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Marco Rubio Appointed as USAID Acting Administrator
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Marco Rubio Appointed as USAID Acting Administrator

President Donald Trump has appointed State Secretary Marco Rubio as acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

In a media note, the Office of the Spokesperson said that the appointment was an initiative toward “gaining control and better understanding over the agency’s activity.”

According to the office, significant portions of USAID funding no longer align with the country’s core national interests.

Rubio informed Congress of plans as acting USAID secretary to review USAID’s foreign assistance activities and potentially reorganize the agency.

About Secretary Rubio

Rubio was nominated by President Trump in November 2024 and confirmed by the Senate as the secretary of state with a vote of 99-0 in January, hours after President Trump was sworn into office. 

He served as a senator representing the state of Florida from 2011 until his confirmation as state secretary.

During his tenure as senator, Rubio held several positions in different committees, including senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

He wrote the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and co-authored the Hong Kong Relations Act and the VERDAD Act.

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2025 USMC Aviation Plan Focuses on Tech Advancements, Expeditionary Mobility
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2025 USMC Aviation Plan Focuses on Tech Advancements, Expeditionary Mobility

Marine Corps Aviation has launched a new roadmap that seeks to improve operational readiness and ensure the lethality of marine aviation in support of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, or MAGTF.

USMC said Monday the 2025 Marine Corps Aviation Plan focuses on technological advancements, sustainment, expeditionary mobility and total force integration as key areas of transformation.

“Through continued modernization and an unwavering commitment to current readiness, Marine Aviation is prepared to support the MAGTF through competition to conflict,” said Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, deputy commandant for aviation at the U.S. Marine Corps.

“The 2025 Aviation Plan demonstrates our resolute dedication to maintaining operational superiority and ensuring we are always ready to project force, wherever and whenever needed,” Gering added.

Table of Contents

Project Eagle

The plan also introduces Project Eagle, a modernization strategy that prioritizes Decision-Centric Aviation Operations and Distributed Aviation Operations to maintain operational effectiveness in contested environments. 

Through Project Eagle, USMC intends to adopt artificial intelligence-driven decision-making software, advanced digital command and control, unmanned systems, manned-unmanned teaming, autonomous systems and other technologies to improve the service’s ability to operate in increasingly complex environments.

Other Key Priorities

Other important priorities outlined in the 2025 plan are aviation readiness, enhanced expeditionary mobility, aviation logistics modernization, marine air command and control system modernization, and total force integration.

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NIST Seeks Public Comments on Revised Encryption Guide
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NIST Seeks Public Comments on Revised Encryption Guide

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued a second public draft of the revised Special Publication 800-38G, or SP 800-38G, to invite public comment on the document.

The initial revision of the “Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: Methods for Format-Preserving Encryption” includes key technical changes, such as increased domain size of the FF1 encryption method and unspecified FF3 encryption method, NIST said Monday. Under the new draft, the inverse advanced encryption standard cipher and floating point arithmetic have been disallowed.

Addressing Sensitive Information Management

First published in March 2016, SP 800-38G was designed to specify and approve the FF1 and FF3 methods for format-preserving encryption, or FPE. The publication intended to address issues, such as sensitive information management of software packages. According to NIST, the document provides ways to convert a digital code and make it indecipherable to hackers.

Since the publication came out, researchers have identified several FPE vulnerabilities that prompted NIST to implement revisions. For instance, the FF3 tweak parameter was reduced to 56 bits and named FF3-1. The adjustment also led NIST to set the minimum domain size for FF1 and FF3-1 at one million.

Interested parties can submit their comments on the revised draft by April 4.

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DARPA Launches INSPIRED Program to Enhance Signal Detection
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DARPA Launches INSPIRED Program to Enhance Signal Detection

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched the Intensity-Squeezed Photonic Integration for Revolutionary Detectors, or INSPIRED, program, to break the quantum noise limit and enhance signal detection capabilities.

The agency said Monday the program intends to reduce the quantum noise limit in order to enhance the sensitivity of optical detectors enabling them to detect faint signals. This is necessary to convert light into measurable signals, which are essential in fiber-optic communication, biological imaging, motion sensors and other critical technologies.

