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Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein Assumes Command of NRO as Deputy Director
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Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein Assumes Command of NRO as Deputy Director


Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein Assumes Command of NRO as Deputy Director
Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein

U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Guetlein has started his tenure as the National Reconnaissance Office’s deputy director. NRO said Tuesday that it held an Assumption of Command ceremony on Monday to welcome Guetlein to the agency. Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of USAF Space Command, presided over the ceremony.

The newly appointed deputy director will help Christopher Scolese, NRO’s director, manage the agency’s strategic and tactical activities. Guetlein will also command NRO efforts associated with USAF Space Command and advise on military-related matters.

He joins NRO from the Missile Defense Agency where he oversaw programs and integration on an executive level. The Senate confirmed Scolese as NRO’s director in late June.

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Report: Vice Adm. Michael Gilday Among Top Candidates for CNO Role
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Report: Vice Adm. Michael Gilday Among Top Candidates for CNO Role


Report: Vice Adm. Michael Gilday Among Top Candidates for CNO Role
Vice Adm. Michael Gilday

Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, director of the Joint Staff, has emerged as one of the top contenders for the role of chief of naval operations, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Sources said Gilday would bring his experience in cyber warfare to the role if he were to be nominated and confirmed. He is former head of U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and 10th Fleet. Navy Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award Richard Spencer considers recommending a three-star admiral for the CNO job, according to people familiar with the matter.

Spencer “is committed to quickly recommending a new CNO for nomination, and he will move to that decision urgently but deliberately,” said Cmdr. Sarah Higgins, a spokesperson for the secretary. “This position is one of importance and responsibility and as such it is necessary to ensure the right person is recommended. We will not share details of where the secretary is in the decision-making process.”

Adm. Bill Moran, who received Senate confirmation in May for the CNO position, announced this month his plan to retire and decision to decline his appointment to the role. The report noted that Adm. John Richardson will step down in September as CNO. Vice Adm. Robert Burke, vice CNO, could assume the role of acting CNO if the position remains unfilled by September.

Emily Murphy: IT Modernization, Customer Experience Among Key Capacities GSA Requires
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Emily Murphy: IT Modernization, Customer Experience Among Key Capacities GSA Requires


Emily Murphy: IT Modernization, Customer Experience Among Key Capacities GSA Requires
Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration

Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration, told Federal News Network in an interview published Tuesday that she has been focusing on four key capacities GSA needs and those are information technology modernization, customer experience, change management and data and analytics.

“If I can help implement those, it’s going to help GSA expand to meet the needs our customers come to us with in a way that I couldn’t even begin to imagine today,” she said.

Murphy, a 2019 Wash100 Award winner, noted that she is working on four areas and one of those is robotic process automation.

“We learned that we couldn’t just think of it as RPA, but it’s really looking at as an eliminate, optimize and automate program,” she said. “We’ve been able to save 70,000 hours worth of GSA labor so far and we’ve got another 200,000 hours identified that we’re going to be addressing.”

The three other focus areas Murphy discussed during the interview are the federal marketplace, lease cost savings work and shared services. She also offered updates on the public building service and GSA’s efforts to recruit, retain and reskill its personnel.

Matthew Donovan Announces ‘Digital Air Force’ Initiative
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Matthew Donovan Announces ‘Digital Air Force’ Initiative


Matthew Donovan Announces ‘Digital Air Force’ Initiative
Matthew Donovan, Acting Secretary of the U.S. Air Force

Matthew Donovan, acting secretary of the U.S. Air Force, has launched a new initiative to advance reforms and leverage a connected network of weapons, analytic tools and sensors to counter potential adversaries.

“Our advantage in future battles depends on our ability to fuse vast amounts of data to accelerate our decision cycle to guarantee the success of any mission. Victory in combat will depend on us becoming a Digital Air Force,” Donovan said in a release published Tuesday.

The Digital Air Force initiative intends to deploy an information technology infrastructure responsive to modern combat requirements, leverage data as the framework of machine learning and artificial intelligence to facilitate the decision-making process and enhance warfighter support and implement Agile business practices to improve the efficiency of the management enterprise.

