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Army Names W. Jordan Gillis Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy, Environment
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W. Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of the Army. Gillis previously served as assistant secretary of defense for sustainment

W. Jordan Gillis has been sworn in as the assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment. He will oversee all Army installations and facilities worldwide and guide policies related to installations, energy management, environment and safety, the service said Monday.

Army Names W. Jordan Gillis Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy, Environment

Learn about initiatives transforming the Army directly from defense leaders and industry experts at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Army Summit on June 18. The 11th annual edition of the Army Summit will provide insights into how the industrial base can meet the service’s modernization needs through keynote speeches and panel discussions. Secure your spot for the highly anticipated GovCon networking event as early as today. 

Who Is W. Jordan Gillis?

Gillis served as assistant secretary of defense for sustainment during President Donald Trump’s first term. In the role, he directed over $170 billion in logistics activities and shaped sustainment, energy and real property policy for the Department of Defense.

He also previously held the positions of acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment.

His private sector career includes leadership roles at ScottMadden, Deloitte and UiPath. 

Gillis is a former active duty Army officer who received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for his military service.

The defense leader holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Duke University and a master of business administration from Emory University.

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OIG Offers Recommendations to Help NIH Improve All of Us Research Program’s Cybersecurity
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NIH logo. The HHS OIG is calling on NIH to strengthen the cybersecurity of its All of Us Research Program.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, or OIG, has issued a report calling on the National Institutes of Health to strengthen the cybersecurity of its All of Us Research Program to protect participants’ personal health data from cyber and national security threats.

OIG Offers Recommendations to Help NIH Improve All of Us Research Program’s Cybersecurity

Join top government and industry experts at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Healthcare Summit on Feb. 12 (rescheduled due to the shutdown) to explore the latest in healthcare technology, citizen user experience and innovative solutions transforming federal healthcare. Secure your spot today for this premier GovCon networking event! 

In an audit report posted Friday, OIG said the All of Us Research Program aims to improve disease prevention and treatment by providing researchers access to personal health information from over 1 million volunteer participants.

An NIH award recipient oversees the Data and Research Center, or DRC, which stores the participant data.

The OIG audit found that although the DRC award recipient implemented some cybersecurity controls, NIH did not ensure that authorized users’ access to program data was limited as required by program policies.

What Are OIG’s Recommendations for NIH to Improve Cybersecurity? 

OIG issued five recommendations for NIH to improve its oversight of the program’s DRC. One of the recommendations is requiring the DRC awardee to implement controls that prevent users from accessing the system from outside the U.S. without verified approval. 

According to the report, NIH should ensure the DRC prevents the downloading of detailed participant data in accordance with the program’s data use policies.

Other recommendations in the report are that NIH formally communicate national security concerns about maintaining genomic data to All of Us award recipients; require the DRC awardee to reassess the security categorization for the DRC and DRC-RW information systems in light of national security concerns; and update the remediation timeframe in its system security plans to meet the deadlines in its award agreement with NIH.

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NASA Launches Sentinel-6B Satellite to Advance Ocean & Climate Monitoring
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Sentinel-6B Launch. NASA launched the Sentinel-6B satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

NASA and its international partners launched the Sentinel-6B satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 16.

The agency said Monday the satellite, now in low Earth orbit, will collect ocean and atmospheric data to support hurricane forecasting, coastal infrastructure protection, climate monitoring and maritime operations.

What Is the Sentinel-6B Satellite?

Sentinel-6B is a satellite designed to measure sea surface height, wind speed, wave height and atmospheric conditions. These observations will enhance flood prediction models and aid in identifying ocean temperature patterns that influence storm development and shipping safety. The data will be leveraged to safeguard critical coastal assets, including infrastructure, real estate and energy storage sites.

NASA collaborated with the European Space Agency, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop the Sentinel-6B. The satellite is part of the European Union’s family of Copernicus missions.

How Will Sentinel-6B Take Over From Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich?

The new satellite, part of the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, will replace Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich as the reference standard for global sea level data. First, Sentinel-6B will fly 30 seconds behind its twin to verify that their instruments provide the same data. Once verified, the Michael Freilich satellite will transition to a different orbit, and Sentinel-6B will assume its new role as the official reference satellite, flying 830 miles above the Earth’s surface 13 times a day.

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DOD’s Emil Michael Unveils 6 Critical Tech Areas to Advance Military Capabilities
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DOD Under Secretary Emil Michael. Emil Michael has announced six critical technology areas to advance military capabilities.

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael has announced six critical technology areas, or CTAs, aimed at advancing U.S. military capabilities.

Network with top DOD R&D officials like Emil Michael at Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29!

