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Deputy Defense Secretary Highlights 4 Priorities for Competition With China
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Deputy Defense Secretary Highlights 4 Priorities for Competition With China

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, a 2024 Wash100 awardee, has outlined a plan to be successful in strategic competition with China.

During a keynote address at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington on Friday, Hicks spoke on the top four lessons she views as vital for staying ahead of China as one of the United States’ most significant competitors.

Focusing on Top Priorities 

With the department monitoring China’s attempts to build a modern military for the past 25 years, Hicks believes the DOD must focus on priorities like creating a strategy to battle China’s military. 

“So, [current defense policy makers] came into office determined to build on the progress of our predecessors — from both parties — and to unlock necessary changes,” Hicks said. 

“Senior decision makers must rigorously align ends, ways and means to ensure the strategy itself remains right and DOD can deliver on it,” she continued. 

Execution & Delivery

Throughout the intensifying strategic competition with China, the U.S. military has executed and delivered various capabilities.

“From day one, we’ve focused relentlessly on driving changes needed to outpace the PRC and ensure our enduring military advantage,” Hicks stated. “The result has been a more modernized, lethal, agile force across our capabilities, operational concepts, posture and much more.”

However, Hicks additionally highlighted China’s ability to be a “fast follower” and urged defense leaders to use discretion with strategies and efforts related to strategic competition.

Competitive Advantage 

Hicks emphasized how the nation’s strong network of allies across the world will serve as a competitive advantage over China. 

“Around the world, America’s friends and allies have been substantially contributing to the common defense … And when Beijing sees — as they did last year — navy ships from Canada, Germany and [other countries] peacefully sailing through the Taiwan Strait, they’re reminded that America is hardly the only democracy that wants to see stability and prosperity prevail over chaos and conflict,” Hicks said.

She went on to note that the DOD’s partnership with government, industry, academia and non-profits is also an advantage.

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OPM Appoints Melvin Brown II as CIO
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OPM Appoints Melvin Brown II as CIO

The Office of Personnel Management has promoted Melvin Brown II, deputy chief information officer, to CIO.

Brown announced his appointment in a LinkedIn post published Sunday.

He succeeded Guy Cavallo, who retired from federal service after over two decades in government.

Melvin Brown II’s Career Background

According to his profile on the professional networking site, he previously served as a director at the Small Business Administration before joining OPM as deputy CIO in 2021.

Brown spent nearly eight years at the Department of Homeland Security, where he served as a senior adviser to the Presidential Transition Office, program manager for the Supply Chain Management Initiative and program manager for the Performance and Learning Management System.

The U.S. Marine Corps veteran also served as chief of staff within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Information Technology and program manager for the Knowledge Services Network at the Federal Aviation Administration.

He additionally served as an adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix for 14 years.

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Marine Corps Issues Generative AI Guidance
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Marine Corps Issues Generative AI Guidance

The U.S. Marine Corps has released new guidance on the development, deployment and use of large language models and other generative artificial intelligence technologies within the service branch, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

Guidance for GenAI System Owners, Developers

Unveiled in December, the USMC Guidance on Generative Artificial Intelligence states that GenAI system owners and developers should obtain appropriate approvals for processing classified and sensitive information in compliance with existing software and container security policy and develop processes to document the source and attributes of training data before building or fine-tuning a GenAI model.

They should also test and evaluate GenAI systems in a controlled environment to ensure that such tools operate as expected and provide transparency and explainability for model outputs as required.

Instructions for GenAI System Users

GenAI system users should “distrust and verify all outputs prior to use” and use their best judgment when determining whether to add a citation.

The guidance holds users responsible for the data they input into publicly accessible GenAI tools. Users should also adhere to cybersecurity, legal, operational security, information and classification policies.

Establishment of AI Task Forces

The document directs commands to establish AI task forces or cells to help evaluate existing and in-development GenAI tools for applicability for use within the military branch.

Commands should also come up with a list of forthcoming preferred GenAI systems aligned with common use cases as a reference for USMC organizations seeking to meet their mission requirements with GenAI platforms.

According to the guidance, commands should ensure that developers, system owners and users use appropriate risk assessment frameworks for GenAI systems.

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CDAO Scales Digital Tools Through Open DAGIR
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CDAO Scales Digital Tools Through Open DAGIR

The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has scaled AI, data capabilities and other digital tools since launching the Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories, or Open DAGIR, construct in May 2024.

“Over the last six months, CDAO has created a modular, interoperable ecosystem of digital capabilities for different use cases at the DoD,” Chief Digital and AI Officer Radha Plumb said in a statement published Friday.

“From enterprise analytics to strategic command and control to the tactical edge, the Open DAGIR approach is paying dividends in getting our warfighters the digital capabilities they need,” she added.

Applying Open DAGIR Across 3 Lines of Effort

In the past six months, CDAO said it has implemented the Open DAGIR approach across three lines of effort: strategic command and control; enterprise analytics; and edge data integration services.

Under the first line of effort, the office created onboarding pathways for capabilities from the government and third-party vendors onto the Maven Smart Systems data environment.

