Kelvin Moore Named Acting Deputy CIO at Small Business Administration
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Kelvin Moore Named Acting Deputy CIO at Small Business Administration

Kelvin Moore, chief information security officer at the Small Business Administration since May 2023, has been named acting deputy chief information officer at SBA, according to his LinkedIn post.

In his previous role, Moore oversaw SBA’s information security policy and advised program offices on the development and maintenance of information technology security measures to protect the agency’s sensitive information.

Moore has more than three decades of military and government industry experience, including a 12-year service in the U.S. Marine Corps.

He previously served as a program manager at the State Department, chief of the Testbed Operations Division at the Defense Information Systems Agency and chief information officer of the Department of the Army.

Prior to joining SBA, Moore was deputy director of the National Cyber Range Complex at the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic in Charleston, South Carolina.

POC - 5th Annual CIO Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual CIO Summit on April 17 to hear about the latest modernization strategies from government and industry CIOs. Register here to save your seat at the highly anticipated event.

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US Army Integrates Agile Principles into Software Development Approach; Christine Wormuth Quoted
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US Army Integrates Agile Principles into Software Development Approach; Christine Wormuth Quoted

The U.S. Army is incorporating lean and agile principles into its software development strategy to meet the branch’s evolving weapons, training and business needs.

The service branch said Saturday that the new approach will include more flexible procurement and contracting processes such as the Software Acquisition Pathway in order to keep up with constantly changing requirements.

The agile software development strategy states four other priorities, particularly writing software requirements based on high-level needs of warfighters, streamlining design to deployment, adopting continuous improvement modeling for sustainment and boosting talent and expertise in creating and maintaining such platforms.

“Software development must be a source of our military advantage and the Army’s new software policy will ensure we have the right processes in place to inject innovation quickly and achieve a digital transformation of our warfighting capabilities,” said Christine Wormuth, secretary of the U.S. Army and two-time winner of the Wash100 award.

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Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on FY 2024 Spending on Top Priorities
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Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on FY 2024 Spending on Top Priorities

Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, discussed the service branch’s budget plans for its top priorities, including its plans for reoptimizing the force in an era of great power competition, at the 15th Annual McAleese Defense Programs Conference.

Kendall was optimistic that Congress would pass the spending plan for the fiscal year 2024 and explained that the budget does not include funding specifically for the Air Force’s reoptimization plans and his service chiefs would have to account for the costs associated with the efforts.

“There will be some costs associated with some of the things we’re going to do. We’re going to take active steps to minimize those costs and the disruption for people, but they’re changes we need, and these changes put us in a much better posture,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, highlighted the need for the service branch to secure sufficient resources to stay ahead of competitors including China and Russia

“Not only have they demonstrated the intent to deny our use of space for peace and defense, but in many instances, they have also proven the capability to do so,” Guetlein said.

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President Biden Signs Package of 6 Appropriations Measures Into Law
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President Biden Signs Package of 6 Appropriations Measures Into Law

President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a package of six appropriations bills that will provide full-year funding for federal departments and agencies through the end of September.

The signing came a day after Congress passed the package, which includes full fiscal year 2024 funding for transportation and commerce, justice and science, SpaceNews reported Saturday.

The legislation will provide $24.9 billion in FY 2024 funding for NASA.

The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration’s GOES-R geostationary program and the Polar Weather Satellites program will get $276 million and $342.4 million in funding, respectively.

The Space Weather Follow On program will receive $97.2 million, while the Space Weather Next initiative will get $151.6 million in funds under the appropriations bill.

According to the report, the bill will provide $65 million in funds for NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce, which is responsible for the development of a civil space traffic coordination system.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s commercial space transportation initiatives will get $42 million in funding.

The Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act will provide the Department of Veterans Affairs and associated agencies $172.5 billion in mandatory funding and $135.2 billion in non-defense discretionary funding.

The Senate approved the bipartisan package in a 75-22 vote on Friday. The House voted 339-85 on Wednesday to pass the consolidated appropriations measure.

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Pentagon Unveils Investment Strategy for Strategic Capital Office’s 1st Program Activity; Lloyd Austin Quoted
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Pentagon Unveils Investment Strategy for Strategic Capital Office’s 1st Program Activity; Lloyd Austin Quoted

The Department of Defense has issued an investment strategy outlining the initial priority areas for the Office of Strategic Capital’s first program activity — the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technologies Initiative — in fiscal year 2024.

The strategy describes how OSC will work to advance private investment in 12 critical industries, including nanomaterials and metamaterials; synthetic biology; open RAN; sensor hardware; assembly, testing and packaging; quantum computing; battery storage; and space-enabled services and equipment, DOD said Friday.

According to the document, OSC will work with the Small Business Administration to extend loan guarantees to licensed funds for investments in critical component tech platforms.

In December 2022, DOD established OSC to help technology developers find the capital they need to bring platforms to the military and national security markets.

“This important investment strategy will leverage America’s core advantages in innovation and free enterprise to strengthen our industrial base and invest in tech areas that are critical for national security,” said Lloyd Austin, secretary of DOD and a three-time Wash100 awardee.

New Strategy to Guide Intelligence Community OSINT Collection, Use; Avril Haines Quoted
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New Strategy to Guide Intelligence Community OSINT Collection, Use; Avril Haines Quoted

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA have released a two-year strategy outlining a comprehensive approach to streamlining the collection and use of open-source intelligence, or OSINT, across the U.S. intelligence community.