What Are DOD’s Critical Technology Areas?

The Department of Defense said Monday the key technology areas Michael highlighted are aimed at rapidly delivering advanced capabilities to the warfighter, allowing them to keep pace with emerging threats and achieve operational advantage on the modern battlefield. The six CTAs include:

  • Applied artificial intelligence: Make the DOD an artificial intelligence-first organization to enhance decision-making and operations.
  • Biomanufacturing: Leverage living systems to develop capabilities and materials at scale, reducing supply chain risks and strengthening resilience.
  • Contested logistics technologies: Ensure steady resupply and operations in contested environments despite disrupted logistics.
  • Quantum and battlefield information dominance: Provide tools to keep communication,  precision navigation and timing, and electromagnetic spectrum control working in degraded or denied environments.
  • Scaled hypersonics: Deploy hypersonic weapons at scale to deliver rapid and precise strikes.
  • Scaled directed energy: Overcome cost and manufacturing limits to provide affordable, high-energy capabilities for precise threat neutralization.

“These six Critical Technology Areas are not just priorities; they are imperatives,” said Michael. “The American warfighter will wield the most advanced technology to maximize lethality.”

DOD's Emil Michael Unveils 6 Critical Tech Areas to Advance Military Capabilities
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Army-Led Task Force Building Online Marketplace to Accelerate Procurement of Counter-Drone Systems
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Unmanned system. The JIATF 401 is building an online platform for buying counter-UAS systems across government

The Army-led Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF 401, is planning an online marketplace where military and intelligence leaders can quickly and more easily pick and purchase counter-unmanned aerial systems, or c-UAS, from various vendors, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

According to Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of the task force, the c-UAS marketplace will coincide with the UAS marketplace that the Army is also building.

“We are going to establish a UAS and counter-UAS marketplace that will provide authoritative data on how each of these systems performs under varying conditions and allow users or customers to select a tool that’s right for them,” he told reporters. “We’ve got a wide variety of counter-UAS tools, and I actually think that we need all of them, because depending on where you are or what threat you’re focused on, your requirements will be slightly different.”’

Keep up to date with the changes within the Army and what top military officials have planned to achieve the Army’s 2030 goals at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Army Summit on June 18. The event will feature dynamic panels and networking opportunities with key GovCon decision-makers. Get your tickets today.

What Will the Army c-UAS Marketplace Offer?

Ross did not divulge the types of drones that will be available on the marketplace, but shared that the online platform will likely offer drone detectors and non-kinetic effectors.

“Today, if we were to field a counter-UAS solution around some critical infrastructure in the US, we would likely not include an explosive warhead,” he explained. “So, we would want a low-collateral interceptor if we’re going to use a kinetic interceptor, opposed to an explosive solution that might be more appropriate for a combat environment.”

He added that the task force has not set a launch date or determined how many systems will be available. JIATF 401 does not yet have a dedicated budget, but it will likely utilize funding from its operations and maintenance, research and development, and procurement budgets.

The task force plans to host a counter-UAS summit in the coming weeks to coordinate with interagency partners on how it intends to test and evaluate systems that would be added to the marketplace.

What Is JIATF 401?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 winner, established JIATF 401 in August to replace the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office. The task force is in charge of efforts to accelerate the delivery of c-UAS to warfighters.

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Space Force’s Vector 2025 to Guide Service Transformation
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Chance Saltzman. The USSF CSO said the Space Force must remain adaptable as technologies and threats evolve.

The U.S. Space Force has released Vector 2025, a consolidated reference outlining the direction and momentum the service intends to maintain as it continues its transition into a warfighting organization. According to the service branch, the document compiles the core concepts, priorities and service-level activities that underpin the Space Force’s approach to space superiority.

Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force’s chief of space operations and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the publication is not a plan or strategy, but a “vector” meant to help Guardians understand how ongoing initiatives connect across doctrine, force design and day-to-day operations.

What Does Vector 2025 Emphasize?

The document aligns the service around its formative purpose: achieving and maintaining space superiority. It reiterates that the joint force depends on space-enabled capabilities and that the Space Force must be organized and trained to contest and control the domain against a thinking adversary.

Vector 2025 also outlines the Space Force’s theory of success, known as Competitive Endurance, which centers on avoiding operational surprise, denying adversaries a first-mover advantage and conducting responsible counterspace operations that do not create debris hazards.

How Will the Space Force Build the Force It Needs?

Vector 2025 details four service-level activities that anchor the transformation:

Force Design

This activity defines the force that the service needs five to 15 years ahead. It relies on future operating environment forecasts, wargaming, experimentation and detailed mission analysis to shape the “Objective Force,” a blueprint for capabilities, capacity and force structure. The Objective Force serves as a living reference for modernization and informs resourcing discussions with allies and partners.

