DoD to Boost Rare Earth Mineral Production to Reduce Dependence on China
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DoD to Boost Rare Earth Mineral Production to Reduce Dependence on China


Jeff Brody

The Department of Defense is requesting funds to increase the production of rare earth minerals in the U.S. to reduce the country’s reliance on China, Reuters reported Thursday.

Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Andrews, a spokesman for DoD, said the department’s request was included in a report submitted to the White House as part of a federal program seeking to offer economic incentives to boost domestic manufacturing capabilities. “The department continues to work closely with the president, Congress and U.S. industry to improve U.S. competitiveness in the mineral market,” Andrews told the publication.

Rare earth minerals are a set of 17 chemical elements used in lasers, satellites, jet engines and other military systems as well as in consumer products.

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OIG Recommends Implementation of Compliant FDIC Network Firewalls
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OIG Recommends Implementation of Compliant FDIC Network Firewalls


Jeff Brody

The Office of Inspector General provided 10 recommendations to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help reinforce its network firewalls. OIG said in an audit that it discovered vulnerabilities at the FDIC network firewalls that may have mitigated their capacity to track and repel cyberattacks. 

The findings stated that the firewalls did not meet system configuration requirements, lacked rules and documentation and did not utilize administrators for authentication functions. The recommendations included the implementation of an evaluation process, a review of all network firewalls and the establishment of a compliant firewall policy.

The report noted that the FDIC recorded 985 cybersecurity cases from 2014 to 2017 with 12 cases marked as major incidents.

DHS S&T to Participate in FEMA Earthquake Response Event
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DHS S&T to Participate in FEMA Earthquake Response Event


Jeff Brody

The Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate in a Federal Emergency Management Agency exercise intending to simulate earthquake response and recovery efforts in Memphis, Tenn, DHS said Wednesday.

The agency will team up with local, state, federal and international organizations to assess approaches and technologies in urban search and rescue and information sharing functions as part of the three-day Shaken Fury 2019 event. DHS S&T will also test an autonomous search and rescue tool, a heartbeat detector and an online regional information portal developed in partnership with the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium.

“This exercise gives us a great opportunity to get diverse and unique perspectives from federal, state and local agencies, vendors, and first responders on our suite of technologies,” said William Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary for science and technology at DHS. “Some emergencies, like earthquakes, come with little-to-no warning, so being able to plan with multiple organizations is important to building a prepared and resilient nation,” added Bryan.

Fleet Cyber Command’s Civilian Employees Offered Transition to Navy’s Enterprise Cyber Service
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Fleet Cyber Command’s Civilian Employees Offered Transition to Navy’s Enterprise Cyber Service


Jeff Brody

Employees under the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command’s General Schedule unit may opt to shift their duties to the Department of the Navy’s Cyber Excepted Service through August 18th, the Navy said Wednesday. Congress authorized the Department of Defense to create the enterprise-wide CES personnel system in 2016 to improve the management of civilian cyber personnel.

Current GS staff are allowed to accept or decline the voluntary CES conversion within 30 days through FCC-issued letters. Employees who choose to transition will not experience changes in job title, responsibilities or salary and may compete for other CES positions. DoD personnel may experience changes under the CES system such as rotational assignments, qualification-based promotion and compensation initiatives.

According to the Navy, the CES system intends to “promote a culture that is based upon mission requirements and employee capabilities.” The CES implementation strategy, which began in August 2017, is divided into three phases with the last increment slated to commence in January 2023.

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Chris Pehrson, VP of Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Receives Executive Mosaic’s Chairman’s Award
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Chris Pehrson, VP of Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Receives Executive Mosaic’s Chairman’s Award


Chris Pehrson, VP of Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Receives Executive Mosaic’s Chairman’s Award
Chris Pehrson (L) and Jim Garrettson (R)

Jim Garrettson, chief executive officer of Executive Mosaic, presented Chris Pehrson, vice president of Strategic Development for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, with the Chairman’s Award for completing his second year as chairman of the Unmanned Systems Group for Executive Mosaic’s 4×24 program.

In his current role, Pehrson is responsible for sustaining and growing lines of business generating over $2 billion in annual revenue. He helps develop business strategy and leads a team of business development professionals to provide the Department of Defense and other customers with effective, reliable and affordable capabilities. Pehrson has held the role since June 2016. He also served the company as the director and senior director of Strategic Development since 2010.

In addition, Pehrson commanded an operations group and two squadrons, completed staff tours at Headquarters Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He earned 3,500 flying hours as a Command Pilot and Electronic Warfare Officer for the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a colonel from the service branch after 24 years of service.

He graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science in 1987 where he also received the President’s Achievement Award for Science and Technology. Pehrson went on to earn a Masters of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Boston University in 1992, another M.S. in Logistics from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology in 2000 and an M.A. in Strategic Studies from Air War College in 2006.

Pehrson has also worked with the Air Force Association, the Army Aviation Association of America, the Marine Corps. Aviation Association, the Boy Scouts of America and the Association of the U.S. Army.

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Census Bureau Wants to Build AI Bot to Accelerate ATO Processing
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Census Bureau Wants to Build AI Bot to Accelerate ATO Processing


Jeff Brody

The Census Bureau aims to develop an artificial intelligence-based tool to streamline and speed up the process to grant authority to operate for new systems and applications, Nextgov reported Wednesday. The effort is being led by the Census FISMAtic team. Officials said the AI bot would work like the Clippy automated assistant that supported Microsoft Office products from 1997 to 2007.