For enterprise analytics, DOD is moving from a single-award contract for its platform of record, Advana, to a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract and has invested in the DevSecOps pipeline to accelerate updates and boost throughput from various developers.

For the third line of effort, CDAO is scaling a tactical edge data integration services platform that will allow warfighters to share data during command and control. The office is advancing the development of an app store and a common development environment to enable end users to access various apps.

AI Infrastructure: CDAO’s Next Line of Effort

“Our next line of effort focused on investing in AI infrastructure will help accelerate the Department’s ability to leverage frontier AI capabilities in months instead of years, translating to continued and enduring advantage for our military,” Plumb stated.

In mid-January, CDAO plans to release an initial draft of metrics to monitor progress to actioning Open DAGIR principles to drive data-based decision-making and transparency.

In the spring, the office will host an industry day to accelerate DOD’s partnerships with AI infrastructure providers and AI labs.

What Is Open DAGIR?

In May 2024, CDAO launched Open DAGIR as a multivendor ecosystem that could enable government and industry to integrate and scale data, AI and analytics capabilities as well as protect industry’s intellectual property and government data ownership.

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New CISA Report Reveals Improved Cybersecurity Across CI Sector
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New CISA Report Reveals Improved Cybersecurity Across CI Sector

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has reported significant progress in improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity and resilience since the implementation of its cross-sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals. The agency on Friday published the results of its analysis of 7,791 critical infrastructure organizations enrolled in its vulnerability scanning service from 2022 through 2024.

The CPG, issued in October 2022, is a set of voluntary practices designed to empower critical infrastructure operators to defend their networks against cyberthreats. The CPG offers guidance for organizations that may lack the knowledge and resources to adopt tools or roll out programs that could strengthen their network resilience. 

CISA Shares Cyber Hygiene Enrollment Rate

CISA’s Cyber Hygiene service enrollment rate over the past two years increased by 201 percent. The communications sector saw the largest enrollment jump at 300 percent, with enrollments across emergency services, critical manufacturing, and water and wastewater system sectors also seeing over 200 percent growth. 

Improved Cybersecurity Across US Critical Infrastructure Sector

One of the progress points the agency shared in the report is the decline in known exploited vulnerabilities, or KEVs, among entities enrolled in the government’s vulnerability scanning service. Since 2022, the average number of KEVs in assets accessible to the internet among critical infrastructure organizations declined. The trend shows that companies are prioritizing the remediation of network flaws based on CISA’s KEV catalog. 

The agency also saw improvements in Secure Sockets Layer misconfigurations, which decreased on average from 3.8 in the first 11 months of the CPG implementation to 2.5 in the past 12 months. 

Also highlighted in the report the persistence of operational technology protocols exposed to the internet. The government, according to the agency, accounts for the highest OT/Industrial Control System protocols exposed to the public internet at 63 percent. IT, energy, healthcare and public health, and financial services make up the top five of the sectors with the highest occurrences.

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NRO Launches NROL-153 Mission
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NRO Launches NROL-153 Mission

The National Reconnaissance Office launched the NROL-153 mission from Space Launch Complex-4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Jan. 9.

The agency said Thursday it collaborated with Space Force Space Launch Delta 30 and SpaceX for the launch of the NROL-153 mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

NROL Missions

NRO is reportedly working to enhance its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR, capabilities. It is scheduled to launch 12 missions in 2025 with the goal of advancing the agency’s proliferated architecture by adding additional proliferated launches until 2028 that will ensure sustained growth and innovation.

The latest launch is the seventh mission in support of NRO’s proliferated architecture. It is also the first of the 12 planned 2025 missions. The NROL-153 follows the recent launch of the NROL-149 on Dec. 17 last year, one of almost 100 satellites deployed in orbit.

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HHS Publishes AI Strategy Roadmap Focused on Innovation, Safe Use
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HHS Publishes AI Strategy Roadmap Focused on Innovation, Safe Use

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced four objectives guiding its new artificial intelligence strategy’s implementation, with a push on innovation as one of the initiatives lined up. The AI Strategic Plan supports the department’s goal of protecting and enhancing Americans’ health, while also pursuing the responsible use of emerging technologies, HHS said Friday.

The plan’s drive toward AI innovation aims at expanding the technology’s use across value chains and infrastructure modernization and public-private partnerships to support AI adoption. To advance the roadmap’s work on AI safety and responsible use, the initiatives include the development of HHS standards on the utilization of federal resources for trustworthy AI use.

Information-Sharing and Partnerships

In addition, the strategic plan is geared to support information-sharing methods on standards, best practices and potential partnerships. The roadmap’s objectives also include the development of open-source AI tools with user-friendly and customizable features to democratize access to the technology.

As its fourth objective, the HHS plan will pursue measures to grow AI-empowered workforces and organizations to enable staff to make the best use of the technology.

Deputy HHS Secretary Andrea Palm expressed optimism for AI’s transformational potential to support U.S. health services delivery.