“Every segment of the Air Force will be impacted by these changes: we are driving to integrate warfighting, information operations, cyber, and business practices as a vehicle for dominating great-power competition,” the document noted. “The weight of this reform demands direction from the most senior levels, so the Under Secretary of the Air Force will oversee and manage this critical path forward.”

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CGI Federal President Tim Hurlebaus Appointed to PSC Executive Committee; PV Puvvada Quoted
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CGI Federal President Tim Hurlebaus Appointed to PSC Executive Committee; PV Puvvada Quoted

 

CGI Federal President Tim Hurlebaus Appointed to PSC Executive Committee; PV Puvvada Quoted
Tim Hurlebaus, President of CGI Federal

The Professional Services Council announced on Wednesday that Tim Hurlebaus, president of CGI Federal and a 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, has been appointed to join PSC’s Executive Committee. He was appointed by PV Puvvada, president of Unisys Federal, chairman of PSC’s Board of Directors and a five-time winner of the Wash100 Award.

“Tim has been an active leader on PSC’s Board for the past four years, serving on various committees and offering his expertise to advance the association’s mission,” said Puvvada. “I’m confident he will continue to help PSC reach its goals through his service on the Executive Committee.”

Hurlebaus joins existing members of the Executive Committee:

  • Greg J. Baroni, Chairman and CEO, Attain, LLC
  • Michele Bolos, Founder and CEO, NT Concepts
  • Teresa Carlson, VP of Amazon Web Services’ Public Sector, 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • Babs Doherty, President and CEO, Eagle Ray
  • Kathleen Flanagan, President and CEO, Abt Associates
  • Randall C. Fuerst, President and CEO, Oceus Networks
  • John B. Goodman, CEO, Accenture Federal Services and a 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • John Heller, CEO, PAE and a 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • Roger Krone, Chairman and CEO, Leidos and a 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • Maria A. Proestou, CEO, DELTA Resources, Inc.
  • Venkatapathi R. Puvvada, President, Unisys Federal and a 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • Julian Setian, CEO, SOS International LLC (SOSi) and a 2019 Wash100 Awardee
  • Carey A. Smith, COO, Parsons Government Services
  • Julie Susman, President and CEO, Jefferson Consulting Group
  • William L. Vantine, Ph.D., President and CEO, Systems Planning and Analysis

About the Professional Services Council 

The Board and its Executive Committee are responsible for policy oversight and for setting the direction of the association, which is in its 47th year as the voice of the government technology and professional services industry.

PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s more than 400 member companies represent small, medium and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states.

 

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Daniel Kroese, Associate Director of DHS’ National Risk Management Center, Announced as a Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th
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Daniel Kroese, Associate Director of DHS’ National Risk Management Center, Announced as a Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th


Daniel Kroese, Associate Director of DHS’ National Risk Management Center, Announced as a Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th
Daniel Kroese

Daniel Kroese, associate director of the National Risk Management Center for the Department of Homeland Security, will be featured as a panelist during Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th. Register now for the forum right here.

During the forum, GovCon and industry leaders from the public and private sectors will discuss how federal agencies protect, defend and secure supply chains from susceptible threats and the challenges that arise as technology becomes more fundamental to supply chains.

Kroese has served in his current role with NRMC since April 2018 and his focus on strategic engagement. Prior to his tenure with NRMC, Kroese served as senior advisor to Christopher Krebs, the director of DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient.

While in the role, he led the planning efforts to create the first-of-its-kind DHS National Cyber Summit that has been widely applauded as a groundbreaking moment for enhanced collaboration between the public and private sector on cybersecurity risk management.

In addition, Kroese has served as the chief of staff for Congressman John Ratcliffe, who chairs the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee in the House of Representatives. Kroese has participated in a vast number of important cybersecurity debates and developed deep connections across industry and government alike.

