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William Bookless to be Nominated NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator
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William Bookless to be Nominated NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator


William Bookless to be Nominated NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator
William Bookless

William Bookless, a former senior physicist at the Energy Department‘s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will be nominated by President Trump as principal deputy administrator at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

He worked at LLNL for 32 years and participated in various nuclear security research projects as deputy associate director for nuclear weapons there, the White House said Friday.

Bookless also served as associate director for safety and environmental protection at LLNL, senior adviser to the NNSA administrator from 2009 to 2012 and assistant laboratory director for policy at the the Brookhaven National Laboratory as assistant director for policy for three years.

He received NNSA recognition for his advisory work on the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review and the New START Treaty.

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Gen. Paul Selva: DoD Should Leverage Commercial Space Tech Against Enemy Hypersonics
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Gen. Paul Selva: DoD Should Leverage Commercial Space Tech Against Enemy Hypersonics


Gen. Paul Selva: DoD Should Leverage Commercial Space Tech Against Enemy Hypersonics
Paul Selva

Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the Defense Department should take advantage of commercial satellites and other space technologies to counter hostile hypersonic weapons, National Defense reported Friday.

“It’s not enough to just build elegant military constellations anymore,” Selva said Friday at an event hosted by Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“We need to figure out how to hitch a ride. We need to figure out how to engineer that data into the systems to help do command and control in warfighting,” he added.

CNBC reported that Selva also discussed the hypersonic weapons from Russia and China and their threats to the U.S. military.

Russia unveiled hypersonic and nuclear weapons in March and sources told CNBC that two of the six weapons will be available by 2020.

Selva’s remarks came a day after Vice President Mike Pence announced plans to establish a new service branch and combatant command that would focus on space.

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Col. Bradley Barnhart Begins Work as DISA Chief of Staff
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Col. Bradley Barnhart Begins Work as DISA Chief of Staff


Col. Bradley Barnhart Begins Work as DISA Chief of Staff
Bradley Barnhart

U.S. Air Force Col. Bradley Barnhart, former commander of the  86th Communications Squadron at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, has assumed duties as vice chief of staff at the Defense Information Systems Agency.

In his new capacity, Barnhart will help manage DISA’s $12 billion annual budget and coordinate efforts of its approximately 8,000 employees, the agency said Aug. 6.

Barnhart said he aims to help the agency director in efforts to “make DISA the trusted information technology and cyber provider to connect and protect the warfighter in cyberspace.”

The DISA chief of staff added he is open to suggestions on how to strengthen the agency’s relationship with mission partners.

He previously served as chief of DISA’s Mission Partner Engagement Office for two years and led customer engagement and outreach efforts across the Defense Department and federal mission partner organizations.

Barnhart has gained experience from his 13 previous assignments across the Air Force.

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DoD Plans to Include Product, Service Security as Acquisition Metric
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DoD Plans to Include Product, Service Security as Acquisition Metric


DoD Plans to Include Product, Service Security as Acquisition MetricThe Pentagon has announced its plan to add product or service security as a criterion when evaluating offers made by prospective contractors, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Audricia Harris said in a statement that the Defense Department “is examining ways to designate security as a metric within the acquisition process” adding that “[the] department’s goal is to elevate security to be on par with cost, schedule and performance.”

The plan is based on one of the 15 courses of action proposed in “Deliver Uncompromised,” a report that the non-profit MITRE Corporation prepared to address security challenges at the supply chain and cyber levels.

These courses of action range from policies that the DoD could enact internally to legislation and various administrative actions.

The MITRE report called on the DoD pursue initiatives that would reward “the achievement, demonstration, and sustainment of cyber and supply chain security” and help contractors see risk mitigation not as an expense but as “as a profit center for the capture of new business.”

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Army-Backed Consortium Seeks to Accelerate Tech Delivery to Cyber Ops Force
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Army-Backed Consortium Seeks to Accelerate Tech Delivery to Cyber Ops Force


Army-Backed Consortium Seeks to Accelerate Tech Delivery to Cyber Ops ForceThe U.S. Army’s defensive cyberspace operations office established a consortium in late July to support the military service in efforts to accelerate the process of acquiring and delivering technology platforms for cyber defense missions, Federal News Radio reported Friday.

Companies under the Cyber Operations Broad Responsive Agreement will help identify requirements of cyber mission forces and propose DCO products that the Army Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems should procure.

Col. Chad Harris, project manager for installation information infrastructure, communications and capabilities at PEO-EIS, said the products could include mission planning, data analytics, user activity monitoring and forensics tools.

The DCO office seeks to implement a 30-day acquisition process for cybersecurity offerings through COBRA.

The “other transaction” agreement will have a ceiling value of $100 million over five years, according to the report.

