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Vanessa Wyche Leads New NASA Appointments at HQ & Johnson Center
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Vanessa Wyche Leads New NASA Appointments at HQ & Johnson Center

Vanessa Wyche, former director of the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, has been named acting associate director at NASA’s Washington headquarters. Janet Petro, the agency’s acting administrator who announced the appointment on Monday, said Wyche will serve as her senior adviser and perform the role as NASA’s chief operating officer overseeing 18,000 employees and over $25 billion annual agency budget.

Before her NASA headquarters assignment, Wyche managed over 11,000 NASA Johnson staff supporting the agency’s Astronaut Corps, Mission Control Center, International Space Station and the Orion and Gateway. 

Wyche’s other previous functions in her 35-year career include serving as deputy Johnson Center director, Exploration Integration and Science Directorate director, Space Shuttle Program flight manager and executive officer in the Office of the Administrator.

Other Recent Executive Moves

With Wyche’s new assignment, Stephen Koerner will serve as NASA Johnson’s acting director, moving from his former role as the center’s deputy director overseeing strategic workforce planning. Before becoming deputy director, Koerner served in various leadership roles in the center, including as director of the Flight Operations Directorate, associate director, chief financial officer, deputy director of flight operations and deputy director of mission operations.

In another executive movement, NASA appointed Jackie Jester as associate administrator for the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs handling all communication with U.S. Congress and serving as a senior legislative adviser to agency leaders. Jester is rejoining NASA after over three years at Relativity Space’s Washington office where she served last as senior director for government affairs, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before working with Relativity Space, she was a NASA policy adviser and had stints at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and at the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.  

Executive Retirement and Succession

Besides the new appointments, NASA also announced the retirement of Catherine Koerner as the agency’s associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, effective Feb. 28. With her departure, Lori Glaze, the current deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, will serve as the mission directorate’s acting associate administrator. 

Among the experience that Glaze brings to the position is her previous work as as the director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division before joining Explorations Systems Development. Before her work at NASA’s Washington headquarters, Glaze was the chief of the Planetary Geology, Geophysics and Geochemistry Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Deputy Director of Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division.

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DISA Official Provides Military Federated ICAM Timeline
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DISA Official Provides Military Federated ICAM Timeline

The Department of Defense is targeting the implementation of federal identity, credential and access management, or ICAM, connections on unclassified networks across all military services by the end of fiscal 2015. Brian Hermann, program executive officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Program Executive Office Cyber, provided a timeline of anticipated ICAM milestones across military services during a recent media roundtable. 

Federated ICAM Solutions Across US Military

At the beginning of fiscal 2025, DISA established a federation hub to give the agency increased visibility into all the information an individual can access and ensure that ICAM across the DOD works as intended. 

Through the federation hub, DISA started working with the Army and other military services to get their ICAM solutions federated. Hermann expects the Army to get its ICAM solutions federated by the end of March and then the Navy three months later. 

The official estimates that the Air Force will get its ICAM solutions federated by the end of fiscal 2025. 

According to Hermann, the order in which the services will achieve federated ICAM is based on “deconfliction of timing.”

“I can’t really say for example, that the Army’s technical solution was more advanced or more mature than any of the others,” he revealed. “I think it was just a timing issue.”

DISA’s work does not end once all the services have achieved federated ICAM. Hermann shared that the agency will collaborate with other components of the Pentagon and its allies and partners. 

In December, the DOD announced that it achieved a federated ICAM connection with Canada. Leslie Beavers, acting chief information officer at the DOD and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said in December that the Pentagon will next expand ICAM to the Five Eyes alliance and NATO.

What Is ICAM?

ICAM is a critical part of the DOD’s zero trust strategy. It secures a system by conducting constant checks of users who are allowed to access information. 

Hermann explained that ICAM is the DOD’s way to facilitate cooperation across the department and with mission partners. 

“Enabling our work with allied and coalition partners means we have to have some connectivity and understanding of who we’re working with in that coalition, to make sure that we have an understanding of their access rights and grant them access to DOD resources,” he stated.

