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Michael Rigas Named OMB Acting Deputy Director for Management
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Michael Rigas Named OMB Acting Deputy Director for Management
Michael Rigas
Michael Rigas

Michael Rigas, the newly named acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, will assume additional responsibilities as interim deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

He will succeed Margaret Weichert, who is set to join Accenture’s commercial practice.

"Over the last two years Mike has been one of the key drivers of the President’s Management Agenda, so he is the ideal person to carry the management agenda forward," Weichert said in a statement. “I know he’s going to do great work at OMB working to improve the federal government’s service and stewardship for the American public.”

Rigas took over as interim OPM director after Dale Cabaniss resigned from her post on March 17.

He previously served as deputy director at OPM and as a senior adviser at the General Services Administration. His private sector experience included time at Mellon Financial and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

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Ellen Lord Warns of Adversarial Capital Facing Defense Industrial Base
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Ellen Lord Warns of Adversarial Capital Facing Defense Industrial Base

Ellen Lord Warns of Adversarial Capital Facing Defense Industrial Base

Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said foreign adversaries may take advantage of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic to acquire U.S.-developed technologies, Defense News reported Wednesday.

She said Wednesday at a news conference that it “is critically important that we understand that during this crisis, the [defense-industrial base] is vulnerable to adversarial capital, so we need to ensure that companies can stay in business without losing their technology.”

Lord stated that the COVID-19 pandemic “presents a greater attack surface” because of the uncertainty it poses to small businesses and their contracts. “To basically mitigate that uncertainty, that’s why we’re being forward-leaning and over-communicating, probably, to say: ‘We are open,’” she added.

DoD is trying to fight the economic influence of foreign countries like China through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the Trusted Capital Marketplace program.

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Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan: DoD’s JAIC In Talks With Northcom, National Guard Bureau Over AI
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Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan: DoD’s JAIC In Talks With Northcom, National Guard Bureau Over AI
Jack Shanahan
Jack Shanahan

Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said JAIC is in discussions with the National Guard Bureau and U.S. Northern Command about how to facilitate response to the coronavirus pandemic using AI, Bloomberg Government reported Wednesday.

“It’s very similar to the things we have been talking about our humanitarian assistance and disaster relief effort but just for the very real, very exigent circumstance of coronavirus,” Shanahan said.

He said he believes JAIC will play a role to help the government respond to COVID-19.

“We have been leaning pretty far forward to look at some opportunities to bring in data and do some data aggregation and analytics based on a little bit of machine learning, a little bit of natural language processing and then providing this into a common operating picture,” said Shanahan.

About The Wash100

This year represents our sixth annual Wash100 Award selection. The Wash100 is the premier group of private and public sector leaders selected by Executive Mosaic’s organizational and editorial leadership as the most influential leaders in the GovCon sector. These leaders demonstrate skills in leadership, innovation, achievement, and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2020 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2020.

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Air Force Looks to Conduct Large-Scale Zero Trust Architecture Pilots
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Air Force Looks to Conduct Large-Scale Zero Trust Architecture Pilots
Air Force Looks to Conduct Large-Scale Zero Trust Architecture Pilots

The Air Combat Command, a component within the 16th Air Force, has launched small-scale pilot efforts to implement zero-trust architecture ahead of deploying the concept enterprisewide, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Robert Hembrook, deputy director of operations and network at the Air Force Cyber Command, told the publication in an interview that the Air Force wants to ensure the availability of resources before rolling out zero-trust pilots on a larger scale.

He noted that the 38th Engineering Squadron is developing a reference zero-trust architecture to help inform large-scale implementation.

“The dream would be to have a common architecture that allows you to localize customization of security roles and responsibilities, but a common architecture and a common framework that works across the entire Air Force,” said Hembrook.

“Zero trust brings it back down to the essential element of who I am, what the data is, and what do I need to have access to, because there’s a whole lot of information out there that I probably don’t have to have access to, based on my role and my function,” he added.

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DHS, MatMaCorp Test Tools to Detect Swine Virus in Pork
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DHS, MatMaCorp Test Tools to Detect Swine Virus in Pork
DHS, MatMaCorp Test Tools to Detect Swine Virus in Pork

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate partnered with MatMaCorp to test technologies designed to detect the African Swine Fever.

S&T and MatMaCorp signed a cooperative research and development agreement to test ASF detection with the latter's portable nucleic acid analysis system, DHS said Tuesday. The ASF virus, found in pigs, does not threaten human lives but may affect the country's pork resources. The U.S. market gets $24 billion worth of pork every year, adding to the country's status as the biggest global pork exporter.

“An introduction of ASF into the United States – and a failure to plan for or manage its spread through active surveillance and field testing – could eliminate the domestic pork export market,” said John Neilan, science director at S&T's Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

MatMaCorp’s technology detected the virus in samples from infected pigs during tests. DHS also partnered with the Department of Agriculture to establish the ASF Task Force, an effort to prevent ASF from entering the U.S. The task force manages the CRADA with MatMaCorp.

