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Report: Leon Panetta, Tony Blair Partner for Anti-Violent Extremism Campaign
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Report: Leon Panetta, Tony Blair Partner for Anti-Violent Extremism Campaign


Leon Panetta
Leon Panetta

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair have partnered to establish a new commission with the intent to help U.S. and European government leaders counter violent Islamist radicalization, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Elise Viebeck writes the group, backed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Countering Violent Extremism, will develop strategies to weaken the appeal of Islamic State extremists.

“The reality is that this threat, which I think is a clear and present danger, requires a much more thoughtful and comprehensive approach,” Panetta was quoted as saying by The Post.

Shannon Green, a senior fellow and director of the CSIS’ Human Rights Initiative, will lead the new commission as executive director.

Commission members will include academic experts, technology industry executives and former government officials, Viebeck reports.

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Renee Wynn Eyes Enterprise IT Infrastructure for NASA With Cloud, Collaboration Platforms
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Renee Wynn Eyes Enterprise IT Infrastructure for NASA With Cloud, Collaboration Platforms


Renee Wynn EMRenee Wynn, chief information officer at NASA, has said her office has begun to leverage cloud platforms in an effort to optimize operations and improve the space agency’s enterprise information technology infrastructure, FedTech magazine reported Thursday.

Wynn told FedTech managing editor David Stegon in an interview that her office also has started to implement an architecture that seeks to equip employees with collaborative platforms for use in instant messaging, telephony, video communications and Web collaboration.

“We want to ensure the infrastructure supports not only internal NASA collaboration requirements, but also external partner collaboration,” she added.

Wynn, former acting assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, noted that the space agency also has established a laboratory at Johnson Space Center in order to expand the use of Internet of Things platforms within the agency.

She also cited in the interview that big data is one of the areas of data management that she wants to focus on.

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Ann Barron-DiCamillo, Partners to Form Cybersecurity Venture Firm
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Ann Barron-DiCamillo, Partners to Form Cybersecurity Venture Firm


Ann Barron-DiCamillo
Ann Barron-DiCamillo

Ann Barron-DiCamillo, the retiring director of the Department of Homeland Security‘s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, plans to establish a cybersecurity venture firm with partners to finance cyber technologies, FCW reported Friday.

Sean Lyngaas writes Trend Micro Chief Cybersecurity Officer Tom Kellermann and Booz Allen Hamilton Principal Hank Thomas will join Barron-DiCamillo to launch Strategic Cyber Ventures.

Kellermann will serve as CEO, Thomas as chief operating officer and Barron-DiCamillo as chief technology officer, the report said.

“All three of us have cyber operational backgrounds, and I think having a venture capital group that’s run by actual cyber operators is really unique and is a differentiator,” Barron-DiCamillo told FCW.

Strategic Cyber Ventures will draw funding from private equity sources and cover international markets such as Britain and Israel, Lyngaas reports.

“I think there are some great technologies that are coming out of both of those domestic spaces that fit in with what I see as… growth areas for cyber,” Barron-DiCamillo said.

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GSA Program Adds 10 Agency-Specific Dashboards to Online Analytics Platform
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GSA Program Adds 10 Agency-Specific Dashboards to Online Analytics Platform


digital governmentThe General Services Administration‘s Digital Analytics Program has introduced 10 agency-specific dashboards to an online tool that works to collect analytics data on Web traffic to government agencies’ websites.

An article posted Thursday said the dashboards added to the analytics.usa.gov aim to provide information on the public’s interaction with websites of specific agencies.

Tim Lowden, DAP team lead, co-wrote the post with GSA’s 18F organization innovation specialists Gabriel Ramirez, Gray Brooks, Eric Mill, Colin Craig and Julia Winn.

Agencies that volunteered to take part in the initial release of the dashboards are NASA, Environmental Protection Agency, National Archives and Records Administration, Small Business Administration and the departments of Commerce, Veterans Affairs, Education, Energy, Interior and Justice.

Each dashboard shows visits to agency websites over the past three months as well as locations of online visitors in the U.S. and overseas.

The types of devices, browsers and operating systems that online visitors used to access government websites are also provided in the dashboards.

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State Dept OKs Saudi Arabia’s Request for $200M in Military Training Services
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State Dept OKs Saudi Arabia’s Request for $200M in Military Training Services


military in trainingThe State Department has approved a potential $200 million foreign military sales agreement for Saudi Arabia to obtain military training services from the U.S.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday the deal calls for the U.S. Military Training Mission to Saudi Arabia organization to identify, plan and execute security cooperation training and advisory programs for the Saudi Arabian defense ministry.

