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Former Pivotal Software Exec Paul Puckett Named Army Enterprise Cloud Mgmt Office Director
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Former Pivotal Software Exec Paul Puckett Named Army Enterprise Cloud Mgmt Office Director


Paul Puckett
Paul Puckett

Paul Puckett, former chief technology officer of Pivotal Software‘s federal business, has been appointed director of the enterprise cloud management office in the U.S. Army’s Office of the Chief Information Officer/G-6.

He will lead the ECMO’s cloud service and resource delivery efforts to help the Army turn data into a “strategic asset,” the military service said Friday.

The newly established office will work to provide cloud migration support for data and application owners across the service branch.

Puckett previously worked at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as director of core information technology and branch chief for expeditionary support.

Before NGA, he was a system engineer at NetCentrics and CACI International. He has gained experience in various work areas such as oversight of cybersecurity contracts and development of artificial intelligence technology during his career.

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Catherine Marsh Rejoins IARPA as Director
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Catherine Marsh Rejoins IARPA as Director


Catherine Marsh
Catherine Marsh

Catherine Marsh, who served as deputy director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity from 2013 to 2015, has returned to IARPA as director.

She succeeds Stacey Dixon, who led the agency from September 2018 to June 2019, and will oversee IARPA’s multidisciplinary research programs focused on developing technologies with potential applications in national intelligence missions, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said Friday.

In her previous capacity at IARPA, Marsh led agency investments in high-risk or payoff research projects aimed at sustaining the country’s edge in the intelligence domain.

She also held science-related positions at the CIA’s science and technology directorate and led lithium-ion battery R&D efforts at Yardney Technical Products.

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Navy Stands Up New Tech Collaboration Facility in Charleston; James Geurts Quoted
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Navy Stands Up New Tech Collaboration Facility in Charleston; James Geurts Quoted


James Geurts
James Geurts

The Naval Agility Office has established the latest of six centers that house and support collaborative projects on the U.S. Navy’s technology challenges.

The new, Charleston, S.C.-based facility, known as Palmetto Tech Bridge, will engage in collaboration with private businesses, nonprofits and academic institutions to address technology challenges faced by the Navy and industry, the service branch said Monday.

“Tech Bridges are designed to capture the culture of innovation in key locations across our nation,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

The Office of Naval Research and the service branch’s systems commands worked together to establish the tech bridges and in turn aim to sustain collaborative ecosystems, he noted.

Naval Information Warfare Center holds the task to coordinate and lead activities of Palmetto Tech Bridge.

“Drawing on the talents from across industry, NIWC Atlantic will focus and facilitate this considerable innovative force on developing dual-use solutions to meet both national defense needs and enhance the region’s economic strength with innovative commercial products,” said Michael Merriken, director of Palmetto Tech Bridge.

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OMB to Refine Data Science Skills of Federal Workforce; Margie Graves Quoted
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OMB to Refine Data Science Skills of Federal Workforce; Margie Graves Quoted


Margie Graves
Margie Graves

The Office of Management and Budget plans to administer a pilot program to repolish the data science skills of federal employees, Federal News Network reported Monday.

The future program would also aim to help federal officers understand the importance of data science to achieve an agency’s goals. Margie Graves, the federal deputy chief information officer, said this would encourage leaders to drive the demand for data science.

The planned pilot would follow a previous effort that OMB made to refine cybersecurity skills in the federal workforce. The previous program revealed the federal government’s insufficiency of data science experts, Graves noted.

“They need to exist in economist areas, they need to exist in scientific areas, they need to exist in technological areas,” the deputy CIO said.

White House Requests Insights on US Research Environment
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White House Requests Insights on US Research Environment


White House Requests Insights on US Research Environment

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a request for information to seek insights on how federal agencies can work with industry and academic institutions to maximize the effectiveness and quality of the U.S. research environment.

OSTP released the RFI on behalf of the joint committee on the research environment the National Science and Technology Council established in May.

JCORE is composed of four subcommittees that are focused on ensuring integrity and rigor in research, coordinating administrative requirements for federally funded research, securing the research enterprise and promoting inclusive, equitable and safe research environments.

The subcommittee on rigor and integrity in research, for instance, requests ideas on how federal agencies can work with academic and private institutions to improve research quality, replicability and reproducibility. It also wants information on incentives agencies can offer to facilitate reporting of negative research results.