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Treasury Dept Office Seeking IT Modernization Support Providers
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Treasury Dept Office Seeking IT Modernization Support Providers

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency within the Department of the Treasury is conducting market research to gauge industry capability and interest in providing IT operations and modernization support services. The effort is in line with the plan of the OCC Information Technology Services, or ITS, to adopt more modern technologies and techniques to enhance mission execution, according to a notice posted on SAM.gov.  

OCC Modernization Program

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the OCC is an independent bureau within the Treasury Department. It is in charge of chartering, regulating and monitoring national banks and federal savings associations across the United States. 

Its ITS subset contributes to the OCC’s mission by providing access to relevant technology solutions and services. At present, the OCC utilizes a combination of current and legacy services provided under multiple contract vehicles. However, ITS is in the process of adopting more modern technologies and techniques to ensure that OCC has everything it needs to execute its mission. 

IT Modernization Requirements

The selected contractors will provide a team of experts that can support OCC ITS. 

The contractors will also design, develop, configure, customize and deploy solutions that meet the office’s requirements. OCC ITS expects the use of DevSecOps techniques and Agile methodologies that enable continuous upgrades and capability integration. 

In addition, contractors will be responsible for engaging with business partners and end users. OCC provides for approximately 135 applications and corporate platforms, each containing both commercial-off-the-shelf technologies and fully customized applications. 

Work on the effort also includes network support, web content management, communication systems, identity services and business analysis. 

Interested parties may submit their capability statements until March 24.

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David Gooder to Leave USPTO; Dan Vavonese Named Successor
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David Gooder to Leave USPTO; Dan Vavonese Named Successor

David Gooder is set to step down as commissioner for trademarks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the conclusion of his five-year term on Feb. 28. 

USPTO said Monday Dan Vavonese, the current deputy commissioner for trademark operations, will take over the role in an acting capacity.

Table of Contents

David Gooder

Gooder oversaw significant changes during his tenure, including the retirement of the 40-year-old Trademark Reporting and Monitoring, or TRAM, system and the establishment of the Register Protection Office to boost anti-fraud efforts. He was also instrumental in effectively reducing first action pendency by two months during the pandemic.

Before joining USPTO, Gooder worked at Jack Daniel’s Properties as the founding managing director and chief trademark counsel. In his over 20 years at the company, he contributed to the growth of its distilled spirits and wine brands portfolio. He oversaw the global intellectual property program and was responsible for the company’s trademark portfolio, rights clearance, brand protection, anti-counterfeiting, licensing and entertainment deals.

Coke Morgan Stewart, acting director of the USPTO, said of Gooder, “His service to America’s brand owners has helped the U.S. trademark system remain the global standard for excellence.”

Dan Vavonese

The incoming acting commissioner for trademarks will be responsible for all facets of the trademarks organization, including policy development, petition handling, operations, register protection and administration. In his current role, Vavonese oversees the Trademark Law Offices and Trademark Services including over 900 personnel in charge of trademark examination, registration and maintenance.

The executive has been with USPTO for almost 30 years, having joined in 1995 as a trademark examining attorney. He has since held a wide range of leadership positions including senior attorney, managing attorney, business architect for trademarks and group director of the trademark law offices.

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McAlester Army Ammunition Plant Unveils Modernized Air Defense Facility
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McAlester Army Ammunition Plant Unveils Modernized Air Defense Facility

The McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, a.k.a. MCAAP, has announced the opening of a new modernized facility intended to strengthen the air defense capabilities of the U.S. military.

The Army said Sunday the Theater Readiness Monitoring Facility, dubbed TRMF, was officially opened on Feb. 20 as part of the ongoing commitment to protect the future through innovation, collaboration and service to global security.

TRMF Activities

TRMF will be instrumental in the testing, recertification, assembly and repair of the HAWK missile system. Since the new facility was opened, MCAAP has managed to inspect and service 2,751 HAWK missiles, including 825 missiles from six countries outside the United States.

The modernized facility also aims to make sure that the HAWK missile system remains effective in future air defense operations. It is capable of testing and restoring missiles that have been inactive for more than three decades.