“These technologies hold unparalleled ability to drive innovation through accelerating scientific breakthroughs, improving medical product safety and effectiveness, improving health outcomes through care delivery, increasing access to human services, and optimizing public health,” she said.

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US, Italy Seek to Provide Lunar PNT Capabilities via GNSS
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US, Italy Seek to Provide Lunar PNT Capabilities via GNSS

NASA and the Italian Space Agency are collaborating on the Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment, or LuGRE, which seeks to demonstrate the viability of providing positioning, navigation and timing capabilities on the moon using U.S. GPS and European Union Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System signals.

Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment

NASA said Friday that near-Earth missions already take advantage of GPS and GNSS, but LuGRE will work to acquire these signals on the way to the moon, while in lunar orbit and on the moon’s surface. The success of the experiment will show the possibility of spacecraft using existing GNSS satellites for navigation even at lunar distances rather than relying on stations on the Earth’s surface.

Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator at NASA and manager of the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation Program, said, “GPS makes our lives safer and more viable here on Earth. As we seek to extend humanity beyond our home planet, LuGRE should confirm that this extraordinary technology can do the same for us on the moon.”

For his part, Joel Parker, PNT policy lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said, “This mission is more than a technological milestone. We want to enable more and better missions to the Moon for the benefit of everyone, and we want to do it together with our international partners.”

Data to be collected by the effort will subsequently be made available to improve access to lunar GNSS research information.

Blue Ghost 1 Mission

The LuGRE payload will be transported to the moon along with nine other instruments aboard the Blue Ghost 1 mission as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. Firefly Aerospace is providing the lunar lander while SpaceX is providing the launch vehicle.

The target launch date is Jan. 15.

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DAF Issues RFI for Wideband Global Satellite Communications
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DAF Issues RFI for Wideband Global Satellite Communications

The Department of the Air Force has started seeking industry input for the design modification of the Wideband Global Satellite Communications, or WGS, Joint Hub for commercial Medium Earth Orbit and Geostationary Earth Orbit applications.

According to the notice posted on SAM.gov Friday, the DAF is conducting market research to determine the potential cost, schedule and effort for the project.

Protected Tactical Enterprise Service

The Protected Tactical Enterprise Service, or PTES, constitutes the ground system of the system delivering an anti-jam wideband SATCOM capability. It includes components for the Joint Hub, Mission Management System, Key Management System, Key Loading and Initialization Facility, and Network Management System. 

The PTES aims to support warfighters utilizing the WGS satellites while later phases will support other suitable satellites that can serve as a transponder for the Protected Tactical Waveform. PTES JHs are being developed for WGS support and utilized with user terminals to aid PTW operations. A Joint Hub Variant, or JHV, will also be developed with MMS upgrades to provide support to MEO and other satellite systems.

The request for information also focuses on Phase 3 of the PTW over Commercial, or PTWoC, MEO effort, where PTW services will be added to Phase 2 teleport terminals.

Interested contractors, particularly small and small disadvantaged businesses, may send their responses by March 12. Federally Funded Research and Development Center and Advisory and Assistance Services contractors such as the Aerospace Corporation, MITRE, Linquest Systems Engineering & Integration and Booz Allen Hamilton may assist in reviewing the RFI responses.

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NTIA Awards $117M for Wireless Innovation
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NTIA Awards $117M for Wireless Innovation

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has awarded over $117.4 million in grants to nine organizations for the development of open and interoperable wireless networks.

NTIA said Friday the awards belong to the second batch of grants from the $1.5 billion Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. The innovation fund is intended for the development of open and interoperable wireless innovations to drive competition, enhance supply chain resilience and reduce network operator and consumer expenses.

NTIA Grant Recipients

The selected projects, which aim to advance open radio unit innovation and commercialization, are:

  • Airspan Networks was awarded $42.7 million for Highly Efficient 4G/5G O-RU Extensible Platform.
  • Analog Devices received $10 million for Rakino Direct RF radio platform.
  • DeepSig secured $10 million for artificial-intelligence-enabled O-RU Spectrum Awareness.
  • EpiSys Science was awarded $8.2 million for its Sidelink + ULPI: Unlocking O-RAN for 6G project.
  • New York University also received $10 million for its Spectrally Agile and Scalable Open Radio Units for the Upper Mid-Band project.
  • Otava landed a $10 million grant for its project called Advancing RF Component Design for New FR3 Spectrum.
  • Rampart Communications secured $10 million for Advanced Signal Processing Enhancement for Next-Generation, or ASPEN, open radio units. The company will work with Virginia Tech to develop a novel 6G physical layer technology.
  • SecureG was awarded $6.5 million for Unlocking O-RU Adoption and Growth with Supply Chain Traceability Registry Platform.
  • Skylark Wireless received $10.1 million for its Architecture for Massive-MIMO Open RAN Energy-efficient Devices, or ArMORED, project.

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 5G Summit on Feb. 27 to learn more about how 5G and FutureG will enhance national security and public safety. Register here.

NTIA Awards $117M for Wireless Innovation
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