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Dev Palmer Appointed NAPMP Director Within CHIPS for America R&D Office
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Dev Palmer Appointed NAPMP Director Within CHIPS for America R&D Office

Dev Palmer, former official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has been named director of the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, or NAPMP, at the CHIPS for America’s Research and Development Office.

As head of NAPMP, he will oversee efforts to establish a self-sustaining packaging industry focused on U.S.-built advanced node chips, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Friday.

“I am honored to serve as the Director of the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program in the CHIPS R&D Office. This team has made tremendous contributions to the CHIPS for America and I look forward to joining them as we create a globally competitive advanced packaging sector that competes on the basis of innovation,” Palmer said.

“The innovative strategy set in motion by the team will leverage our nation’s leading packaging R&D to deliver meaningful, measurable outcomes,” he added.

Palmer most recently served as managing director of Next-Generation Microelectronics Manufacturing within DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office, where he also served as deputy director.

The CHIPS R&D Office is part of the Department of Commerce’s NIST.

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Decision Lens Receives Investment from Diversis for Product Development
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Decision Lens Receives Investment from Diversis for Product Development

Decision Lens, a software company, has received an investment from Diversis Capital to enhance product development.

Diversis will leverage its $1 billion technology-focused private equity fund to aid Decision Lens in producing financial planning applications for government agencies, the Arlington, Virginia-based company announced Monday.

John Saaty, CEO and co-founder of Decision Lens, said, “Our success has been predicated on the notion that government agencies need better tools to prioritize their investments, plan for future years and align spending with strategic imperatives.”

“We believe the public sector is at an inflection point in its modernization efforts and this investment allows Decision Lens to accelerate product development and expansion for growth to meet this need,” Saaty added.

Kevin Ma, co-founder and managing partner of Diversis, said the company became interested in collaborating once it realized Decision Lens’ impact on government agency operational efficiency.

“We are thrilled to partner with Decision Lens to further its vision of modernizing how government prioritizes, plans, and funds,” Ma stated. ”We know its software will be a critical driver of the government meeting its goals to be more data-driven.”

The award capitalizes on the momentum of Decision Lens, which has received several awards from the Army, Navy and Air Force, among other federal government organizations.

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TMF to Invest in Federal Programs for Nuclear Safety, Responsible AI Use
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TMF to Invest in Federal Programs for Nuclear Safety, Responsible AI Use

The Technology Modernization Fund has allocated funding of $13.8 million to the Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce to further strengthen U.S. national security and promote tech innovation.

TMF said $3.8 million will fund the DOE’s efforts to upgrade its Radiological Response Data Portal system, a critical component of the agency’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team operations.

The program, implemented by the General Services Administration, will also provide $10 million to support the Commerce Department’s AI Safety Institute, or AISI.

Specifically, the funding will enable AISI to create a centralized resource for technology testing and evaluation to facilitate the safe implementation of AI capabilities in government operations.

According to TMF Board Chair Clare Martorana, a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, the strategic investments will support efforts by federal agencies to advance nuclear safety and foster responsible AI innovations in the United States.

“As a TMF Board, we’re focused on providing agencies with agile and responsive funding to accelerate legacy technology modernization that underpins mission-critical services,” Martorana stressed.

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Frank Calvelli Wants Space Systems Integration Office to Integrate Acquisition Programs Across 3 Organizations
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Frank Calvelli Wants Space Systems Integration Office to Integrate Acquisition Programs Across 3 Organizations

Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, has expanded a U.S. Space Force office to integrate acquisition programs not only at Space Systems Command but also at the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

Claire Leon, a government and industry veteran, leads the Space Systems Integration Office, or SSIO, which was established to manage SSC-run acquisition programs.

According to a July 9 memo obtained by the publication, Leon will serve as chief space systems engineer and senior adviser for integration to Calvelli regarding all USSF Program Executive Officer portfolios and applicable mission partner organizations.

A spokesperson for the Air Force stated that the “vision” for SSIO “is to facilitate better integration across Program Executive Officers to deliver end-to-end capabilities that work, faster.”

The spokesperson added that SSIO and SSC “are currently evaluating various organizational changes to ensure SSIO can focus on the new Chief Space Systems Engineer role and perform it well.”

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DOE Seeks Proposals to Build Oak Ridge National Lab’s Supercomputer ‘Discovery’
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DOE Seeks Proposals to Build Oak Ridge National Lab’s Supercomputer ‘Discovery’

The Department of Energy has started soliciting industry proposals for a contract to develop the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s next-generation high-performance computing system.

ORNL said Friday the future HPC system, Discovery, will replace the Frontier exascale supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and is expected to be delivered by 2027 or early 2028.

The future supercomputer should be interoperable with other DOE facilities under the Integrated Research Infrastructure initiative, have advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities and generate three to five times more computational throughput for scientific applications than Frontier.

“This project is exciting because we will be building something even more capable than Frontier, with technologies that will push the edge of what’s possible,” said Matt Sieger, the OLCF’s project director for Discovery.

Discovery is expected to support potential study areas, such as training AI algorithms for scientific discovery, speeding up drug discovery and treatments for cancer and predicting the impacts of climate change.

ORNL said the next-gen supercomputer and its capabilities are expected to meet the Advanced Scientific Computing Research program’s mission needs.

Proposals are due Aug. 30.

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GSA & DOE Select Technologies for GPG Program
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GSA & DOE Select Technologies for GPG Program

The General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy have picked a handful of technologies to participate in the Green Proving Ground program, or GPG.