Daniel Kroese, Associate Director of DHS’ National Risk Management Center, Announced as a Panelist for Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th

Cheri Caddy of the NSA, Keith Nakasone of GSA, Tina Kuhn of Cybercore Technologies and Don Davidson of Synopsys will be joining Kroese as panelists during the forum with Jill Singer of AT&T and another  2019 Wash100 Award recipient serving as the panel’s moderator. Kristen Baldwin of the DoD will serve as the keynote speaker for the event as well.

Don’t miss out on Potomac Officers Club’s 2019 Secure Supply Chain Forum on July 18th. Register now for the forum right here.

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U.S. Naval Research Laboratory ‘Connects the Dots’ for Quantum Networks
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U.S. Naval Research Laboratory ‘Connects the Dots’ for Quantum Networks


Jeff Brody

Naval Research Laboratory has created a quantum science technique designed to release single photos or individual light particles of the same color. NRL said Monday that its new technique compresses quantum dots to produce photons that could be less than millionth a meter away from each other.

Allan Bracker, a chemist from NRL, said the discovery may support efforts to develop quantum information technologies and brain-inspired computing.

“NRL’s new method for tuning the wavelength of quantum dots could enable new technologies that use the strange properties of quantum physics for computing, communication and sensing,” Bracker said.

Quantum dots or small particles must release light at equal wavelengths to interact with one another. These particles do not come in the same size upon creation, but NRL’s new technology allows for emissions of light at the same wavelength.

“Instead of making quantum dots perfectly identical to begin with, we change their wavelength afterwards by shrink-wrapping them with laser-crystallized hafnium oxide,” said Joel Grim, an NRL physicist who serves as the project’s lead researcher.

SBA Announces Funding Competition to Organizations Providing Training to Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurs
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SBA Announces Funding Competition to Organizations Providing Training to Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurs


Jeff Brody

The Small Business Administration intends to award grants up to $150,000 to non-profit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies to implement entrepreneurship training programs to service-disabled veterans. In addition, $300,000 will be provided to six recipients to support developmental initiatives for veterans to assist them in establishing small business through the Service-Disabled Entrepreneurship Training Program, SBA said Monday.

Interested participants may submit their applications online through July 24. The agency is slated to conduct a conference call on Thursday to respond to queries in line with the funding opportunity.

“We look forward to working with the awardee(s) to provide more service-disabled veterans and their families with the training and resources they need to start or grow a small business,” said Larry Stubblefield, associate administrator at SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development.

NIST Seeks Feedback on Draft Plan to Drive AI Dev’t
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NIST Seeks Feedback on Draft Plan to Drive AI Dev’t


Jeff Brody

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is looking for public input on a draft plan to promote government and industry engagement in artificial intelligence initiatives for economic and national security applications. 

The Commerce Department component said in a statement that the “U.S. Leadership in AI: Plan for Federal Engagement in Developing Technical Standards and Related Tools” strategy will focus on developing AI-related standards, promoting coordination among federal leaders, driving AI “trustworthiness” research, expanding public-private partnerships and driving international collaborations.

“The federal government has an important role to play, in partnership with industry and academia, to ensure that the U.S. maintains its leadership in AI. We want to make the most of this technology, while ensuring safety, privacy and security,” said Walter Copan, NIST director and undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology.

The draft plan was created to support the American AI Initiative and comply with a February 2019 Executive Order on push U.S. leadership in AI. Interested parties may submit feedback through July 19.

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Coast Guard: Ships Should Augment Cybersecurity Measures
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Coast Guard: Ships Should Augment Cybersecurity Measures


Jeff Brody

The U.S. Coast Guard is urging vessels to update their cybersecurity systems amid a recent malware attack on a deep draft ship en route to New York, The Hill reported Monday. The agency advised the service branches to create employee logins, segment networks, develop patches and install antivirus software to deter foreign actors from accessing ships.

According to an analysis by the Coast Guard, the cyberattack affected the vessel’s computer systems and its functions. In addition, the agency discovered that the ship operated without any installed cybersecurity platforms.

“With engines that are controlled by mouse clicks, and growing reliance on electronic charting and navigation systems, protecting these systems with proper cybersecurity measures is as essential as controlling physical access to the ship or performing routine maintenance on traditional machinery,” the Coast Guard said.

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