Alex Cohen, program manager for Census’ Center for Applied Technology, said the tool would read all existing ATOs, find commonalities between approved applications and apply language processing to establish a response to future applications. 

“The goal is to take all the ATOs the Census Bureau has done… and write some natural language processing tools that look through those looking for commonalities in the way responses are written,” he said. 

Cohen noted his team is developing what the tool will look like and how the machine learning and AI would work. They plan to collect sample ATOs from Census Bureau to train the AI bot to read applications and provide responses. 

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Senate Committee Wants Army to Oversee Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System
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Senate Committee Wants Army to Oversee Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense System


Jeff Brody

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to see the U.S. Army in charge of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, a platform designed to deter ballistic missiles, Defense News reported Wednesday. The committee released an executive summary of the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill to mandate the Missile Defense Agency to turn THAAD’s responsibility over to the Army.

The transfer would include procurement and sustainment funds allotted for the THAAD system. The Army’s layered missile defense includes THAAD that neutralizes enemy ballistic missiles during a flight’s terminal phase, the report noted. Soldiers use the system to launch interceptors against ballistic missile threats.

For years, the branch has been the system’s user, while MDA oversees development. Leadership from both sides would not reject the turnover if funds are available without compromising other defense projects, the report noted.

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Perspecta Receives 2019 Corporate Growth Award From ACG National Capital; Mac Curtis Quoted
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Perspecta Receives 2019 Corporate Growth Award From ACG National Capital; Mac Curtis Quoted


Perspecta Receives 2019 Corporate Growth Award From ACG National Capital; Mac Curtis Quoted
Mac Curtis, President and CEO of Perspecta

ACG National Capital presented the 2019 Corporate Growth Award for Deal Team of the Year to Perspecta on May 14th, Perspecta announced on Thursday.

On May 31, 2018, Perspecta Inc. became an independent company formed by the spin-off of the DXC Technology Company U.S. Public Sector business, and the merger with Vencore Holding Corporation (Vencore) and KGS Holding Corporation (KeyPoint).

On June 1, 2018, Perspecta began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “PRSP.” The deal team that created Perspecta was comprised of executive leaders from DXC Technology Company and Veritas Capital. The deal created more focused, profitable companies with enhanced growth potential at both Perspecta and DXC.

The Corporate Growth Awards are presented to the companies and individuals for their accomplishments in crafting and executing successful growth strategies and deals. Perspecta was chosen ahead of more than 100 recent transformational transactions and deals executed in the greater Washington D.C. area by the 2019 Corporate Growth Awards Committee.

“I am honored to accept this award on behalf of a stellar team of dealmakers who had the foresight to recognize the value and differentiation that Perspecta would create in the government contracting marketplace,” said Mac Curtis, president and CEO of Perspecta and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient.

“The focused effort on the part of the deal team that went into making Perspecta a reality will deliver lasting value to customers, employees and shareholders on all sides of the transaction,” he added.

About Perspecta

At Perspecta, we question, we seek and we solve. Perspecta brings a diverse set of capabilities to our U.S. government customers in defense, intelligence, civilian, health care and state and local markets. Our 260+ issued, licensed and pending patents are more than just pieces of paper, they tell the story of our innovation.

With offerings in mission services, digital transformation and enterprise operations, our team of 14,000 engineers, analysts, investigators and architects work tirelessly to not only execute the mission, but build and support the backbone that enables it. Perspecta was formed to take on big challenges. We are an engine for growth and success and we enable our customers to build a better nation.

Air Force Assuming Responsibility for Future Narrowband Satcom Capabilities
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Air Force Assuming Responsibility for Future Narrowband Satcom Capabilities


Jeff Brody

The U.S. Navy will transition responsibility for future narrowband satellite communications capabilities to the U.S. Air Force to facilitate the development of an integrated space architecture, the Air Force reported Wednesday. 

“Completing this transfer now would be a prudent step toward consolidating space capabilities, consistent with Space Policy Directive-4,” USAF Secretary Heather Wilson and Navy Secretary Richard Spencer wrote in a memorandum dated Tuesday. Wilson and Spencer are both 2019 Wash100 Award recipients.

The memo requires the creation of a working group to report on risk areas and mitigation, joint force requirements and required resources to facilitate the transfer, which aims to address concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office and Congress with regard to the alignment of major space initiatives. 

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NASA to Retain 2020 SLS Launch Sched if Requirements Met; Bill Hill Quoted
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NASA to Retain 2020 SLS Launch Sched if Requirements Met; Bill Hill Quoted


NASA to Retain 2020 SLS Launch Sched if Requirements Met; Bill Hill Quoted
Bill Hill

NASA will still lift off the Space Launch System by 2020 if the vehicle’s core stage is completed within this year and tests go according to schedule, Space News reported Wednesday. The space agency intends to retain the 2020 launch schedule amid static-fire test plans for SLS’ core stage.

NASA must complete the potential test within six months or less, according to Bill Hill, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development. He said at a NASA Advisory Council meeting that the agency hasn’t decided on what type of test to use for the rocket.

One recommendation is to conduct a “green run” wherein the core stage will ignite for eight minutes with RS-25 rockets on a test stand. Hill said the green run would be shortened to accommodate the targeted schedule, and NASA may need to extend worker shifts as a result.

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