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SBA Lowers 2025 Prime Contracting Goal With Small Disadvantaged Businesses to 5%
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SBA Lowers 2025 Prime Contracting Goal With Small Disadvantaged Businesses to 5%

On Jan. 24, the Small Business Administration reset its contracting goals with small disadvantaged businesses, or SDBs, to at least 5 percent of all federal prime contracts awarded in 2025, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Uniform SDB Contracting Target

The target applies uniformly across all affected agencies. Previously, the government negotiated SDB contracting targets individually with each agency to achieve a governmentwide percentage.

In 2024, that governmentwide percentage was 12 percent. The original target for 2025, as set by the Biden administration, was 15 percent.

Impact on 8(a) Program Companies

Commenting on the matter, a former SBA official who had requested to remain anonymous told Federal News Network that the 5 percent SDB target has historically been met and that the government had gradually increased the percentage over the years.

The same official anticipates, however, that the reduced target would likely impact companies under the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development program.

“By lowering the SDB goal, agencies will likely turn their focus away from 8(a) concerns to other areas where they struggle, such as HUBZone, where the government has never met the 3 percent prime contract goal,” the former SBA official said.

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Lee Zeldin Sworn In as EPA Administrator
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Lee Zeldin Sworn In as EPA Administrator

 Lee Zeldin was sworn in as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

The EPA said Thursday that as the 17th administrator, he will lead agency officials in fulfilling the agency’s mandate of protecting human health and preserving the environment.

The Senate confirmed his appointment by a vote of 56 to 42 on Wednesday, according to North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer’s website.

“We will maintain and expand the gold standard of environmental stewardship and conservation that President Trump set forth in his first administration while also prioritizing economic prosperity. I look forward to working with the agency’s talented staff and scientists to deliver results for the American people,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.

Zeldin’s Career Highlights

Prior to his appointment to the EPA, Zeldin was the New York State senator from 2011–2014 before becoming the representative of the state’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015–2023.

In Congress, he lobbied across party lines for the preservation of Long Island Sound and Plum Island. Zeldin also supported key bipartisan environmental protection legislation, including the Great American Outdoors Act and the SaveOurr Seas Act.

He was previously the youngest New York State attorney at 23 and was a member of the Army’s Elite 82nd Airborne Division that deployed to Iraq in 2006.

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Navy to Use AI for Information Warfare
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Navy to Use AI for Information Warfare

The U.S. Navy has revealed that it is exploring the potential of artificial intelligence in information warfare.

The service plans to utilize AI in maritime operations centers, or MOCs, to go through massive amounts of data collected from various sensors, Defense One reported Thursday.

Preventing “Cognitive Overload”

According to the Navy, information warfare officers tasked with processing the information rapidly and effectively and disseminating it to the fleet are faced with huge quantities of intel data that may cause “cognitive overload.” The Navy is collaborating with the Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the chief data and AI office in the Pentagon and other agencies to create a common intelligence picture based on reliable data to enable MOCs to perform faster analysis and provide insights for decision-makers.

Potential Hurdles for AI Use

According to Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare and director of naval intelligence, one potential challenge to AI use is the accuracy and trustworthiness of the data source. He said they need to know how to determine if the data source is reliable and how to fuse all the information.

The top naval intelligence official also said there are concerns that the capabilities of commanders to pivot during operations may be affected by the “fight from the MOC concept.” He stressed that connectivity issues may pose a problem, particularly in the Indo-Pacific area.

“I really do think there’s opportunity space here with AI, but AI has the challenges of the data source has to be trusted and curated. And so there’s clearly a lot of work going on in AI, in the world of [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance], in the world of PED, but we’re working through that still,” said Thomas.

NIST Calls for Public Input on New 5G Cybersecurity Paper
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NIST Calls for Public Input on New 5G Cybersecurity Paper

The National Institute of Standards and Technology‘s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence has released the draft version of the fifth entry in its Applying 5G Cybersecurity and Privacy Capabilities white paper series and is calling for public comment.

Aim of the White Paper Series

The goal of the white papers is to provide relevant professionals with practices they can implement to ensure the security and privacy of 5G technology, which continues to evolve in terms of its development, deployment and usage, NIST said Thursday.