Reducing Quantum Noise Limit

INSPIRED aims to harness “squeezed light,” a special kind of light manipulated to reduce quantum noise in measurements. By utilizing advanced chip-scale photonics technology, the program intends to create compact, integrated squeezed-light sources 40 times quieter than the quantum noise limit. These will then be utilized in developing highly sensitive detectors capable of overcoming traditional noise barriers and enhancing sensing, communication and quantum computing capabilities.

INSPIRED Program Framework

The three-year program has two phases. The first phase involves the development of core squeezed-light components while the second focuses on the completion of a squeezed-light detector.

Eight research teams will be involved in the program, including the University of California, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Santa Barbara, Stanford University, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Yale University, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and RTX BBN Technologies.

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MDA Wants Industry Input on Next-Gen Missile Defense Shield
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MDA Wants Industry Input on Next-Gen Missile Defense Shield

The Missile Defense Agency has issued a request for information to help identify technologies for a next-generation missile defense shield to protect the United States against advanced foreign aerial attacks. According to a SAM.gov post by MDA last week, the RFI acts on a recent presidential executive order titled “The Iron Dome for America.”

Options Sought for Accelerated Defense Deployment  

The MDA seeks responses addressing the EO’s line of efforts, including defense against next-generation missile attacks from peer, near-peer and rogue adversaries. The RFI responses should also inform on deployment acceleration of the hypersonic and ballistic tracking space sensor system and development and operationalization of proliferated space-based interceptors with boost phase intercept capability.

In addition, the responses should address  MDA’s four timelines for capability demonstration or delivery of the EO’s goals, with the first scheduled not later than Dec. 31, 2026.

Gauging Market Capabilities and Acquisition Strategies

The RFI’s inputs will inform agency decisions, business case analyses and acquisition strategies on the current market and industry capabilities on accelerating deliveries and meeting demonstration timelines. 

An industry day for the RFI is scheduled on Feb. 18 to be followed by industry one-on-one sessions on Feb. 18 and 19 either virtual or in person. The deadline for response submissions is on Feb. 28.

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NASA Seeks Industry Partner for VIPER Lunar Exploration
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NASA Seeks Industry Partner for VIPER Lunar Exploration

NASA has announced it is seeking proposals for potential partners to collaborate on the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, mission.

The agency said Monday the Lunar Volatiles Science Partnership will focus on landing and operating VIPER on the moon and then sharing the results of the lunar exploration mission.

VIPER Mission Partnership

Through the partnership, NASA will contribute its VIPER rover while the selected contractor will be responsible for integrating and landing the rover on the moon. The vehicle will then explore the lunar surface and transmit scientific data it generates.

As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, VIPER will be equipped with instruments to explore the lunar surface, particularly to search for ice. The mission aims to determine the location of ice that astronauts can potentially use in future missions. The agency also intends to understand how the moon and its surface evolved.

Interested vendors have until Feb. 20 to respond with their proposals.

Nicky Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said, “Such a partnership provides the opportunity for NASA to collect VIPER science that could tell us more about water on the Moon, while advancing commercial lunar landing capabilities and resource prospecting possibilities.”

Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, added, “This solicitation seeks proposals that clearly describe what is needed to successfully land and operate the rover and invites industry to propose their own complementary science goals and approaches.”

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New Central Command CTO, Deputy CIO Take Office
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New Central Command CTO, Deputy CIO Take Office

Joy Angela Shanaberger and Simon McKenzie recently took on their new roles at the U.S. Central Command.

New CENTCOM CTO

Shanaberger assumed the position of chief technology officer at CENTCOM, succeeding past Wash100 winner Schuyler Moore, who announced her intent to step down as CENTCOM CTO in November to join the U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet as an intelligence officer.

Before joining CENTCOM, Shanaberger served within the Office of the Secretary of Defense as senior adviser to the deputy secretary of defense. Her other previous roles in government include serving as special assistant at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics and serving as assistant to the director of the White House internship program.

The new CENTCOM CTO had also served as an independent consultant or strategic adviser at various defense technology companies.

New CENTCOM Deputy CIO

Meanwhile, Simon McKenzie assumed the role of deputy chief information officer. His previous role at CENTCOM was chief of network operations.