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AFRL Members Honored with Excellence in Technology Transfer Award
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AFRL Members Honored with Excellence in Technology Transfer Award
AFRL Members Honored with Excellence in Technology Transfer Award

Two members of the Air Force Research Laboratory's 711th Human Performance Wing have been recognized for the technology transfer of a platform designed to manage complex communication environments.

Brian Simpson, 711 HPW sensory psychologist and 711 HPW Program Manager James Kearns were honored with the 2020 Excellence in Technology Transfer Award by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for the Technology Transfer for Multi-Modal Communication effort, the U.S. Air Force said Tuesday.

The MMC system works to help operators respond to distributed personnel from various locations and trace multiple channels of high-traffic communication. Startup company GlobalFlyte received the technology from AFRL.

“In typical command and control environments, an operator may need to monitor multiple channels of information from sources such as radios, intercoms and telephones, among others,” said Simpson.

Simpson added the team sought to find an approach that will help C2 operators work with various technologies to augment decision-making capacities.

DOE Unveils R&D Funding Opportunity for Isotope Production
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DOE Unveils R&D Funding Opportunity for Isotope Production
DOE Unveils R&D Funding Opportunity for Isotope Production

The Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked $16 million in funds to support research and development initiatives for isotope production. DOE seeks to yield isotopes that are in shortage or unavailable for industrial, scientific and medical purposes through the funding opportunity, the department said Tuesday.

Paul Dabbar, undersecretary for science at DOE, said the effort aims to develop processing and production approaches for rare isotopes in a move to optimize national security and the economy.

Interested nonprofit organizations, national laboratories and universities have until June 15 to submit their applications to the two-year program. The Office of Nuclear Physics eyes awards for multi-institutional partnerships and single investigators.

DOE expects to provide $8 million from fiscal year 2021 funds, while the remaining $8 million will be obligated from fiscal 2020 funds.

Air Force Eyes Northrop-Built ICBM Control System for Training Missile Operators
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Air Force Eyes Northrop-Built ICBM Control System for Training Missile Operators
Air Force Eyes Northrop-Built ICBM Control System for Training Missile Operators

The U.S. Air Force plans to deploy a Northrop Grumman-built training system to help train operators handling intercontinental ballistic missiles built to launch from aircraft, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The Air Force expects to receive the Airborne Launch Control Systems at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska next month to replace a prior training platform that was damaged by floods in 2019. The ALCS nuclear weapons platform is meant to provide operators with an alternative for ground-launched missile control centers. 

Lt. Col. Matthew Hlivko, commander of the Air Force's 625th Strategic Operations Squadron, said the ALCS platform includes 3D graphic display technology as well as hardware and software designed to support next-generation training environments for students and operators.

Hlivko noted that his squadron has begun initial qualifying classes using the virtual platform and is slated to conduct another class at Offut AFB in May.

The Air Force looks to eventually acquire a full tactile ALCS training platform, according to the report.

NASA, Frontier Aerospace Test Lunar Lander Thrusters Ahead of Artemis Mission
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NASA, Frontier Aerospace Test Lunar Lander Thrusters Ahead of Artemis Mission
NASA, Frontier Aerospace Test Lunar Lander Thrusters Ahead of Artemis Mission

Frontier Aerospace and NASA have completed testing of two prototype thruster systems being developed to support landers for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and the Artemis mission in 2024.

NASA said Wednesday the 10-day assessment included 60 hot-fire tests to evaluate the capacity of two thrusters that Frontier Aerospace built under the agency’s Thruster for the Advancement of Low-temperature Operation in Space program.

The NASA and Frontier Aerospace team simulated spaceflight conditions and collected data on factors such as pressure, temperature and combustion chamber stability to evaluate the TALOS thrusters’ capacity.

“NASA will soon verify this versatile thruster design for space so that the agency and commercial companies can easily implement the technology in future missions,” said Greg Barnett, project manager for TALOS at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

Astrobotic Technology, a contractor under the CLPS effort, intends to use the thrusters to power its Peregrine lunar lander that will carry science and technology payloads to the lunar surface in 2021.

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NAVWAR Discusses Tech Collaboration; Rear Adm. Christian Becker Quoted
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NAVWAR Discusses Tech Collaboration; Rear Adm. Christian Becker Quoted
Christian Becker
Christian Becker

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) hosted a quarterly industry day with the Information Warfare Research Project Consortium to tackle technology development efforts.

The event, which took place in San Diego, gathered experts from industry and academia for discussions on fleet technology matters such as the importance of partnerships, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

Rear Adm. Christian Becker, commander of NAVWAR, said multisector partnerships are critical to helping warfighters maintain an advantage in the modern competition of power.

“It is vital that we work together with our partners in industry and academia to outpace our adversaries in the delivery of innovative technologies and operational concepts at the ever-increasing speed of information now and in the coming decades,” he said.

The IWRP Consortium helps the military procure commercially made technologies via other transaction authority awards. The consortium’s next industry day will happen within this year’s second quarter.

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