The Oklahoma-based ammunition plant’s Mobile Ammunition Renovation Inspection Demilitarization team has contributed valuable support to TRMF by going on international deployments for the HAWK program.

Aside from the HAWK missile system, the new facility also supports the Aviation and Missile Command, Security Assistance Management Directorate and Non-Standard Missile Systems.

“Getting this TRMF established has truly been a major undertaking with many challenges, and we wouldn’t be here today without the hard work and help of many different organizations,” said Kendall Prather, missile technical specialist.

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Peraton to Provide USPTO With Advanced Storage Infrastructure
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Peraton to Provide USPTO With Advanced Storage Infrastructure

Peraton has received a $52 million contract from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to provide storage infrastructure managed services.

The agreement will deliver to the USPTO data storage solutions, enabling the agency to establish secure, resilient, accessible, robust, expandable and recoverable information, Peraton said Monday. The required services ensure that the USPTO will continue to operate efficiently.

Advancing USPTO’s Mission

Amy Rall, president of citizen security and public services sector at Peraton, noted that the contract will provide expertise to advance USPTO’s critical work and ensure that U.S. innovators will continue to thrive in the international landscape.

“We are incredibly excited to support the USPTO’s mission in advancing U.S. innovation and promoting stronger intellectual property protection worldwide,” she added.

Storage Infrastructure Uses & Results

The contract requires Peraton to develop, operate and maintain a storage infrastructure that USPTO will use to promote innovation, protect intellectual property and advance U.S. businesses’ global competitiveness. A Peraton team will help the agency manage its storage networks and provide hardware, software, security, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and operational support services.

The collaborative effort is also meant to guarantee that USPTO storage infrastructure will operate using the latest technology while maintaining predictable costs and streamlined budgeting.

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Leonel Garciga on Army’s Unified Network Operations Initiative
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Leonel Garciga on Army’s Unified Network Operations Initiative

Leonel Garciga, the U.S. Army’s chief information officer and a 2025 Wash100 Award recipient, said the military branch’s Unified Network Operations, or UNO, initiative will enable the service to gain better visibility into its technology stack and reduce the number of duplicative applications, Federal News Network reported Friday.

“Unifying the network is that very first step to being able to see ourselves and operationalize the network in a way that lets us take action that historically you would only have in pockets across the army. Now we’ve got that at an enterprise level,” Garciga said on FNN’s Ask the CIO.

“I think the bigger thing strategically that as an Army we’re working is we’ve been on this unified network plan for a while. It’s this idea of really taking and centralizing services and delivering them very differently to the force versus distributed services across the service,” the two-time Wash100 awardee added.

UNO Is Driving 2 Things

The Army CIO noted that the UNO initiative is driving two things at the service branch: enabling the service to change its tactics, techniques and protocols, and providing an opportunity to end some legacy platforms.

“Two things are happening: We have got to change our tactics, techniques and protocols (TTPs), which UNO is driving a lot of that. I think the bigger thing is we’re very quickly finding where we have opportunities not to just optimize our delivery model, but where we have opportunities to sunset some legacy capabilities and really rethink organizationally how we deliver and that’s where we’re finding the most of the bang for the buck,” he explained.

Supporting Cyber Analysts Through Network Consolidation

Garciga stated that the network consolidation effort across the Army is helping cybersecurity analysts to address issues in real time.

“I think on the cybersecurity side, the visibility at scale of endpoints, and being able to make informed decisions on risk is really important,” the career civil servant noted. “That’s what the unified network is bringing. It’s bringing those metrics now and making them visible across the enterprise so we can have a very open conversation on the risks that we’re going to take, and also of where we need to take action immediately.”

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White House Seeks to Promote Foreign Investment While Protecting Nat’l Security
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White House Seeks to Promote Foreign Investment While Protecting Nat’l Security

President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum to foster foreign investment while safeguarding U.S. national security interests from threats posed by China and other foreign adversaries.

Creating ‘Fast Track’ Process

According to a White House fact sheet published Friday, the national security presidential memorandum, or NSPM, titled America First Investment Policy will establish a “fast track” process to promote greater investment from specific allies and partners while setting appropriate security conditions that prevent investors from partnering with foreign adversaries in advanced technology areas.

