliant record management.

FOIA Requirements

In response to FOIA requests, the memo requires personnel to disclose when they use AI prompts and content on official government platforms for public business.

Application and system owners must also provide access to AI prompts and content classified as government records and maintain them to support timely FOIA responses.

Privacy Requirements for Using AI 

The Army memo requires personnel to follow existing privacy and data protection laws when developing AI prompts and content; minimize data collection and design AI prompts and content to prevent the disclosure of sensitive data; and ensure that transparency and accountability guide responsible AI use by meeting legal obligations and upholding ethical standards.

Army Annual Training on Information, Operations Security

According to the memo, all Army personnel must complete annual training requirements on information security, operations security, cyber awareness, controlled unclassified information and records management. 

The service said the training courses help ensure compliance with regulations and reinforce the importance of protecting data and records.

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Army Unveils Data-Centric Transformation Plan for Future Warfare
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U.S. Army logo. The U.S. Army seeks to retire 13 legacy systems as part of its data-driven modernization effort.

The Army is preparing to overhaul its command and control systems through a data-driven modernization effort aimed at ensuring warfighting superiority in future conflicts, Lt. Gen. Jeth Rey, deputy chief of staff, G-6, said during a conference in Augusta, Georgia.

Accelerating Network and C2 Modernization

At the core of the Army’s transformation is the next-generation command and control initiative, which seeks to retire 13 legacy systems and replace them with a full-stack ecosystem that incorporates artificial intelligence, large language models and machine learning to integrate intelligence, sustainment and fires data.

Rey said the Army aims to deliver these capabilities to warfighters within 30 months. “We are working to put commander back into command and control,” he said, emphasizing the importance of assured communications across all environments — from handheld devices and sensors to tanks, helicopters, and command posts.

The effort builds on the Army Unified Network Plan, which shifts the service’s focus from networks as an end to networks as pathways for data. Zero trust architecture will be incorporated to strengthen cyber defenses and protect operations in contested environments.

Industry Collaboration

Rey underscored that private sector partnerships will be critical in realizing the Army’s modernization goals. Industry, he said, can help overcome legacy architectures, accelerate innovation and deliver systems with built-in cyber protections.

“Our solution is a strong, data-driven network for our Army. It’s not just about technology. It’s about people,” Rey said. He called on Army leaders to invest in their teams, train as they fight and foster innovation to ensure Soldiers can make faster, better-informed decisions than adversaries.

“Our success, their lives depend on what we’re doing each and every day,” he said. “We can’t fail.”

Preparing for Non-Kinetic Threats

The G-6 deputy chief of staff cautioned that adversaries are rapidly expanding capabilities in areas such as cyberattacks, electronic warfare and drone operations. “The next war may not be kinetic only. It’s going to be non-kinetic,” he said.

Citing Ukraine as an example, Rey pointed to the growing role of drones and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. “Drones are changing the way we do business,” he said. “Think about what could happen if a non-kinetic strike does hit us. Those blackouts we’ve been experiencing, we shouldn’t take those lightly.”

Harnessing Data for Decision Advantage

Commanders today are often confronted with “data overload,” Rey said, making it difficult to act quickly on the battlefield. The Army’s modernization effort is designed to ensure the right data reaches the right warfighter at the right time.

“We still have to find out how to use emerging technologies, AI tools, in order to help us with the commanders to make better and more informed decisions,” he said.

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