Reallocation of Temporary Identities

The draft version of the fourth entry in the series was released in November 2024. That paper tackled the reallocation of temporary identities.

No SUPI-Based Paging

The fifth entry in the series tackles the 5G capability known as no subscription permanent identifier, or SUPI, based paging. The capability works to prevent attackers from identifying and locating users.

The paper’s intended readers include those involved in the management and delivery of 5G products and services, such as commercial mobile network operators and potential private 5G network operators.

Interested parties have until Feb. 28 to submit comments.

NIST Calls for Public Input on New 5G Cybersecurity Paper

Register now to attend Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 5G Summit, which will tackle a variety of topics, including how 5G supports the DOD’s CJADC2 efforts and 5G-powered warfighting capabilities.

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OpenAI Models to Upgrade Los Alamos National Lab Supercomputer
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OpenAI Models to Upgrade Los Alamos National Lab Supercomputer

Los Alamos National Laboratory is installing the latest OpenAI o-series models to its Venado supercomputer to further upgrade its artificial intelligence capability for national security research. The partnership with OpenAI in the installation is hoped to yield expert reasoning on a wide range of complex scientific studies, the lab said Thursday.

The Venado computer will operate on a classified network for secure sharing with researchers from the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national labs of the Department of Energy.

According to Thom Mason, the laboratory’s director, national security threats have grown more complex and more urgent, requiring advanced technological approaches.

“Artificial intelligence models from OpenAI will allow us to do this more successfully, while also advancing our scientific missions to solve some of the nation’s most important challenges,” the lab official stressed.

Wide-Ranging Tech Collaboration

Los Alamos already had previous collaboration with OpenAI on projects to improve AI safety. In July, the lab and OpenAI launched a study to evaluate the risks of advanced AI being used to bring about biological threats.

The Energy Department and its national laboratories are working to strengthen collaboration with other technology companies for various applications, including new materials design and quantum algorithm development.

For the Venado supercomputer in Los Alamos, NVIDIA provided its GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips, designed to process high-performance computing and large-scale AI applications. In November 2023, the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the Los Alamos lab also tapped SambaNova Systems in a multi-year partnership for its data analytics and artificial intelligence software suite to expand the lab’s large language models and general AI technologies.

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PD SAI Issues RFI for Launched Effects Payloads
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PD SAI Issues RFI for Launched Effects Payloads

The Project Director Sensors – Aerial Intelligence of the Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors, or PEO IEW&S, has issued a request for information for potential contractors that can provide launched effects, or LE, payloads.

According to the notice posted on SAM.gov Wednesday, PD SAI is coordinating with the Project Manager Uncrewed Aircraft Systems of PEO Aviation to gather industry input on the proposed procurement of LEs, including air launched effects and surface launched effects. PD SAI is seeking information on systems with a Technology Readiness Level of 3+ that can be enhanced before fiscal year 2030 to a minimum of TRL 7 or TRL 9.

Interested vendors may submit their responses by Mar.14.

What Are Launched Effects?

Launched effects are a family of systems that includes an air vehicle, payload, mission system applications and support equipment. Their main purpose is to deliver effects autonomously or semi-autonomously as a single agent or as part of a team.

These operationally consumable unmanned aerial vehicles are designed to enhance situational awareness in the area of operations. They are intended to detect, identify, locate and report, or DILR, targets and deliver lethal and non-lethal effects. LEs are also designed to extend communication ranges, assess battle damage and safeguard allied forces. They can integrate air vehicles, mission systems and payloads to extend the speed, range, lethality and survivability of maneuver formations.

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NSA, International Partners Issue Guidance on Content Credentials
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NSA, International Partners Issue Guidance on Content Credentials

The National Security Agency‘s Artificial Intelligence Security Center, in collaboration with international agency partners, has released new guidance discussing how content credentials could help increase the transparency of images, audio, video and other media amid the adoption of generative AI tools. However, the organization subsequently removed the press release announcement from their website.

NSA said Wednesday the cybersecurity information sheet, or CSI, which is still online, provides information based on current threats and techniques and explains how the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, or C2PA, created an open specification for providing digital media provenance through content credentials.

