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Government Technology/News
DARPA Program Seeks to Automate Molecule Discovery Via Software Devt
by Jane Edwards
Published on June 20, 2018
DARPA Program Seeks to Automate Molecule Discovery Via Software Devt


DARPA Program Seeks to Automate Molecule Discovery Via Software DevtThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has supported the development of software tools and other devices designed to accelerate the design and synthesis of new molecules for defense and military applications through a four-year program.

The Make-It program works to facilitate the creation of synthetic routes used to develop new molecules through software platforms that are based on machine learning, DARPA said Tuesday.

“Make-It is not only freeing chemists to expend brain power in other areas such as molecular discovery and innovation, it is opening chemical synthesis and discovery to a much broader community of scientific researchers who will benefit from faster development of new molecules,” said Anne Fischer, program manager in DARPA’s defense sciences office.

“We’re essentially coding the chemical synthesis process. … Because the routes are implemented with software-based instructions, any Make-It synthesis device should produce chemicals with precisely the same make-up every time,” Fischer added.

The Make-It program is now in its third year and focuses on rapid reaction screening; automated synthesis or production; and automated molecule design areas.

Some of the organizations involved in the research initiative include SRI International, Grzybowski Scientific Inventions, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, Boston University and the University of Glasgow.

Civilian/News
Erica Navarro Named USDA Budget, Program Analysis Director
by Joanna Crews
Published on June 20, 2018
Erica Navarro Named USDA Budget, Program Analysis Director


Erica Navarro Named USDA Budget, Program Analysis Director
Erica Navarro

Erica Navarro, who is presently serving as budget service director and deputy assistant secretary for management and planning at the Education Department, has been selected to become the next director of the Office of Budget and Program Analysis at the Agriculture Department.

Navarro, who holds a master of business administration degree in finance from the Yale School of Management, will be responsible for overseeing policy analysis and program reviews, as well as the implementation of the agency’s budget, legislative and regulatory functions, USDA said Tuesday.

Navarro’s career in government began at the Office of Management and Budget, where she served as program examiner for international economic affairs.

She later held positions at the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the U.S. Agency for International Development before moving to the General Services Administration, where she served as budget director until her transfer to the Education Department.

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, commenting on Navarro’s latest appointment, said that “Erica has a sterling track record and excellent credentials, and I am confident she will focus that talent serving America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and agricultural producers.”

Legislation/News
Report: Senators Introduce Bill to Reduce Global Supply Chain National Security Risks
by Joanna Crews
Published on June 20, 2018
Report: Senators Introduce Bill to Reduce Global Supply Chain National Security Risks


Report: Senators Introduce Bill to Reduce Global Supply Chain National Security RisksSenators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) have introduced the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act, meant to mitigate and address risks from the global procurement network, The Hill reported Tuesday.

The bipartisan bill would create the Federal Acquisition Security Council, which would coordinate with industry to assess supply chain threats and help guide federal strategies on risk management, the report detailed.

“We can’t simply respond to supply chain threats piecemeal, we’ve got to have a system in place to assess these risks across the government,” McCaskill said in a statement.

Lankford said the bill establishes criteria on how each federal agency identifies risk, to protect government information technology systems from security threats.

The Senate sanctioned China’s ZTE in an annual defense policy bill passed Monday. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security banned products by Russian-based Kaspersky Lab last year.

DoD/News
James Geurts: Navy Eyes Spring 2019 Release of 30-Year Ship Repair, Modernization Plan
by Jane Edwards
Published on June 20, 2018
James Geurts: Navy Eyes Spring 2019 Release of 30-Year Ship Repair, Modernization Plan


James Geurts: Navy Eyes Spring 2019 Release of 30-Year Ship Repair, Modernization Plan
James Geurts

James Geurts, assistant U.S. Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition, has said he intends to issue the 30-year plan for ship repair and modernization efforts in the spring of 2019 in an effort to help the maintenance sector plan its infrastructure and workforce investments, USNI News reported Tuesday.

Geurts said Tuesday the Naval Sea Systems Command will work on the report that would be released alongside the three-decade plan for shipbuilding efforts.

He noted that he expects the ship repair plan to “inform the industrial base” and take a look at the availability of capabilities and resources at repair yards and public shipyards.

Geurts cited that NAVSEA submitted to Congress an optimization plan for public shipyards to help shape the infrastructure improvement initiative in the next two decades.

“This is just trying to bring all that together so we can really look at what the demand is and then understand the infrastructure, people, budgeting, all that,” he added.

Awards/News
DOE Backs 27 Research Projects to Update Climate, Weather Prediction Models
by Joanna Crews
Published on June 20, 2018
DOE Backs 27 Research Projects to Update Climate, Weather Prediction Models


DOE Backs 27 Research Projects to Update Climate, Weather Prediction ModelsThe Energy Department will award up to $15 million in total funds to 27 atmospheric and ecological research projects that aim to modernize Earth system models designed for climate and weather forecasting.

DOE said Tuesday it chose the projects through a competitive peer review process under the Atmospheric System Research and the Environmental System Science programs.

“By helping us to better understand our environment, these investments in science will help us maintain a strong energy infrastructure and reliable energy supplies while also ensuring that America remains at the forefront of energy sciences and technology,” said Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

The projects seek to address uncertainty in Earth system models for ecological dynamics and disturbance, cloud-aerosol interactions and extreme weather.

DOE noted such models run on supercomputers and simulate environmental processes governing behaviors of atmosphere, cryosphere, oceans, terrestrial ecosystems and human infrastructure.

These simulations work to help researchers predict storms, wildfires and changes in sea ice and permafrost.