Force Development

This portion focuses on improving the “Fielded Force,” blending capability development with career-long personnel training. It highlights new training pipelines for officers, enlisted Guardians and civilian professionals, as well as acquisition-specific improvements such as space-focused qualification training. Vector 2025 stresses the need to build a workforce with deep, domain-centered expertise.

Force Generation

Space Force Generation, the Space Force’s rotational readiness model, creates dedicated time for advanced training rather than relying on continuous daily operations. Vector 2025 calls for enhancing the readiness activities enabled by SPAFORGEN by expanding operational test and training infrastructure and implementing mission deltas and system deltas as integrated counterparts to strengthen unity of command and tighten coordination between readiness and capability development.

Force Employment

This activity focuses on the operational roles of Space Force units, including planning, coordinating and integrating space capabilities with the Joint Force. Vector 2025 notes that the service is maturing its component commands, strengthening their ability to shape theater plans, support global operations and provide continuous space domain awareness, defensive space control and other mission essential functions.

Why Issue Vector 2025 Now?

Saltzman wrote that the Space Force must remain adaptable as technologies and threats evolve, noting that “the difference between haste and efficiency is understanding.” He encouraged Guardians to internalize the document’s guidance to support the service’s transition into a fully realized warfighting organization.

The document consolidates direction from existing strategies and doctrine, including the Space Warfighting Framework, the Commercial Space Strategy and the forthcoming Objective Force.

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DARPA Triage Challenge Names DART, MSAI as Top Performers in Second-Year Event
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DARPA logo. DART and MSAI topped DARPA’s 2025 Triage Challenge.

DARPA has completed the second year of its Triage Challenge, awarding top spots to DART in the systems competition and MSAI in the data category as competing teams advanced new approaches to medical assessment during mass-casualty incidents. The program, launched to accelerate scalable and accurate triage tools for military and civilian crises, is now advancing to its final 2026 competition, DARPA said Friday.

DARPA Triage Challenge Names DART, MSAI as Top Performers in Second-Year Event

DARPA’s latest Triage Challenge results highlight how emerging technologies — from advanced robotics to data-driven assessment tools — are reshaping emergency response in both military and civilian settings. These rapid innovations in medical readiness and crisis care closely align with the critical conversations to be featured at the 2025 Healthcare Summit on Feb. 12, 2026, where federal health leaders will examine modernization across public health, clinical systems and mission support. Register today to be part of the discussion.

How Did Teams Perform in the Second Systems Event?

The systems competition, held at the Guardian Centers in Perry, Georgia, introduced more demanding layouts than the inaugural event and simulated scenarios such as a C-130 aircraft crash and a nighttime ambush. Smoke, darkness and visual obstructions forced teams to test whether their robots and analytic models could still identify victims and assess injuries when conditions degraded.

The DARPA-funded DART of Battelle Memorial Institute led the systems category standings, maintaining its position after taking first place in the opening event in 2024. RoboScout, another DARPA-funded team, followed in the rankings, with Coordinated Robotics performing strongly among self-funded teams. Coordinated Robotics received a $300,000 award as the highest-scoring self-funded participant, while UAS-DTU earned $150,000 for the next-highest placement among eligible entries.

DARPA-funded and self-funded teams compete together, but only self-funded contenders qualify for prize money during the first two years.

How Did the Data Event Evaluate Trauma Prediction?

The data competition measured how well teams could analyze DARPA-supplied trauma datasets to anticipate which patients were likely to require life-saving interventions. MSAI placed first in the event while Coordinated Robotics secured the second spot and received a $300,000 award. Other leading finishers included DARPA-funded AI-TEMPO, CRITIC and LENS. Battelle’s CRITIC team placed sixth in the first data event.

How Is DARPA Trying to Modernize Triage?

The Triage Challenge aims to rethink how first responders identify life-threatening injuries when they are outnumbered, environments are unsafe and time is limited. DARPA is pursuing technologies that can rapidly detect physiological signs of trauma, such as hemorrhage or airway compromise, and transmit actionable information to medics who must make high-risk decisions under pressure.

What Comes Next for the Competition?

Following this year’s joint demonstration with medic teams — a live test of how autonomous systems can support human responders in real time — DARPA is preparing for the final 2026 event. Qualification submissions for the next systems and data events are open through Jan. 2.

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DARPA Launches 2026 QBI Opportunity to Advance Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing
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Quantum computing. DARPA will welcome new entrants its program to advance the development of quantum computers

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Microsystems Technology Office has launched the 2026 edition of its Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, which aims to identify approaches for utility-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computing.

