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DHS Waives Contracting Laws to Accelerate Border Wall Construction
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DHS Waives Contracting Laws to Accelerate Border Wall Construction
DHS Waives Contracting Laws to Accelerate Border Wall Construction

The Department of Homeland Security has decided to waive some federal contracting laws to speed up the construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A notice released Tuesday says a section in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 provides DHS the waiver authority to expedite the construction of additional barriers and roads at the U.S. border to prevent illegal entries into the U.S. and address drug-related events between border crossings.

Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf identified several areas of high illegal entry and those are the San Diego and El Centro sectors in California; the Yuma and Tuczon sectors in Arizona; the Del Rio sector in Texas; and the El Paso sector covering west Texas and New Mexico.

The DHS document is set to be published Thursday on Federal Register. FCW reported the move seeks to expedite construction projects in those areas through a waiver of the use of pricing data, wage determination, open competition and other parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

"Today we are going to start waiving those for procurement regulations and laws as well," Wolf said Tuesday on Fox and Friends. "It allows to us speed up a lot of our contracts that the Army Corps [of Engineers has. Anywhere from 30 to 45 to 60 days."

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Report: DoD to Adopt Rules for AI Development, Use
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Report: DoD to Adopt Rules for AI Development, Use
Report: DoD to Adopt Rules for AI Development, Use

The Department of Defense will soon implement a set of rules that would guide DoD’s development and use of artificial intelligence, Defense One reported Tuesday.

Sources said the Pentagon will use the Defense Innovation Board’s recommended ethical principles for the use of AI as basis for its set of policies. Under these recommendations, the department should ensure that its use of use of AI platforms is responsible, equitable, traceable, reliable and governable.

“The Department of Defense is in the final stages of adopting AI principles that will be implemented across the U.S. military. An announcement will be made soon with further details,” said Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesman for DoD’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

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DARPA Seeks to Use Atmosphere as Geolocation Sensor
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DARPA Seeks to Use Atmosphere as Geolocation Sensor
DARPA Seeks to Use Atmosphere as Geolocation Sensor

The Defense Advanced Projects Agency is pursuing an effort to study the atmosphere's feasibility for use as a geolocation sensor. DARPA said Thursday that its Atmosphere as a Sensor or AtmoSense program aims to determine whether the atmosphere can function as a global detector for catastrophes and incidents on or over Earth.

The effort would look into the energy trails that disastrous events would leave across parts of the atmosphere, including the mesosphere and ionosphere.

“Perhaps I can learn what occurred from information in the atmosphere," said Maj. C. David Lewis, AtmoSense program manager at DARPA. "I want to find out how much information is available and if I can disaggregate the signal I’m interested in from other natural phenomena creating noise in the background," he added.

The program will include a 27-month concept development phase and a 12-month field testing phase. DARPA held a proposer's day for the program last Friday in Arlington, Va.

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GSA FAS Seeks Asst Commissioner for Assisted Acquisition Services
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GSA FAS Seeks Asst Commissioner for Assisted Acquisition Services
GSA FAS Seeks Asst Commissioner for Assisted Acquisition Services

The General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service is looking for an assistant commissioner for assisted acquisition services based at the agency's Washington, D.C. headquarters.

GSA said in a job posting that the assistant commissioner will handle acquisition, financial, technical and project management functions to support FAS in its efforts to deliver commercial information technology and other offerings to government customers.

The selected candidate will also serve as head of contracting activity for the Federal Systems Integration and Management Center, manage collaborations with client service centers, determine new business initiatives and sustain electronic service delivery technologies in partnership with the GSA’s IT office.

Other responsibilities include coordinating with national and regional CSCs and directing GSA’s AAS program aimed at promoting best practices in government procurement.

GSA will accept applications for the position through Feb. 26.

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DHS Seeks Creation of New Cyber Coordination Unit
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DHS Seeks Creation of New Cyber Coordination Unit
DHS Seeks Creation of New Cyber Coordination Unit

The Department of Homeland Security is looking to create a group for department-wide cybersecurity coordination, Fifth Domain reported Friday.

The potential Joint Cyber Coordination Group would operate under DHS' Office of Policy, Strategy and Plans, with six full-time personnel.

JCCG would serve as a central medium through which DHS components can communicate with each other for operational plans, investigative efforts and other cyber-related pursuits.

DHS requested $2.6M for the group's creation under the fiscal 2021 budget. The department told Congress that JCCG is needed to oversee "all aspects of associated risk" amid the growth of cyber threats.

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DHS Allots Over $1B for Fiscal 2020 Public Safety Projects
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DHS Allots Over $1B for Fiscal 2020 Public Safety Projects
DHS Allots Over $1B for Fiscal 2020 Public Safety Projects

The Department of Homeland Security is investing almost $1.8B in grants under a new funding opportunity for fiscal year 2020 public safety efforts. The FY 2020 grants support security projects across transportation authorities; local, tribal, territorial and state government bodies; nonprofits and commercial firms, DHS said Friday.

These projects aim to prevent, deter, respond to and recover from emergency events such as natural disasters and acts of terrorism. FY 2020 focuses on the areas of intelligence and information sharing, soft targets and crowded places, emerging threats and cybersecurity.

DHS also requires participants of the Urban Area Security Initiative and the State Homeland Security Grant Program to allot 20 percent of grant awards for the FY 2020 focus areas. The investment also supports Operation Stonegarden that aims to foster collaboration across all levels of government for boosted border security.

The department will review the effectiveness of FY 2020 projects. Interested parties may submit applications via the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Non-Disaster grants system.

