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Defense Innovation Board Calls for Creation of International Integration & Cooperation Office Within DOD
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Defense Innovation Board Calls for Creation of International Integration & Cooperation Office Within DOD

The Defense Innovation Board has recommended that the Pentagon recombine the Offices of the Undersecretaries for Acquisition and Sustainment and Research and Engineering and operate the new entity as the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for International Integration and Cooperation, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.

Congress divided the Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition Technology and Logistics into two offices — A&S and R&E — in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2017.

Charles Phillips, a member of DIB and head of tech investment firm Recognize, said A&S and R&E should be merged back together because the Department of Defense “need[s] integrated designs, we need integrated manufacturing capacity around the world. It’s hard to do that in separate organizations.”

Phillips, who is also a former president of Oracle, noted that creating the International Integration and Cooperation office would enable the department to leverage the innovative efforts of allied countries.

Michael Mullen, a DIB member and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the combined office could benefit small businesses and startups that intend to bring their technology offerings to DOD.

“Now I’m out there as a startup. Where do I start? How do I even get into this system? In my world, which is an old world, you know, where’s the number in the Yellow Pages that I call to get in? It’s an unbelievably difficult building to penetrate,” Mullen noted.

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Jeff Greene, Trent Frazier Take On Leadership Roles at CISA
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Jeff Greene, Trent Frazier Take On Leadership Roles at CISA

Jeff Greene has been appointed executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, while Trent Frazier has been appointed assistant director for stakeholder engagement.

Commenting on the new leadership appointments, CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement Wednesday, “Both Jeff and Trent bring a wealth of expertise and experience to these critical roles, and I’m grateful for their willingness to continue to serve our nation.”

Greene had served in his role in an acting capacity before being formally appointed. As executive assistant director for cybersecurity, he will be in charge of the agency’s mission of protecting government agencies and critical infrastructure from cybersecurity threats.

Before joining CISA, Greene had served as senior director for the cybersecurity program at The Aspen Institute.

Like Greene, Frazier had also served in his role in an acting capacity. As assistant director for stakeholder engagement, his responsibilities include managing the agency’s national and international partnerships, stakeholder outreach programs and information-sharing and coordination.

Before joining CISA, Frazier had served in the Department of Homeland Security, holding various leadership roles.

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Commerce Department, GlobalWafers to Advance US Chip Production Through $400M Proposed Funding
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Commerce Department, GlobalWafers to Advance US Chip Production Through $400M Proposed Funding

The Department of Commerce and GlobalWafers have signed a preliminary memorandum of terms, or PMT, to provide $400 million in proposed funding to advance semiconductor production in the United States.

The proposed investment under the CHIPS and Science Act would build new wafer manufacturing facilities and support projects of approximately $4 billion in Missouri and Texas, the Commerce Department said.

The investment aims to secure the U.S. supply chain, generate over 2,000 jobs across Missouri and Texas and improve economic and national security for Americans, according to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

Under the PMT, GlobalWafers would build and expand facilities in Sherman, Texas, and St. Peters, Missouri to manufacture the country’s first 300mm silicon wafers, which are used in mature-node and memory chips production.

The company would also repurpose a part of its facility in Sherman to produce 150mm and 200mm silicon carbide epitaxy wafers that are critical components for electric vehicles and clean energy infrastructure.

In a statement, Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, noted that the initiative will produce the semiconductor wafers that could enable the U.S. to compete in the global economy.

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Margaret Kabat Transitions to VA Chief of Staff Role
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Margaret Kabat Transitions to VA Chief of Staff Role

Margaret “Meg” Kabat, most recently principal senior adviser at the Department of Veterans Affairs, has taken on the role of chief of staff at VA.

VA said Wednesday Kabat will serve as a top adviser to the department’s secretary and deputy secretary on policies and strategies for delivering care and benefits to veterans.

She succeeded Kimberly Jackson, who announced her move to step down from the chief of staff position in June.