DoD/News
Senate’s Fiscal 2019 Defense Bill Proposes Additional DoD Cross-Functional Teams
by Monica Jackson
Published on June 20, 2018
Senate’s Fiscal 2019 Defense Bill Proposes Additional DoD Cross-Functional Teams


Senate's Fiscal 2019 Defense Bill Proposes Additional DoD Cross-Functional TeamsThe Senate’s version of fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act includes language that would establish additional cross-functional teams to help the Defense Department address specific organizational challenges, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday.

The provision calls for the formation of CFTs that will focus on electronic warfare, security clearances and lethality of close-combat units.

A February 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office stated that DoD created only one CFT to help address the department’s backlog of security clearance applications, as required by the FY 2017 NDAA.

The upper chamber wants DoD to form a CFT consisting of representatives from different defense and military groups to develop EW methods.

Senators also urged the department to update business policies and procedures before it transfers background check investigation responsibilities to the Defense Security Service.

The bill would also order Defense Secretary James Mattis to designate an existing task force on close-combat lethality as a CFT.

The Senate-approved FY 2019 NDAA allocates $639 billion in defense base budget and $69 billion in additional war spending.

DoD/News
Rep. Mac Thornberry: FY 2019 Defense Policy Bill Wants More Info on DoD’s Cloud Procurement
by Jane Edwards
Published on June 19, 2018
Rep. Mac Thornberry: FY 2019 Defense Policy Bill Wants More Info on DoD’s Cloud Procurement


Rep. Mac Thornberry: FY 2019 Defense Policy Bill Wants More Info on DoD’s Cloud Procurement
Mac Thornberry

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) has said the lower chamber’s fiscal 2019 defense policy bill would prevent the Defense Department from spending 50 percent of the appropriated funds for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud procurement contract until DoD provides sufficient data on how it will oversee the acquisition process, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

“I really want to know that they have thought through not just this particular contract, but where cloud is going throughout the department,” Thornberry told reporters Thursday during a meeting in Washington.

“We are going to pay close attention to it not just because it’s a lot of money and because it’s a shift in the way they do business, but because cloud computing is going to be really important to the future of the military,” he added.

Thornberry added that he wants the Pentagon to invest in a cloud platform equipped with interoperable databases and that can be easily searched by auditors.

A report accompanying the House bill says the panel is concerned with the lack of data about security requirements, migration costs, customer capability requirements and other details behind the planned JEDI procurement from a single cloud service provider.

DHS/News
DHS OKs 1,000th Anti-Terrorism Product Under SAFETY Act
by Nichols Martin
Published on June 19, 2018
DHS OKs 1,000th Anti-Terrorism Product Under SAFETY Act


DHS OKs 1,000th Anti-Terrorism Product Under SAFETY ActThe Department of Homeland Security‘s Science and Technology Directorate has approved the 1,000th technology that complies with the Support Anti-Terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act.

The act provides legal liability protection for SAFETY-approved products in the events of terrorist attacks, DHS said Monday.

The government passed the SAFETY Act in 2001 to prevent liabilities from hindering industry’s development and propagation of anti-terrorism technologies.

The DHS S&T evaluates SAFETY technology entries in terms of effectiveness to the government, availability, third-party liability risk, deployment capacities without SAFETY protection, public need, capacity for scientific assessment and anti-terrorism defense.

Public and commercial establishments across the country employ SAFETY-approved technologies to protect the public against potential acts of terrorism.

The full roster of SAFETY-approved products can be found here.

News/Space
Jim Bridenstine: NASA Supports White House’s New Space Policy Directive
by Monica Jackson
Published on June 19, 2018
Jim Bridenstine: NASA Supports White House’s New Space Policy Directive


Jim Bridenstine: NASA Supports White House's New Space Policy Directive
Jim Bridenstine

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said the agency supports President Donald Trump’s move to enforce a new directive that seeks to increase the security and safety of U.S. space systems.

“[Space Policy Directive-3] builds on our continued progress implementing SPD-1, which is galvanizing American space leadership by returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners, and SPD-2, which will create regulatory certainty for entrepreneurs to raise capital to grow the American economy in space,” Brindenstine said in a statement published Tuesday.

He added the agency will coordinate with the National Space Council, Commerce Department and other government partners to implement SPD-3.

President Trump signed the directive Monday at an NSC meeting, where he also instructed the Defense Department to form a space force that would serve as the sixth military branch.

Government Technology/News
DOE Awards $64M to National Labs, Universities, Industry for Nuclear Energy Tech
by Joanna Crews
Published on June 19, 2018
DOE Awards $64M to National Labs, Universities, Industry for Nuclear Energy Tech


DOE Awards $64M to National Labs, Universities, Industry for Nuclear Energy TechThe Energy Department has provided up to $64 million in grants to industry, universities and the department’s national laboratories for advanced nuclear energy technology research and development projects.

The DOE said Monday its Office of Nuclear Energy will fund a total of 89 projects for nuclear energy systems, facility access and infrastructure development, which include programs from 39 universities across 29 states.

Ed McGinnis, principal deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said the investment will help researchers develop advanced nuclear technologies for future generations of Americans.

The department will provide $47 million for 63 civil nuclear energy studies and $5 million for 18 infrastructure enhancement projects for university research reactors under the Nuclear Energy University Program.

The Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies program will provide $5 million for five projects developing next-generation sensors, instrumentation, materials and manufacturing approaches for nuclear reactor plants and fuels.

Under the Nuclear Science User Facilities program, an industry initiative and two university-led projects will receive a total of $6.6 million for research and technical assistance on experimental neutron and ion irradiation tests, post-irradiation examination facilities and synchrotron beamline services.

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