Interested stakeholders have until Dec. 23 to submit their responses to the RFI.

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DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities
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DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities


DHS to Hold Industry Event on Detection Canine R&D Funding Opportunities

The Department of Homeland’s science and technology directorate is slated to host an event on Dec. 10 that will seek to discuss funding opportunities in detection canine research and development efforts.

The Technology and Innovation Exchanges event supports the department’s plans to engage with researchers and experts in an effort to address homeland security gaps and operational needs, DHS said Monday.

DHS eyes to perform research efforts and build tools that will augment odor detection dogs, deployment approaches and training strategies for the canine community. In addition, the department intends to analyze odor chemistry and effects to mitigate training concerns with detection dogs.

“Each TIES event is a unique opportunity for us to focus on important research areas related to a DHS operational mission and to connect with industry,” said Megan Mahle, director of industry partnerships at DHS S&T.

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NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description
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NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description


NCCoE Calls for Public to Comment on Cybersecurity Project Description

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, an agency within the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, seeks public feedback on a recently drafted implementation project description.

NCCoE said its project, known as Validating the Integrity of Servers and Client Devices, aims to demonstrate implementations that allow organizations to verify the authenticity of purchased computing tools.

The project would also examine the methods to determine whether a device matches manufacturer-claimed specifications. NIST will use the project’s results to create a cybersecurity implementation guide that would be available to the public.

Interested parties may submit feedback on the draft description through Jan.6, 2020. The draft can be found here.

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FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government’s Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues
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FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government’s Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues


FBI’s Steven Kelly on Government's Interaction With Industry on Cyber Issues

The U.S. government still needs to come up with clearer policies outlining the agencies’ cybersecurity responsibilities and roles and an FBI official said “conversations” are still ongoing among agencies when it comes to engaging with the private sector on cyber issues, FCW reported Monday.

“In terms of the big picture kind of responsibilities, those are pretty sorted out,” Steven Kelly, chief of cyber policy at the FBI. “I think the areas where we need to improve is how we’re interacting with at-risk entities — and there’s various departments and agencies that have a role in this — and how the information and learnings can be actioned at a speed that is [relevant].”

Kelly also mentioned issues emerging across multiple lines of jurisdiction and how the bureau helps establish links in the country’s strategy to defend against cyber threats.

“We work every day with victims of crime, and we rely on those relationships,” he added.

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Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via ‘Project IKE’
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Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via ‘Project IKE’

 

Air Force, Strategic Capabilities Office Aim to Develop Cyber Planning Tool Via 'Project IKE'

The U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office have decided to continue the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s work on a program to provide cyber personnel with a tool to plan and carry out cyber operations, Fifth Domain reported Monday.

DARPA’s Plan X program has been renamed Project IKE and a spokesman for DoD said the project seeks to develop an artificial intelligence-based platform meant to provide cyber warriors a new way to analyze the “common operating picture.”

“IKE will provide cyber command and control and situational awareness across the whole of DoD’s Cyber Mission Force,” said a spokesman for the Pentagon. “The objective of IKE is to develop automated artificial intelligence/machine learning techniques to assist human understanding of the cyber battlespace, support development of cyber warfare strategies and measure and model battle damage assessment.”

The report said Project IKE could serve as a foundation for the Joint Cyber Command and Control initiative in support of the U.S. military’s cyber personnel.

 

GAO: Pentagon’s Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments
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GAO: Pentagon’s Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments


GAO: Pentagon's Fraud Risk Mgmt Program Should Include Contractor Ownership Assessments

The Government Accountability Office has urged the Department of Defense to assess potential risks from a contractor’s opaque ownership structure and use data to inform other fraud risk assessments.

GAO said Monday contracting firms that conceal information about other entities or individuals who own, manage or earn financial benefits from the company pose national security and fraud risks to the Pentagon.

The government watchdog agency reviewed 32 adjudicated contractor ownership cases that include businesses that were ineligible to receive DoD contracts and a foreign manufacturing company that received sensitive military data or through a U.S.-based entity.

DoD has implemented measures to address such risks in its procurement process and introduced a fraud risk management program across the organization.

However, the Pentagon has not yet examined risks of contractor ownership nor identified this as a specific area for evaluation at the department, GAO noted.

The office added such assessments will help DoD to determine a strategy to mitigate the impacts of opaque ownership and better manage department’s resources.

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