Kabat is a licensed clinical social worker who brings to the position more than two decades of experience supporting veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.

She previously served as the senior adviser for families, caregivers and survivors at VA and held leadership positions in the department’s Caregiver Support Program.

The newly appointed chief of staff was a senior director at Atlas Research, where she supported the Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Prevention Office and helped lead the COVID Nursing Home Commission.

Kabat also served as a social worker and case manager at the National Naval Medical Center.

“Meg is a tireless advocate for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors — and we’re thrilled that she’s going to be helping lead VA in this critical role,” said VA Secretary Denis McDonough.

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NASA Canceling Rover Mission Tasked to Seek Water, Other Resources on Moon
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NASA Canceling Rover Mission Tasked to Seek Water, Other Resources on Moon

NASA has announced its intent to cancel the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, project, whose goal was to search for ice and other potential resources on the lunar surface in support of exploration missions there.

The space agency said Wednesday that VIPER was supposed to launch in 2023 but a need to do further testing with the lander that was to carry the rover to the moon’s surface pushed the date to 2024 and subsequent supply chain issues caused a further delay to 2025.

An internal review showed that the project not only suffered from launch delays but also cost increases, and was at risk of incurring further cost growth, which could impact other missions.

NASA plans to disassemble VIPER and use its parts for other moon missions but first intends to open the rover system up for use by industry and international partners. Interested parties have until Aug. 1 to reach out to the government regarding the opportunity.

The space agency will also work to achieve VIPER’s mission goals via alternative methods.

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Treasury, FSSCC Issue New Resources on Secure Cloud Adoption for Financial Services Sector
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Treasury, FSSCC Issue New Resources on Secure Cloud Adoption for Financial Services Sector

The Department of the Treasury and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, or FSSCC, have released a set of new resources meant to help financial service institutions implement effective practices to advance the secure adoption of cloud services.

The documents mark the continuing joint effort to address the gaps cited in the Treasury’s report on the financial sector’s cloud services adoption, the department said Wednesday.

Those gaps include the establishment of a common lexicon that could be used by financial regulators and institutions in cloud-related discussions, enhancement of information-sharing and coordination for examining cloud service providers and the assessment of existing authorities for CSP oversight.

Launched by the Treasury in May 2023, the Cloud Executive Steering Group published the documents, which were developed through a public-private partnership between FSSCC and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee, or FBIIC.

“The completion of these two efforts is the culmination of nearly two years of collaboration to further protect our financial system,” said Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury. “The CESG is now a proven model and a new way for the financial services sector to effectively address our most significant cybersecurity challenges.”

FSSCC-led deliverables include the Cloud Profile 2.0, the Financial Sector Cloud Outsourcing Issues and Considerations document and the Transparency and Monitoring for Better “Secure-by-Design” document.

FBIIC-led workstreams include the Cloud Lexicon and the Coordinated Information Sharing and Examinations Initiative.

“Our financial system is essential infrastructure for the entire economy, and it is deeply reliant on a handful of powerful Big Tech cloud service providers,” said Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. “Our work will help protect the financial industry from outages and disruption by leveling the playing field between financial firms of all sizes and big cloud service providers.”

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DARPA to Hold AI Cyber Challenge Semifinal Competition at DEF CON 32
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DARPA to Hold AI Cyber Challenge Semifinal Competition at DEF CON 32

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will hold the semifinal competition event for its AI Cyber Challenge, or AIxCC, at a cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas in August.

DARPA said Tuesday AIxCC is focused on the development of novel artificial intelligence systems capable of securing open-source software and the challenge’s semifinal round at the DEF CON 32 event will see AI and cybersecurity experts creating AI-driven cybersecurity technologies for critical infrastructure.

Semifinalist teams will develop a cyber reasoning system for identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. A set of challenge projects will be used to test each system.