The CSI also presents questions that organizations should consider when preparing for content credentials implementation and recommends practices to ensure the preservation of unaltered metadata throughout the media lifecycle.

“Bolstering trust through transparency in multimedia has never been more critical. Secure and widespread adoption of content provenance standards is a ‘must’ to prepare us for the new reality where AI is everywhere, and seeing is no longer believing,” said Candice Rockell Gerstner, applied research mathematician at NSA.

What Are Content Credentials?

According to NSA, content credentials are cryptographically signed metadata that enable creators to directly incorporate into media content information about themselves and their creative process.

The metadata can be added to the media content at creation on hardware or during export from software and can be made more durable through the addition of a digital watermark to the media and implementation of a fingerprint matching system.

NSA developed the document in partnership with the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre.

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DARPA Announces Securing AI for Battlefield Effective Robustness Program
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DARPA Announces Securing AI for Battlefield Effective Robustness Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has issued a special notice informing the public of a new program that intends to establish an exemplar artificial intelligence red team to assess AI-enabled battlefield systems.

What Does SABER Intend to Do?

According to a notice published Wednesday, the Securing Artificial Intelligence for Battlefield Effective Robustness, or SABER, program wants the AI red team to have the technical competency and be equipped with counter-AI tools and techniques to operationally evaluate AI-enabled autonomous aerial and ground systems that could be fielded within the next one to three years.

DARPA said the program also seeks to establish a sustainable model for an operational AI red teaming process.

To help the AI red team, DARPA will look for vendors that can assist in evaluating, surveying, selecting, building and employing physical, adversarial AI, cyber and electronic warfare techniques and tools to facilitate the operational assessment of AI-enabled system development and deployment pipelines.

The contractor should serve as an integration lead that could help integrate the technologies into an interoperable operational toolkit that could be used by the AI red team.

DARPA expects the toolkit to enable future AI red teams in support of the Department of Defense and other government agencies.

Register now to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 20, to hear more about cutting-edge AI innovations from industry and government experts.

POC - 2025 Artificial Intelligence Summit
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Sergio McKenzie Named NASA Goddard Space Flight Center CIO
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Sergio McKenzie Named NASA Goddard Space Flight Center CIO

Sergio McKenzie, a 25-year IT veteran, has been appointed as chief information officer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, according to a LinkedIn post published Wednesday.

“[I’m] truly honored for the opportunity to serve GSFC and NASA HQ advancing scientific discovery and space exploration,” McKenzie wrote.

McKenzie’s Background

He was previously with NASA GSFC for over 10 years, serving as associate division manager of CSSD for the Information Technology and Communications Directorate and as chief information security officer until April 2020.

McKenzie was most recently the assistant chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Earlier in his career, he served as chief information security officer and chief technology officer at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

He has expertise in cybersecurity, program management, systems engineering and integration.

MITRE Paper Discusses Role of IC in Quantum Computing Race
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MITRE Paper Discusses Role of IC in Quantum Computing Race

The U.S. intelligence community should take steps to ensure that the U.S. is the first country to achieve quantum computing, according to a recent Intelligence After Next paper released by MITRE.

Achieving Quantum Computing First

In the paper, titled “Quantum Computing—Quantifying the Current State of the Art to Assess Cybersecurity Threats,” MITRE recommended that, if needed, the IC should classify information related to hardware for quantum computing and work to prevent adversaries from obtaining resources or information about how to build a quantum computer by putting in place controls on imports and relevant intellectual property.

Even if the U.S. builds a quantum computer ahead of its adversaries, the advantage will last only for a short time so the IC should look into how the U.S. might be able to maximize the capability as quickly as possible, the not-for-profit organization said.

Securing Data Against Quantum

At present, the paper asserts the IC should work to secure its classified data from the threat posed by quantum computers while monitoring developments in the field especially since, if an adversary were to achieve quantum computing first, it would likely not announce such a breakthrough and instead use the technology secretly to its advantage.

What If Adversaries Overtake the US?

And if it becomes known that the U.S. has indeed been overtaken by an adversary, the IC should strive to determine which of its information has not been shielded by post-quantum cryptography and deem that data as compromised. The IC would also have to determine what the adversary would do with its technology and what steps the U.S. should take to mitigate against and catch up.

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