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Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space Resiliency
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Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space Resiliency


Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space ResiliencyA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency official recently said that small launch vehicles like Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus or Rocket Lab’s Electron could contribute to the survivability of U.S. military assets in space, Space News reported Tuesday.

Todd Master, a program adviser at the Tactical Technology Office within DARPA, said during last month’s Small Payload Rideshare Symposium that the growing availability of small rockets and dedicated launches could allow the military to bring about “a massive proliferation of satellites in low Earth orbit.”

Master described this as a resilience strategy that he and his agency “are very interested in.”

Meanwhile, Steve Nixon, vice president for strategic development at aerospace firm Stratolaunch, said that his company and others like it could help strengthen U.S. launch infrastructure.

Nixon pointed out that the country has only two main launch sites: Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Should these facilities be rendered inoperable, launch companies could offer government agencies alternative means to access space, he said.

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DoD Selects Five University-Industry Teams for Pilot Innovation Research Program
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DoD Selects Five University-Industry Teams for Pilot Innovation Research Program


DoD Selects Five University-Industry Teams for Pilot Innovation Research ProgramMultiple contractors have partnered with universities to support a Defense Department pilot program that will focus on accelerating research into military technology platforms.

DoD said Tuesday it chose five industry-academic teams to participate in the Defense Enterprise Science Initiative, which aims to address technological gaps and complement the Pentagon’s other basic research programs that include the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative and the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program.

Selected teams will receive up to $1.5 million to facilitate a two-year research on the end-use applications of technologies such as power beaming, highly maneuverable autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles, soft active composite materials, metamaterial-based antennas and alternate categories that do not belong to any particular domain.

The designated leaders for the five teams are:

  • Boeing, Arizona State University and Syracuse University
  • Stanford University and Skydio
  • Northwestern University and TERA-print
  • Duke University, University of Washington and Northrop Grumman
  • Stanford University, University of California - Merced and Visor Corp.

The Pentagon’s Basic Research Office will sponsor the collaborative effort while research offices of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army will jointly administer the initiative.

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Charles Phalen: DoD Likely to Absorb OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau
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Charles Phalen: DoD Likely to Absorb OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau

 

Charles Phalen: DoD Likely to Absorb OPM’s National Background Investigations Bureau
Charles Phalen

Charles Phalen, director of the National Background Investigations Bureau, has said the Defense Department is more likely to integrate NBIB into its operations than splitting the workload of the bureau that operates under the Office of Personnel Management, FCW reported Tuesday.

“The truth is that split would’ve been debilitating, distracting and frankly pretty counterproductive,” Phalen said Tuesday at a Nextgov-hosted event on insider threats.

“I think in the long run, this is a much better solution and will keep us able, as an intact organization, to focus on the most important stuff that we’re doing as the initial trust determinations that are made by individuals working for and in the government and the ability to keep track of those individuals,” he added.

Phalen noted that DoD and NBIB have initiated efforts to improve the bureau’s information technology system to support government vetting and investigation processes.

 

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James Mattis: DoD Backs Formation of Space-Focused Combatant Command
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James Mattis: DoD Backs Formation of Space-Focused Combatant Command


James Mattis: DoD Backs Formation of Space-Focused Combatant Command
James Mattis

James Mattis, secretary of the Defense Department, has said DoD is supportive of a plan to form a new combatant command focused on space, Defense News reported Tuesday.

“We need to address space as a developing warfighting domain and a combatant command is certainly one thing that we can we can establish,” he told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon.

Mattis, a two-time Wash100 recipient, said DoD is “in complete alignment” with President Donald Trump’s concern about the need to protect space assets and is now in the process of creating the new organization.

President Donald Trump announced plans in June for the establishment of a new “space force” in an effort to maintain the country’s dominance in space.

Mattis noted that DoD will support the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement authorities to safeguard the midterm elections against possible interference from Russia and other threat actors, according to a report by DoD News.

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Army to Update Enterprise Cloud Strategy; Thomas Sasala Comments
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Army to Update Enterprise Cloud Strategy; Thomas Sasala Comments


Army to Update Enterprise Cloud Strategy; Thomas Sasala Comments
Thomas Sasala

The U.S. Army is working to update its enterprise cloud strategy to keep up with technology trends and innovations in the private sector, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

Thomas Sasala, director of the Army’s Architecture Integration Center and chief data officer for the Chief Information Officer/G-6 office, said the military service aims to adopt a hybrid cloud environment to address various requirements.

Sasala added the branch will use money saved for cloud and shared computers to expand IT operations and help operators and administrators return to their original work instead of patching other responsibilities.

The Army seeks to retain its legacy cloud computing environment as it has unreleased services it currently does not want to get rid of.

Some industry officials have recommended the branch to adopt an enterprise computing environment that will work to simplify application hosting and delivery of IT resources, as well as hosts mission systems and offerings accessible to enterprise and forward-deployed users.