“Through AIxCC, we’re exploring whether AI can help find and fix software vulnerabilities more effectively and usher in a future where we can stop attacks as fast as we can detect them,” said Andrew Carney, program manager for AIxCC. “Our goal is to inspire anyone who can advance AI-driven cybersecurity to get involved with efforts to secure the systems we all depend on.”

DARPA is partnering with the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health on AIxCC. DEF CON 32 will be held from Aug. 9 to 11 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

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CDAO Holds GIDE Industry Insights Forum to Accelerate Innovation for CJADC2
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CDAO Holds GIDE Industry Insights Forum to Accelerate Innovation for CJADC2

The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office has organized an industry insights forum to inform private companies about collaborative opportunities under the Global Information Dominance Experiments program, which aims to test various capabilities that could advance the Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control development.

Attendees at the first GIDE Industry Insights Forum, held at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Virginia, learned about the Pentagon’s CJADC2-related technology needs to accelerate innovation and bring new capabilities to the hands of warfighters, the DOD said Tuesday.

According to the agency, the GIDE Forum is a key step to enabling the new Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories—or Open DAGIR—platform, which establishes a multivendor ecosystem allowing industry and government to securely integrate data platforms, development tools, services and applications to improve data, analytics and artificial intelligence capabilities.

To strengthen commercial partnerships, the CDAO plans to organize similar events to keep the industry updated about the latest DOD technology and talent needs, enhance the Open DAGIR program and advance AI initiatives for the CJADC2 warfighting concept.

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Forcepoint Introduces Security System for GenAI Users
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Forcepoint Introduces Security System for GenAI Users

Cybersecurity company Forcepoint has debuted a generative AI security system.

The application is meant to bolster the security of data interactions to enforce transparency and control for organizations using genAI, the Austin, Texas-based company announced Thursday.

Karl Triebes, Forcepoint’s chief product officer, said the system will support generative AI integration by protecting the potentially sensitive data users input into programs like ChatGPT.

“Forcepoint’s GenAI Security solution offers real-time monitoring and unified management of access and data protection policies, preventing unauthorized data sharing and mitigating AI-related risks,” Triebes said. “Our data-first approach to Zero Trust ensures customers can confidently use AI websites and apps, knowing their digital assets are secure.”

Forcepoint’s genAI security system looks to summarize data flow and user conduct to facilitate activity tracking and geo-blocking implementation.

The new program combines the capabilities of existing security service edge, or SSE, technologies—Forcepoint ONE CASB, Forcepoint ONE Web Security, Forcepoint DSPM, Forcepoint ONE Data and Forcepoint Enterprise DLP—to facilitate data security policies across all generative AI platforms.

Forcepoint’s latest offering is compatible with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise Compliance API, which allows for the regulation of data interactions within the ChatGPT environment.

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Procentrix Enters Scaled Agile Partner Program
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Procentrix Enters Scaled Agile Partner Program

Procentrix, a technology and systems development company, has joined the Scaled Agile Partner Program.

Joining as a Silver Transformation Partner, Procentrix will leverage Scaled Agile’s SAFe, a system for business agility, to enhance economic growth, the Herndon, Virginia-based company told ExecutiveGov Thursday.

Chris James, CEO of Scaled Agile, said “the SAFe way” is a method for advancing business strategy into execution at all organizational levels.

“This enables even the largest organizations to accelerate digital transformation andmodernization, respond quickly to customer needs, and become more competitive in their industry,” James said.

“As a Partner, Procentrix is uniquely positioned to help their customers take full advantage of all that SAFe has to offer and accelerate their journey to business agility,” he added.

More than 20,000 organizations use SAFe and Scaled Agile’s Global Partner Network in pursuit of digital innovation.

Mike Hughes, president and CEO of Procentrix, said, “Being a Scaled Agile Partner unlocks significant opportunity as we continue to invest in advancing our solutions to expand enterprise potential.”

Procentrix is joining a global network of technology and service providers in the program.

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