Under the program, GSA and DOE plan to invest $9.6 million into 17 up-and-coming technologies to asses building systems in operational climates, GSA announced Thursday.

Robin Carnahan, administrator of the GSA, said, “Right now, GSA and the entire Administration are making once-in-a-generation investments to address climate change, bolster our economy and infrastructure, enhance security and sustainability and build a more prosperous future for all Americans.”

The GPG program focuses on critical technological areas — building envelopes and enclosures, healthy and resilient buildings, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and on-site renewables — in joint forces with the Inflation Reduction Act, which has endowed $30 million for the expansion program.

The program has examined 107 technologies since 2011. GSA’s Applied Innovation Learning Labs will facilitate the testing of recent systems.

GSA expects this year’s test results to be available in 2026.

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Army Unit Demos Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Battery in Resolute Hunter Joint Training Exercise
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Army Unit Demos Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon Battery in Resolute Hunter Joint Training Exercise

The U.S. Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force,  or 1MDTF, demonstrated the capability of the military branch’s long-range hypersonic weapon battery during a biannual joint training exercise held in June at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.

The Army said Wednesday 1MDTF demonstrated the ability of the LRHW battery’s capability to integrate with joint echelons and sustain operations for over three days during Exercise Resolute Hunter 24-2.

The Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center hosted Resolute Hunter 24-2, the Department of Defense’s exercise focused on battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

“These scenarios provide invaluable sets and repetitions that build upon and reinforce the steadfast integration of MDTF capabilities in the broader Partnered Joint All-Domain construct,” said Col. Charles Kean, commander of 1MDTF.

Since 2019, soldiers have contributed to the hypersonic weapon’s prototyping process.

The service’s 1MDTF unit launched New Equipment Training in September 2021, completed the weapon system’s fielding process by the end of fiscal year 2023 and deployed the hypersonic capability in February 2023 as part of Exercise Thunderbolt Strike.

FCC, NTIA Must Take Steps to Better Ensure Radio Frequency Spectrum Efficiency, GAO Says
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FCC, NTIA Must Take Steps to Better Ensure Radio Frequency Spectrum Efficiency, GAO Says

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report calling on the Federal Communications Commission and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to take steps to ensure improvements to radio signal receiver devices, thereby enhancing the use of the radio frequency spectrum in the U.S.

The GAO said in a report released Thursday that in 2023, the FCC had established spectrum management principles that, among other things, put forward policy and technical considerations that called for non-federal receivers to be designed so that they could reduce interference from signals transmitted in adjacent and nearby spectrum bands.

By having more robust receivers, different services would be able to operate closer together, thereby promoting spectrum efficiency.

The report noted that in implementing the spectrum management principles, the FCC had failed to apply key practices, namely identifying measurable goals related to those principles, strategies to achieve those goals and barriers preventing them. The report recommended that the FCC apply these practices to provide better guidance to those working to improve non-federal receiver performance.

The GAO also reported that the NTIA collects information regarding the performance of federal receivers but while it is sufficient for preventing harmful interference, it is not enough to provide insights regarding other aspects of receiver performance.

The GAO called on the NTIA to evaluate its current sources of information and identify and collect additional data as needed.

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DNI Avril Haines Expresses Gratitude for Christy Abizaid’s Service as NCTC Director
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DNI Avril Haines Expresses Gratitude for Christy Abizaid’s Service as NCTC Director

Director of National Intelligence and 2024 Wash100 awardee Avril Haines has released a statement thanking Christy Abizaid, the outgoing director of the National Counterterrorism Center, for her service.

Haines said Thursday, “Since being sworn in as NCTC Director more than three years ago, Christy led the Center to address an evolving counterterrorism threat environment while also preparing the NCTC workforce for future challenges.”

Abizaid’s departure was confirmed in early June.

In an interview with The Cipher Brief, Abizaid said that one of the “seminal moments” during her term as NCTC director was the fall of Kabul. Her organization had “a big part” in the effort to evacuate not only U.S. citizens but also Afghan partners from the city.

NCTC worked to ensure “that the people that come here are the people that are those partners and allies we care so much about while protecting against bad people who might want to enter the country,” the outgoing official said.

Abizaid is succeeded by Brett Holmgren, former assistant secretary of State for intelligence and research.

Regarding Holmgren’s appointment, Haines said, “We are so fortunate to have a distinguished member of the IC leadership team and another truly exceptional counterterrorism leader join us at ODNI.”

Holmgren takes charge of NCTC in an acting capacity.

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NRC Appoints Mirela Gavrilas as Executive Director for Operations
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NRC Appoints Mirela Gavrilas as Executive Director for Operations

Mirela Gavrilas, head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, will officially assume the role of executive director for operations on July 28.

In this capacity, she will serve as the chief operating officer and oversee NRC’s administrative and operational functions, the agency said Wednesday.

NRC Chair Christopher Hanson said Gavrilas will bring to the role her technical expertise, management and communications skills and ability to transform work processes and metrics.

“She is well poised to lead the NRC staff as we tackle challenges and embrace new opportunities, particularly after the recent passage of the ADVANCE Act,” added Hanson.

Since 2020, Gavrillas has served as director of NSIR, where she oversees the development and implementation of security and emergency preparedness policy.

She first joined NRC in 2004 as an engineer within the agency’s Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.

Before NRC, the former MIT post-doctoral fellow served as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland at College Park.

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