McKenzie’s other roles across the government include serving as chief executive officer and battalion commander at Joint Communications Support Element; chief executive officer and commander of the Executive Network Command and presidential communications officer at the White House Communication Agency; and military assistant to the Army chief information officer.

The new CENTCOM deputy CIO had also held various leadership roles across the U.S. Army.

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Army CIO Seeks Implementation of Framework to Safeguard Data
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Army CIO Seeks Implementation of Framework to Safeguard Data

U.S. Army Chief Information Officer and 2025 Wash100 winner Leonel Garciga has issued a memo endorsing the implementation of a data aggregation framework, which offers a process that lets stakeholders identify, assess and mitigate risks as part of data management and product development lifecycles.

Elements of the Framework

The process comprises multiple steps covering three elements, namely: the identification of security risks based on data exposure; the specification of techniques that will be used to protect the data and limit exposure to risk; and the carrying out of a risk assessment and the establishment of measurement and monitoring mechanisms.

Data Protection Is an Army Mission

Garciga underscored the importance of the framework by noting how critical data protection is to the U.S. achieving an information advantage and delivering capabilities that are uncompromised.

“Data (including metadata) is an Army asset, ownership and protection of that data is an Army mission and priority,” Garciga said in the memo, adding, “To be effective, the Army must improve its efforts to safeguard mission and business data (including any metadata) through its entire lifecycle.”

Framework Implementation

The Army CIO noted that the framework’s implementation will be done in phases. The memorandum itself is expected to be rewritten annually and its subsequent iterations will incorporate feedback and lessons learned.

Further implementation guidance and data protection policies are expected to be issued by the Department of Defense chief data and analytics officer in the future.

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Senators Push for Digital Tool Adoption for Small Businesses
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Senators Push for Digital Tool Adoption for Small Businesses

The Small Business Technological Advancement Act has been introduced by four U.S. senators with the goal of helping small businesses integrate digital tools into their operations.

Enhancing Operations Through Digital Tools

The Office of Senator Todd Young said Friday the Indiana senator, along with Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Ted Budd of North Carolina and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire introduced the legislation to inform small businesses that they can use the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program to keep up with evolving digital transformation, including the integration of software designed for maintaining business operations and enhancing customer interactions.

Under the SBTA, small businesses are allowed to leverage the loan program to finance efforts to integrate digital tools for enhancing the following aspects of day-to-day operations:

  • Product or service delivery
  • Inventory or supply management
  • Accounting systems
  • Sales and billing functions
  • Processing, payment and payroll tracking
  • Human resources

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of Indiana’s economy,” said Senator Young. “Our bill will promote the adoption of digital tools so that Hoosier small businesses can better compete in today’s economy.”

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SDA Issues Draft RFI for Tranche 3 Tracking Layer
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SDA Issues Draft RFI for Tranche 3 Tracking Layer

The Space Development Agency has issued a draft request for solicitation calling for industry input on the development of the Tranche 3 Tracking Layer of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, or PWSA.

Potential Tranche 3 Layer Contract Details

The RFI seeks feedback from contractors that can deliver the Tranche 3 Layer, which is intended to boost deployment from low Earth orbit, or LEO, SDA said Friday. The T3 Tracking Layer will include at least 54 space vehicles, or SVs, equipped with infrared sensors deployed in six orbital planes. Under the other transaction agreement, SDA will also possibly procure prototyping of additional satellites and sensor payloads to refine requirements and enhance constellation design. Once the Tracking Layer is fully deployed, around 100 SVs are expected to be distributed across various planes in LEO.

Enhancing Missile Capabilities with the T3 Tracking Layer

The T3 Tracking Layer is intended to enhance missile defense capabilities by enabling the rapid deployment of comprehensive tracking systems in LEO. The network of satellites aims to provide global, continuous alerts, detection, warnings, tracking and identification of missile threats, such as hypersonic missile systems.

All Tracking Layers SVs and communication systems will be compatible with all PWSA SVs, including Transport Layer SVs. They will be connected through a common ground system, enabling the T3 Tracking Layer to gather low-latency data and transmit it to in-theater weapon systems. This reportedly enables kill chain closure against adversary weapon systems.

Interested vendors have until Feb. 28 to send their responses.

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