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Carol Harris, Nick Marinos to Assume FITARA, Census Responsibilities at GAO
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Carol Harris, Nick Marinos to Assume FITARA, Census Responsibilities at GAO


Carol Harris, Nick Marinos to Assume FITARA, Census Responsibilities at GAO
Carol Harris

Dave Powner, the departing director of information technology issues at the Government Accountability Office, will hand over his Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act-related responsibilities to Carol Harris, director for IT acquisition management issues at GAO, Meritalk reported Tuesday.

Nick Marinos, GAO’s director of cybersecurity and information management, will assume Powner’s responsibilities over Census efforts.

Carol Harris, Nick Marinos to Assume FITARA, Census Responsibilities at GAO
Nick Marinos

Powner is set to leave GAO for Mitre in late August to serve as director of strategic engagement and partnerships at the nonprofit research corporation.

Harris is a 16-year GAO veteran who has spearheaded IT systems assessments at several agencies such as the departments of Defense, Commerce and Homeland Security.

Marinos is a certified data privacy professional and has led audit teams that carry out information management, privacy and cybersecurity reviews at federal agencies since he joined the congressional watchdog in 2002.

Ronald Vitiello to be Nominated ICE Director
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Ronald Vitiello to be Nominated ICE Director


Ronald Vitiello to be Nominated ICE Director
Ronald Vitiello

President Trump intends to nominate Ronald Vitiello, current deputy director and acting director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to lead the agency on a full-time basis.

The White House said Monday the more than 30-year law enforcement veteran previously served as acting deputy commissioner at the Customs and Border Protection.

Vitiello started his public-sector career as a border patrol agent based in Laredo, Texas, and later worked at the operations division of the Department of Homeland Security‘s former border and transportation security directorate.

He also served as chief patrol agent in Swanton, Vt. and Rio Grande Valley, Texas.

“Since assuming the role of deputy director in late June, [Vitiello] has made clear his commitment to support the men and women of ICE, and ensure they are well-positioned to meet the demands of their incredibly challenging jobs,” said DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

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Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue: USDA Invests $345.5M in Electric Infrastructure
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Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue: USDA Invests $345.5M in Electric Infrastructure


Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue: USDA Invests $345.5M in Electric Infrastructure
Sonny Perdue

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced a $345.5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture investment in 20 infrastructure projects aiming to support rural electric service across 14 states.

USDA is investing under the Electric Infrastructure Loan Program that finances projects on energy conservation, system development, generation, transmission and distribution in communities with a maximum population of 10,000 residents, the agency said Monday.

The program also allots $7.9 million for smart grid technology that encompasses computer applications, two-way communications, geospatial information systems and other tools that work to streamline and support the reliability of electric power systems.

The projects will take place at rural communities in the states of California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

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Report: OPM Vet David Vargas Named GSA Service Management Office Director
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Report: OPM Vet David Vargas Named GSA Service Management Office Director


Report: OPM Vet David Vargas Named GSA Service Management Office Director
David Vargas

David Vargas, formerly director of the human resources line of business at the Office of Personnel Management, has joined the General Services Administration as head of the new service management office, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

Vargas “will oversee the launch of our new service management office, which is being established to support our vision of expanding our mission support service offerings to other federal agencies,” GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, a 2018 Wash100 awardee, said in an email obtained by the station.

His appointment comes as OPM works to move into GSA its fee-for-service unit – HR Solutions — that works to help agencies address their HR requirements through the delivery of products and services.

His tenure at OPM included such roles as acting chief information officer and interim deputy CIO.

Prior to OPM, Vargas spent more than two decades at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he served as deputy assistant secretary for real estate assessment center, director of financial assessments for REAC and senior adviser to the agency’s assistant secretary.

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DoD Prohibits Department Personnel From Using Geolocation Tools in Operational Areas
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DoD Prohibits Department Personnel From Using Geolocation Tools in Operational Areas


DoD Prohibits Department Personnel From Using Geolocation Tools in Operational AreasDeputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan recently issued a memo prohibiting Defense Department personnel in operational areas from using the geolocation features of their electronic devices.

Activating geolocation functions of devices such as smartphones and fitness trackers could result in “unintended security consequences” by divulging “personal information, locations, routines and numbers of DoD personnel,” Shanahan said in the memo dated Aug. 3.

The prohibition covers personal devices as well as those provided by the government.

The memo does, however, authorize field commanders to permit the use of geolocation capabilities provided that an operational security risk assessment is first carried out and, in the case of government-issued equipment, geolocation features are called for by the ongoing mission.

Meanwhile, the memo instructs DoD component heads, such as defense agency directors, to evaluate the risk posed by geolocation technology to their facilities or locations.

Component heads must subsequently provide staff with the appropriate operational security training and enforce restrictions in a consistent and rational manner.

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