Harris noted that OTAs can help DCO in its rapid prototyping effort as its cyber forces continue to encounter emerging threats.

The office also looks to procure as many as 24 prototypes annually through the Cyberspace Real-time Acquisition Prototyping Innovation Development process.

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Trump to Nominate Robert McMahon as DoD Assistant Secretary for Sustainment
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Trump to Nominate Robert McMahon as DoD Assistant Secretary for Sustainment


Trump to Nominate Robert McMahon as DoD Assistant Secretary for Sustainment
Robert McMahon

President Trump has announced Robert McMahon, assistant secretary for logistics and materiel readiness at the Defense Department, as his choice for the next DoD assistant secretary for sustainment.

McMahon, a more than 34-year U.S. Air Force veteran, previously served as president of Fickling Management Services and director of C-17 field operations at Boeing.

The retired Air Force major general held senior leadership roles at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, the Air Force’s logistics division, Air Mobility Command and 309th Maintenance Wing at the Ogden Air Logistics Center.

In his current position, he oversees logistics policies and processes that support warfighter readiness efforts as well as manages the department’s more than $170 billion annual budget for logistics operations.

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GSA to Update Identity Protection, Breach Response SIN on Professional Services Schedule
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GSA to Update Identity Protection, Breach Response SIN on Professional Services Schedule


GSA to Update Identity Protection, Breach Response SIN on Professional Services ScheduleThe General Services Administration has announced plans to clarify certain definitions and implement changes to a special item number for identity protection and data breach response services on the Professional Services Schedule, Nextgov reported Friday.

GSA proposed to clarify the definitions of “enrollee” and “impacted individual” and eliminate data breach analysis services from SIN 520-20 to address overlap with “breach forensic services” on the Risk Assessment and Mitigation Services SIN.

The agency said such changes intend to address “ambiguity resulting in higher pricing exceeding commercial rates offered for same or similar services,” according to the document.

Other proposed changes to SIN 520-20 include clarifications on system security plan requirements and more examples of additional services under the second section.

The planned changes are scheduled to take effect Aug. 29, according to the report.

GSA Launches Accelerated Contracting Process for Startups
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GSA Launches Accelerated Contracting Process for Startups


GSA Launches Accelerated Contracting Process for Startups

The General Services Administration has launched the pilot program for a new service that aims to refine and accelerate the contracting process for startup companies’ and federal market entrants’ commercial offerings.

The agency said Wednesday the Commercial Solutions Opening procedure provides new firms with fast-track vendor selection timelines and simplified contract terms, as well as an option for commercial vendors to secure their intellectual property.

CSO can be used along with an other transaction authority or non-federal acquisition regulation conforming contract to establish an agreement.

GSA will operate the service and support other agency procurements under the Assisted Acquisition Service.

The CSO pilot program will end on Sept. 30, 2022.

The agency has also unveiled the Procurement Innovation Resource Center, which will support the adoption of the accelerated contracting procedure, as well as promote tools and resources that encourage the use of unique contracts for modern offerings.

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David Norquist: DoD-Wide Audit Results Could Come in Fall
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David Norquist: DoD-Wide Audit Results Could Come in Fall


David Norquist: DoD-Wide Audit Results Could Come in Fall
David Norquist

Pentagon Comptroller David Norquist has said the ongoing Defense Department-wide audit is part of National Defense Strategy implementation efforts and that he expects the results to be available by fall, DoD News reported Thursday.

He told WGAN radio station in an interview the review will cover the Pentagon’s personnel, equipment and property investments.

“It’ll be an annual process, and as I like to say to the workforce, it will go on as long as we both shall live,” Norquist added.

The comptroller noted that before the audit, U.S. Army identified 39 helicopters in the service branch’s Black in the service branch’s Black Hawk fleet were “not properly” included in the property system.

The U.S. Navy has saved $65 million after it implemented a system to automatically transmit information and manage the quality of data.

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NIST’s Ron Ross: Cyber Adversaries Thrive in Complexity
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NIST’s Ron Ross: Cyber Adversaries Thrive in Complexity


NIST’s Ron Ross: Cyber Adversaries Thrive in Complexity
Ron Ross

Ron Ross, a senior computer scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, has said federal agencies should address complexity with their technology platforms as they counter cybersecurity threats, MeriTalk reported Thursday.

“The adversary works in the world of the stack, and that complexity is where they thrive,” he said Thursday during a panel discussion at FCW’s Cybersecurity Summit.

Ross discussed the threat posed by the increasing number of personal devices to information technology systems and cited the need to build “stronger, penetration-resistant systems” as threat actors leverage machine learning, artificial intelligence and other technology platforms.

Other panelists include Matthew McFadden, director of cyber practice at General Dynamics’ information technology business; and Francisco Salguero, deputy chief information officer at the Agriculture Department.

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