The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) has announced its 2020 Partners Program class on Thursday. Lisa Gardener, senior director and account lead for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services portfolio at Leidos has been selected for the class of Industry Participants.

“Outstanding professional development programs are a key component of the ACT-IAC value proposition,” said David Wennergren, ACT-IAC CEO, “and the Partners Program has a 24 year legacy of building relationships and honing leadership skills.”

This nine-month program pairs government and industry professionals to collectively engage, develop and prepare for their future roles at the Senior Executive Service (SES) and corporate executive officer levels.

Lisa Gardner, a former vice president of Engility, was appointed senior director and account lead for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services portfolio at Leidos in July 2019. She supervises Leidos’ capture and business development efforts within its CMS market area.

The 24-year government information technology industry veteran also served as vice president of business development at Pyramid Systems, a woman-owned company that offers IT consulting services to the federal sector.

Gardner was a program manager at Dynamics Research Corp. for four years and moved to Engility months after its acquisition of DRC. She served as Engility’s client account director in charge of its projects with federal clients such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Bureau of Fiscal Service and Internal Revenue Service.

She also worked for General Dynamics’ IT business as project manager focused on Department of Homeland Security programs.

“The Partners Program serves as an example of what both Government and Industry can accomplish through collaboration and partnership. The relationships that are forged last a lifetime…I am looking forward to working again with a new set of leaders and Partners this year as we embark on a journey to improve government for our citizens,” Mitzi Mead, industry chair of the class.

About ACT-IAC

ACT-IAC is the premier public-private partnership in the government IT community and an example of how government and industry work together. ACT-IAC is a nonprofit educational organization created to advance government through collaboration and education. The organization provides an objective, vendor and technology-neutral and ethical forum where government and industry are working together to develop innovative strategies, effective and efficient solutions and best practices.

The Senate on Thursday voted 55-45 to pass a bipartisan resolution that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to take military action against Iran without congressional authorization, NPR reported Thursday.

"The resolution just says no war with Iran, unless you come and make that case to Congress. And if you make the case to Congress, in front of the American people, and we all have the discussion, ask the tough questions and conclude, sadly, it's in the national interest, that's one thing," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the legislation’s sponsor, told the publication. "But if we're not even willing to have that discussion, we shouldn't be forcing people to risk their lives."

The war powers resolution includes a provision that would allow the president to launch offensive strikes to defend the country against an imminent attack. The resolution was in response to the president’s decision to launch a U.S. drone strike in January that resulted in the death of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general.

The House has indicated that it could approve the upper chamber’s version of the measure, while the president said he would veto the resolution.

The Department of Defense is looking to shift approximately $3.8B in funds allocated for several weapons programs toward the counter-drug account that has been used by the current administration to construct the border wall, Bloomberg Government reported Thursday.

Shipbuilding initiatives including the Expeditionary Fast Transport program and amphibious assault ship replacement effort would lose $900M in funds, according to DoD’s budget request for fiscal 2021 obtained by the publication.

The Pentagon also intends to shift funds from the U.S. Navy’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, V-22 Osprey program, Light Attack Aircraft program and the National Guard Humvee modernization initiative, according to the report.

The Department of Defense has transitioned the operations of a Defense Innovation Unit team to the Defense Digital Service to help the DoD component accelerate its technical expertise in counter-unmanned aerial system technologies.

DDS said Wednesday the DIU’s Rogue Squadron team is responsible for developing hardware and software for C-UAS and small UAS technologies. The transition comes after DDS launched a partnership with the Department of the Navy to create a real-time sUAS detection system over the past six months.

"The adversary is agile and quickly evolves their technology," said Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and 2020 Wash100 Award winner. "DDS expertise will assist the Army, as the department's Executive Agent for C-UAS, in developing a rapid capability to counter adapting threats."

Rogue Squadron was established in 2017 to accelerate the use of modern software development approaches to warfighter safety and autonomous system defense. The Mountain View, Calif.-based research and development team has developed software deployed by over 200 organizations across the DoD and federal government.