DSCA noted Saudi Arabia needs support from USMTM to bolster the country’s defense against hostile threats and increase military interoperability with the U.S.

The initiative will involve the deployment of as many as 202 case-funded U.S. government or contractor personnel to Saudi Arabia.

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Dan Payne Appointed Next Defense Security Service Director
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Dan Payne Appointed Next Defense Security Service Director


Defense Security ServiceDan Payne, deputy director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, has been named director of the Defense Security Service.

He will transition to DSS by mid-March and oversee the service’s mission to protect the U.S. technological base and the classified information held by industry, DSS said Friday.

Payne previously served as deputy chief of CIA’s South Asia division before he joined NCSC.

He also held the roles of CIA assistant inspector general for investigations, deputy director of the counterterrorism center for counterintelligence and deputy chief of the counterespionage group and counterintelligence center.

He has served as a special agent for the Defense Investigative Service at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Quantico, Virginia-based DSS works to provide security support services to contractors and agencies, clear industrial facilities and personnel, oversee classified information systems and analyze threat information.

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Keisha Dawn Bell Named Defense Contract Management Agency General Counsel
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Keisha Dawn Bell Named Defense Contract Management Agency General Counsel


DoD logo resizeKeisha Dawn Bell, formerly deputy general counsel of the Defense Contract Management Agency, has been named general counsel of DCMA.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the appointment of Bell in a Defense Department statement issued Friday.

Bell also previously served as deputy general counsel of the Merit Systems Protection Board after she worked for the Justice Department as a trial attorney, senior trial attorney and deputy chief of the civil rights division’s housing and civil enforcement section.

She was inducted into the Senior Executive Service in 2015.

Bell is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College and the University of Richmond’s T.C. William School of Law.

She also completed the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for a Democratic Society Program.

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Report: Turkey Eyes MEADS Missile Defense System Procurement
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Report: Turkey Eyes MEADS Missile Defense System Procurement


MissileDefenseTurkey is considering acquiring a Medium Extended Air Defense System built by MEADS International, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and MBDA, after the country canceled its plans to buy a China-made anti-missile weapon system, Defense News reported Sunday.

Burak Ege Bekdil writes a Turkish government procurement official said he believes the MEADS platform can increase Turkey’s air defense coverage amid security challenges in the Mediterranean region.

Turkish acquisition personnel are in preliminary talks with German manufacturer MBDA regarding the technological features of the missile defense system, Bekdil reports.

MEADS is designed to provide operators a 360-degree radar coverage area and destroy ballistic and cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aerial vehicles and weapons of mass destruction.

The system comprises a Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhanced missile, surveillance and fire control sensors,  high-powered launchers and battle management/communication infrastructure.

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GAO: Coordination Key to Identify DoD’s Professional Services Acquisition Needs
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GAO: Coordination Key to Identify DoD’s Professional Services Acquisition Needs


ContractSigningA Government Accountability Office report says the Defense Department should establish a coordinated approach for military organizations to forecast and manage funding requirements for professional services contracts.

GAO said Thursday it found that DoD obligated about $85 billion for the acquisition of research and development, facility management and knowledge-based services during fiscal 2014, more than double the amount of obligated military funds for ground, aerial, maritime vehicles in the same year.

The agency has also observed that military branches maintain data on current and projected service contract spending needs but they have limited insight into future service procurement budgetary needs.

Military departments also do not address outyear funding for professional services contracts in their program objective memorandums, GAO added.

GAO urged Congress to consider requiring DoD to report service contract spending forecasts and recommended that military branches modify their POM guidelines to include contracted services.

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FCW: Ann Barron-DiCamillo to Step Down as US-CERT Director
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FCW: Ann Barron-DiCamillo to Step Down as US-CERT Director


Ann Barron-DiCamillo
Ann Barron-DiCamillo

Ann Barron-DiCamillo is leaving her post as Department of Homeland Security‘s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team director, FCW reported Thursday.

No timeline was given for her departure in the report.

Barron-DiCamillo held the position since January 2013 where she headed the operations center and helped address cybersecurity threats.

She has previously held the roles of the chief of the Capabilities and Control Branch and the chief engineer of the Enclave Host Security Division at the Defense Information Systems Agency.

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