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Cyberspace Solarium Commission to Issue Congress Recommendations in March
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Cyberspace Solarium Commission to Issue Congress Recommendations in March
Cyberspace Solarium Commission to Issue Congress Recommendations in March

The Cyberspace Solarium Commission plans to submit to Congress 75 recommendations on matters such as information sharing and cyber incident reporting by March 11, Defense One reported Monday.

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act requires the congressionally chartered commission to issue their recommendations by April. The recommendations cover areas for improvement such as congressional oversight and industry-driven incident reporting.

The group also plans to improve the collection of data on the types of cyberattacks and stolen information to help inform the development of regulations for certification bodies and private insurance firms.

Mark Montgomery, the commission’s executive director, noted at a BSA-hosted event that most of the commission’s recommendations require congressional action.

“Depending on how you count it, there are around 80 different committees and subcommittees that have some kind of jurisdiction over cybersecurity, way too many,” said Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I. “We need to streamline this process somehow."

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Mark Esper Calls for Int’l Action in Efforts to Combat China
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Mark Esper Calls for Int’l Action in Efforts to Combat China
Mark Esper
Mark Esper

Mark Esper, defense secretary and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, has urged European allies to "wake up to the challenges presented by China” as the country continues to manipulate international order, CNN reported Saturday.

Esper told attendees at this year’s Munich Security Conference that while the U.S. does not intend to exacerbate conflict with China, defending international rules should also be the priority of Europe and the larger international community.

"We can only do this by making greater investments in our common defense; by making the hard economic and commercial choices needed to prioritize our shared security and by working together to maintain a ready and capable alliance network that is prepared to deter any threat, defend any ally, and defeat any foe," he noted.

According to Esper, China has often expressed its progress as a global superpower in “threatening and coercive” ways and should adhere to international norms.

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Leidos CEO, 2020 Wash100 Award Winner Roger Krone Wows on CNBC’s Squawk Alley
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Leidos CEO, 2020 Wash100 Award Winner Roger Krone Wows on CNBC’s Squawk Alley
Leidos CEO, 2020 Wash100 Award Winner Roger Krone Wows on CNBC’s Squawk Alley
(Courtesy of CNBC)

On Tuesday, Roger Krone, chief executive officer for Leidos and 2020 Wash100 Award winner, joined CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” to discuss the company’s recent earnings that have surpassed all expectations as its stock continues to surge.

During his appearance, Krone discussed how Leidos will sustain its growth in 2020, programs and acquisitions that are still being processed and the company’s goals for its customers. You can watch the full interview on CNBC below:

For a full breakdown of Leidos’ 4th quarter earnings and financial results click here.

“We delivered strong fourth quarter results, including record organic revenue growth, increasing margins and significant year-over-year non-GAAP earnings growth. Our growth and execution momentum accelerated throughout 2019 and has continued into 2020 with significant new program wins and the opportunity to create value from our two recently announced acquisitions, said Krone.

I am confident that we are growing the company with the right talent, the right capabilities and the right strategy to continue to drive value for our customers, employees and shareholders.”

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world’s toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil and health markets. The Company’s 36,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers.

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Cisco Releases Annual Report Stating 5G will Support Over 10% of Global Mobile Connections by 2023; Roland Acra Quoted
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Cisco Releases Annual Report Stating 5G will Support Over 10% of Global Mobile Connections by 2023; Roland Acra Quoted
Cisco Releases Annual Report Stating 5G will Support Over 10% of Global Mobile Connections by 2023; Roland Acra Quoted

Cisco has released its Annual Internet Report and it has noted that 5G technologies will support more than 10% of the world's mobile connections by 2023, the company reported on Tuesday.

"What we are seeing from our research is a continuous rise in internet users, devices, connections, and more demand on the network than we could have imagined," said Roland Acra, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Cisco. 

Cisco stated that as consumers and business users worldwide continue to create new demands and expectations for mobile networking, the adoption of mobile applications is projected to grow exponentially. Social networking, video streaming and downloads, business productivity, e-commerce and gaming will drive the continued growth of mobile applications with nearly 300 billion downloaded by 2023.

The average 5G speed will be 575 megabits per second, 13 times faster than the average mobile connection. 5G will deliver more dynamic mobile infrastructures for AI and emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications including autonomous cars, smart cities, connected health, immersive video and more.

The report additionally noted that the top six global trends, including internet, device, mobile Wi-Fi, network and cybersecurity projections to occur by 2023. Cisco stated that more than 70 percent of the global population will have mobile connectivity.

In addition, the company hypothesized that there will be 3.6 networked devices and approximately  half of all devices will have video capabilities. Cisco also stated that, of the networked devices, 45 percent will be mobile-connected and 55 percent will be wired or connected over Wi-Fi.

Cisco made global Wi-Fi projections in the report. The company claimed that Wi-Fi hotspots will grow four-fold from 2018 to 2023. There will be nearly 628 million global public Wi-Fi hotspots, up from 169 million in 2018. Along with the growth of Wi-Fi, the company has stated that the average global mobile connection speeds grow tremendously. The report said that the speed will more than triple from 13 Mbps in 2018 to o 44 Mbps in 2023.

"The insights and knowledge gained by our Annual Internet Report are helping global businesses, governments and service providers prepare and secure networks for the ongoing growth in connections and applications. Strategic planning and partnerships will be essential for all organizations to capitalize on their technology innovations and investments."

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that has been making the internet work since 1984. Our people, products, and partners help society securely connect and seize tomorrow's digital opportunity today. 

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