The Intelligence Community OSINT Strategy for 2024 to 2026 defines four strategic areas of focus: coordinating open-source data acquisition and sharing; establishing integrated OSINT collection management; driving OSINT innovation; and creating the next-generation OSINT workforce, the ODNI said Friday.

The strategy also recognizes the importance of governance and partnerships with industry, academia and international allies to support the OSINT mission.

Avril Haines, director of national intelligence and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said the strategy sets the stage to “professionalize the OSINT discipline, transform intelligence analysis and production” within the intelligence community.

“In this pivotal moment, when OSINT is increasingly important and growing in demand, an IC-wide OSINT strategy is key to helping the IC move forward in a coordinated and determined way,” said CIA Director William Burns.

IT Leaders Amy Gilliland & Jane Rathbun Celebrated as 2024 Wash100 Winners
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IT Leaders Amy Gilliland & Jane Rathbun Celebrated as 2024 Wash100 Winners

On Monday, Executive Mosaic recognized the accomplishments of 2024 Wash100 Award winners Amy Gilliland, president of General Dynamics Information Technology, and Jane Rathbun, chief information officer for the Department of the Navy.

Make your voice heard in the 2024 Wash100 popular vote competition by casting your ten votes for your favorite winners at Wash100.com! Voting is open until April 30, and the winner will be announced in May.

Gilliland, who oversees an $8.5 billion technology business, earned her seventh consecutive Wash100 Award this year for spearheading IT investments in the GovCon ecosystem and for leading business development and growth efforts for GDIT. Read more about Gilliland’s recent accomplishments and our reasoning for including her in this year’s Wash100 list here.

Rathbun appeared on the Wash100 list for the first time this year. She stepped into the role as acting DON CIO in March 2023 and was officially confirmed to the position in November. In her role, Rathbun leads a $12 billion IT portfolio and is responsible for advancing modernization initiatives across the DON information enterprise. Check out Rathbun’s full Wash100 profile here.

Executive Mosaic congratulates Amy Gilliland and Jane Rathbun on their inclusion in the 2024 Wash100 list.

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NOAA Office of Space Commerce’s CRSRA Division Seeks Input on Satellite Disposal, Debris Mitigation Regulations
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NOAA Office of Space Commerce’s CRSRA Division Seeks Input on Satellite Disposal, Debris Mitigation Regulations

The Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, or CRSRA, division within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce has begun soliciting public comments regarding potential new instructions on the disposal of on-orbit satellites to mitigate orbital debris.

Through the request for information, NOAA aims to determine whether to issue supplementary guidance or launch a narrow rulemaking concerning efforts related to its disposal condition to reduce potential adverse effects, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register on Friday.

CRSRA has requested that interested stakeholders offer their insights on the benefits and drawbacks of clarifying the oversight of remote sensing system disposal and orbital debris mitigation under its current authority.

According to the RFI, the division had required companies applying for remote sensing licenses to submit a disposal and orbital debris mitigation plan for two decades but eliminated this requirement in 2020 after updating its regulations.

“To avoid duplicative regulation, Commerce opted to defer to FCC license requirements regarding orbital debris and spacecraft disposal, and therefore removed license conditions requiring specific orbital debris or spacecraft disposal practices in final rule,” the RFI notes.

However, the CRSRA has seen a growing number of multinational remote sensing systems and an uptick of providers choosing to get radiofrequency licenses from other countries while seeking a license in the U.S.

Interested parties can also suggest the type and content of documentation regarding disposal and orbital debris mitigation plans that the agency should need if it decides to exercise its existing authority for spacecraft disposal and orbital debris mitigation.

CRSRA is also asking the public to note any orbital debris mitigation and disposal considerations that are unique to remote sensing systems and describe ways by which the division could evaluate compliance with the license requirement concerning the disposition of satellites.

Comments are due April 8.

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NASA Completes Development of Autonomous Lunar-Mapping Rovers
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NASA Completes Development of Autonomous Lunar-Mapping Rovers

NASA has finished developing and testing a group of small rovers that will autonomously map the lunar surface.

The rovers are part of a technology demonstration called Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration, or CADRE, and will be installed on Intuitive Machines‘ Nova-C lander for the IM-3 mission to reach the moon’s Reiner Gamma region, NASA said on Thursday.

During their two weeks on the moon, the CADRE rovers will carry out experiments using ground-penetrating radar to look below the surface while exploring and mapping the moon.

The rovers include hardware components built by Motiv Space Systems and were developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program under the Science Mission Directorate.

The Nova-C lander will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Ames Research Center in California provided support for the project. Clemson University in South Carolina also contributed.

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DHS CISO Ken Bible, Air Force CAIO Eileen Vidrine to Retire
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DHS CISO Ken Bible, Air Force CAIO Eileen Vidrine to Retire

Ken Bible, chief information security officer at the Department of Homeland Security, and Eileen Vidrine, chief data and artificial intelligence officer of the U.S. Air Force, will step down from their positions later this month, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

Bible has served as CIO at DHS since January 2021 and has spent nearly four decades in public sector roles. His retirement is set for March 29.

Vidrine, who has been the Air Force’s CAIO since January, will step down on March 31 after 38 years in the federal government.

Prior to joining DHS, Bible was the assistant director for the information command, control, communications and computers division under the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Information and deputy CIO and CISO for the service branch.

Vidrine assumed her current role upon returning to the Air Force after serving as the senior strategic adviser for data to the federal chief information officer in the Office of Management and Budget.

She previously served in multiple leadership roles at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Her final role with ODNI was chief of staff for the assistant director of national intelligence for human capital.

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