According to a notice posted on SAM.gov Friday, the agency is opening the program to new entrants to ensure that it can find and evaluate all potential approaches.

The QBI program commenced in 2024 with the goal to build utility-scale quantum computing, or USQC, by 2033. The agency recently named 11 companies that will advance to the next step of the program, a yearlong research and development phase to refine proposed approaches.

DARPA Launches 2026 QBI Opportunity to Advance Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing

Learn more about how the government intends to strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29. The in-person event will feature networking opportunities with key decision-makers and industry leaders and panel discussions on the technologies revolutionizing the future of warfare, such as quantum, artificial intelligence, 5G and Golden Dome. Secure your tickets today.

What Research Is DARPA Seeking Through QBIT Calls?

DARPA intends to issue requests for proposals for approaches that address various QBI topics, or QBITs. QBITs will focus on technical challenges that must be resolved to design, build and operate a quantum computer.

DARPA plans to verify and validate proposed paths through three stages: describing a candidate system, outlining a research and development plan to realize it, and assessing whether the concept can be built and operated as intended.

The agency intends to award other transaction agreements for eligible approaches. 

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Army’s ACWS Adoption Accelerates With Over 45,000 Contract Actions Logged in FY25
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U.S. Army official seal. The Army reported progress in its implementation of an automated contract writing system

The Army Contract Writing System, or ACWS, processed 45,324 contract actions in fiscal year 2025, a significant increase compared to 3,022 contract actions in FY24 and 95 in FY23.

The total obligated value ACWS processed grew from $39 million in FY23 to $24 million in FY24 and reached $17 billion in FY25, the Army said Friday. 

In total, the platform supports 7,273 users across commands within the continental United States and other regions like Asia, Europe and South America.

What Is the ACWS?

First rolled out in 2023, ACWS automates and streamlines the way contracting officers write and manage contracts. It is managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office Enterprise and the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement, or ODASA P. 

What Drove the Increased ACWS Adoption?

The Army credits ODASA P’s ongoing customer engagement initiatives, such as initial and release-specific user training, for the increased usage of ACWS.

At the Army Contracting Command – New Jersey, for instance, ACWS users increased from three in FY24 to 50 in FY25, with transactions growing from four to 1,160 during the same period.

Another key driver of service-wide adoption is the program’s quick response to trouble tickets.

Lt. Col. Camille Morgan, product manager for ACWS at PEO Enterprise, shared that the platform improved user experience through the collaboration among the program office, functional sponsor and system integrators, and field user representatives. 

“ACWS enhanced its architecture to handle surges, improve interface performance and support service desk needs with targeted functional and technical expertise,” the official said. “When users are able to get their mission done faster and easier in ACWS, they promote that capability to others.”

The service desk made significant progress in reducing backlogs, with Tier 3 critical incidents dropping 83 percent from 808 to 133 between February and September. The Army reported over 10,000 incidents resolved throughout FY25. 

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MITRE Outlines Recommendations to Reshape DOD Acquisition Culture
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MITRE logo. MITRE has released a report outlining recommendations to enhance the Department of Defense's acquisition system.

MITRE has released a paper outlining seven actionable recommendations intended to address the challenges in the Department of Defense’s acquisition system.

The report, Bridging the Gap Between Authority and Execution in Transforming the Warfighting Acquisition Workforce, argues that culture, incentives and workforce behavior must align with reform efforts aimed at accelerating the delivery of warfighting capabilities.

What Challenges Have Slowed Past DOD Acquisition Reforms?

According to the report, the DOD’s acquisition system remains heavily compliance-driven, which discourages risk-taking and slows innovation. Short leadership tenures prevent lasting cultural change, while tools designed for speed, such as the Middle Tier of Acquisition, or MTA, pathway, have become burdened with additional requirements and legacy acquisition processes, making them nearly as slow as the traditional Major Capability Acquisition, or MCA. Additionally, the separation between operational users and acquisition teams limits feedback and hinders reform efforts aimed at enhancing acquisition and contracting processes.

What Are MITRE’s Recommendations for Defense Acquisition Reform?

MITRE outlines several key actions to strengthen the acquisition workforce and accelerate capability delivery:

  • Revise audit protocols to promote calculated risk-taking.
  • Coordinate efforts between acquisition and operations to enhance mission-driven collaboration.
  • Enable leadership at every level to champion cultural change.
  • Grant MCA programs greater flexibility to adjust baselines in response to requirements changes.
  • Shift from continuous analysis to streamlined analysis of alternative, or AoA, studies to fast-track MCA progress.
  • Optimize the MTA framework to accelerate capability deployment.
  • Provide programs with tools and guidance to refine acquisition strategies.
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