The Trump administration will also accelerate environmental reviews for any investment over $1 billion.

Leveraging CFIUS

The U.S. government will use the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, and other legal instructions to restrict Chinese investments in U.S. technology, critical infrastructure, energy, healthcare, agriculture, raw materials and other strategic sectors.

The current administration will bolster the authority of CFIUS over “greenfield” investments, safeguard U.S. farmland and real estate near sensitive facilities and limit access of foreign adversaries to U.S. talent and operations with sensitive technologies.

New Restrictions on Outbound Investments

The U.S. government will consider new or expanded restrictions on the country’s outbound investment to China in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum, aerospace, biotechnology and other sensitive technologies to stop U.S. funds from supporting the East Asian country’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy.

According to the memo, the Office of Science and Technology Policy will regularly review and update the covered sectors.

Other Measures

Under the NSPM, the government will encourage passive investments from all foreign individuals to support businesses while protecting national security.

The administration will audit foreign companies on U.S. exchanges and assess their ownership structures to protect U.S. investors’ savings. It will also ensure that foreign adversary businesses are ineligible for pension plan contributions.

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Space Systems Command Officials Share Insights on FMS Cases
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Space Systems Command Officials Share Insights on FMS Cases

Space Systems Command officials discussed SSC’s preparation as it anticipates an increase in space-focused foreign military sales, or FMS, cases during the command’s inaugural FMS Enterprise Kick-Off conference held Feb. 12 at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California.

Consolidated Approach

The command said Friday Maj. Simone Zacharias, chief of foreign military sales with SSC’s International Affairs Office, mentioned the command’s efforts to create a consolidated approach in preparation for upcoming FMS cases.

“Now, we’re establishing a consolidated approach because we have FMS cases coming in for complex weapon systems, complex satellite systems across all of the different mission areas,” Zacharias said at the conference. “In the past, if you were involved with acquiring GPS user equipment, then you likely had exposure to FMS, but the vast majority of the space acquisition community has not been involved with foreign military sales.”

FMS Cases in Billions

Deidra Eberhardt, SES director of SSC’s Atlas business innovation organization, said the command expects a rapid rise in workload as it anticipates billions of dollars’ worth of FMS cases.

“The dollar value for the cases we’re anticipating is in the billions, and that translates into more acquisitions for our current programs,” Eberhardt stated. “Our workload will increase exponentially, based on the funding coming in from partnerships.”

Sharing Space Technology With Allies

During the conference, Zacharias talked about the country’s willingness to share its space technology with allies.

“Space capability has been our crown jewel, that we’ve kept extremely classified for the better part of our history. Now we’re understanding that in order for the U.S. to be more lethal, we have to release enabling space technology and bring our allies and partners with us into the joint fight,” she said. “We’re willing to release space capability in a much more rapid and much larger capacity now than ever before.”

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GAO Releases Draft Report on VA EHR Modernization Efforts
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GAO Releases Draft Report on VA EHR Modernization Efforts

Surveys carried out in 2024 show continued user dissatisfaction with the modernized electronic health record system the Department of Veterans Affairs has been working to roll out since 2020, according to a draft report the Government Accountability Office made public Friday.

Prevailing EHR Issues

According to the report, the percentage of respondents strongly disagreeing that the new EHR enabled efficiency has gone down from 66 percent in 2022 but remains a considerable 44 percent in 2024, a major, persisting issue that the VA needs to address.

Other prevailing issues include nearly 2,000 complex configuration changes that have been requested but not yet resolved; the lack of an updated total life cycle cost estimate reflecting many EHRM changes and delays; and an integrated master schedule that has also yet to be updated.

Action on Recommendations Needed

GAO has offered the VA a total of 15 recommendations over several previously-issued reports to address the issues but 14 have not yet been implemented. The draft report adds three more recommendations, covering cost estimation, schedule and system metrics.

The implementation of the recommendations “is critical to reducing EHR risks and delivering a quality system within cost and schedule expectations,” the draft report said.

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