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Rockwell Automation Joins DOE Cyber Testing for Resilient Industrial Control Systems Program
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Rockwell Automation Joins DOE Cyber Testing for Resilient Industrial Control Systems Program

Rockwell Automation has joined the Department of Energy’s Cyber Testing for Resilient Industrial Control Systems program, also known as CyTRICS, to perform cybersecurity vulnerability testing of multiple critical infrastructure components.

Under the CyTRICS program, Rockwell Automation will submit critical infrastructure components to be tested for potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities at the Idaho National Laboratory, DOE said Thursday.

Rockwell Automation is the sixth private-sector company to join the vulnerability testing initiative, which aims to ensure the security of the U.S. energy sector supply chain by utilizing the analytic tools and capabilities at DOE’s national laboratories to assess the cyber resilience of high-impact energy systems.

“As we navigate an increasingly digital world, ensuring the security of our automation products is paramount to Rockwell and its customers. This collaboration provides a unique opportunity to leverage the National Laboratory’s industry-leading expertise, analytics, and capabilities to strengthen the security posture of our products and affirm our commitment to transparency,” said Tony Baker, chief product security officer at Rockwell Automation.

DOE also added Westinghouse Electric Company to the CyTRICS program in early February to test one of its instrumentation and control systems for nuclear applications.

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DISA’s Col. Richard Leach: Emerging Tech Presents Cybersecurity Challenges, Opportunities
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DISA’s Col. Richard Leach: Emerging Tech Presents Cybersecurity Challenges, Opportunities

Army Col. Richard Leach, director of intelligence at the Defense Information Systems Agency, said that in addition to the remote work arrangement, the adoption of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies has transformed the cybersecurity landscape.

At a summit on Wednesday, Leach discussed how AI could enable hackers to immediately look for information on high-value individuals and find code that could allow them to breach internet-connected devices, DISA said Friday.

During the fireside chat, he also cited how AI could help analysts speed up their work.

“There’s no way I can hire enough analysts to sort through all of that, so we’re going to have to use those APIs and those large hybrid models to sort through the data,” he noted.

Leach additionally discussed DISA’s transition to zero trust and the importance of cyber education.

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear cyber experts, government and industry leaders discuss the latest trends and the dynamic role of cyber in the public sector. Register here.

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Air Force Intelligence Office CIO Col. Michael Medgyessy on Cloud Office Governance
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Air Force Intelligence Office CIO Col. Michael Medgyessy on Cloud Office Governance

Col. Michael Medgyessy, chief information officer of the Air Force Intelligence Office, said he believes cloud office governance could be a big deal in 2024 due to the office’s need to access and use platforms from agencies like the National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and U.S. Space Force, Federal News Network reported Friday.

With the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability vehicle and other programs, Medgyessy noted that the governance process could help ensure users adhere to guardrails the service branch developed for cloud services adoption.

“The shared inherited controls that you get when you using this way, the visibility and security cognizance of what’s going on in commercial cloud at any given time by the CIO is super important to trying to tame the Wild West, while not having to slow people down,” the colonel told FNN in an interview.

“We have to have an understanding that when you do come through the cloud office, yes, there’s going to be guardrails in place, but you’re also getting to go faster and you’re going to be more successful long term,” he added.

Medgyessy said his office is considering transitioning to an “as-a-service” model to accelerate the deployment of customer capabilities.

He also cited the Air Force Intelligence Office’s effort to hire a chief data officer and stressed the importance of Digital University and other initiatives to retain the service’s digital savvy airmen and women.

POC - 5th Annual CIO Summit

Register here to join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual CIO Summit on April 17 and learn more about the latest modernization strategies and how industry can help meet the priorities of federal CIOs.

US, International Partners Convene for Project Convergence Capstone 4 Experimentation
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US, International Partners Convene for Project Convergence Capstone 4 Experimentation

The U.S. military and international partners have come together for a joint exercise aimed at showcasing next-generation technologies and capabilities for joint experimentation, multinational integration, command and control and data exchange, DVIDS reported Friday.

More than 4,000 service members and civilians from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps and militaries from allied countries including the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, France and Japan are participating in Project Convergence – Capstone 4 taking place in locations around the West Coast.

Australian Army Joint Interface Control Officer Capt. Jack Hatton said the multinational exercise will experiment, test and validate the interoperability between mission partner forces to “achieve a fully integrated combined force in multi-domain operations.”

“This includes utilizing emerging technology and capabilities, blending military and commercial sectors, in a cooperative and operationally focused environment,” Hatton said.

The Department of Defense reported that the joint military exercise uses an extensive communications network to transmit information between different experimentation levels, validating the utility of modern capabilities and networks to accelerate data exchanges.

“The network has to be the No. 1 priority,” said Gen. Randy George, chief of staff of the Army. “You cannot communicate, you cannot command and control, everything we do across our warfighting functions depends on our network.”

Persisting Challenges Force NASA to Dissolve On-orbit Manufacturing Project
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Persisting Challenges Force NASA to Dissolve On-orbit Manufacturing Project

NASA has terminated the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing 1 project in response to an in-depth independent review of the program.

The space agency on Friday cited continued challenges in technical, financial and collaborative aspects of the project as the reason for the shutdown.

NASA mentioned that it failed to secure a committed partner for OSAM-1 due to persisting technical and scheduling obstacles, as well as the sector’s increasing shift away from the practice of refueling unprepared spacecraft.

The project’s management team has notified Congress of the decision and is planning an organized shutdown, from sensitive hardware disposal to pursuit of alternative uses of the components and technologies.

The agency’s leaders are formulating strategies to address the workforce impact of the OSAM-1 cancellation at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

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Commerce Department Looks Into Potential National Security Vulnerabilities in Connected Vehicles; Gina Raimondo Quoted
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Commerce Department Looks Into Potential National Security Vulnerabilities in Connected Vehicles; Gina Raimondo Quoted

The Department of Commerce has kicked off the regulatory process to investigate the national security risks associated with foreign adversaries’ information and communications technology and services — a.k.a. ICTS — in connected vehicles, or CVs, by issuing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

The department said Thursday the notice seeks to solicit public input as it works on regulations aimed at securing the ICTS supply chain for connected vehicles.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the proposed rulemaking notice seeks to look into the national security risks of CVs, particularly China-made technology in the vehicles.

“We need to understand the extent of the technology in these cars that can capture wide swaths of data or remotely disable or manipulate connected vehicles, so we are soliciting information to determine whether to take action under our ICTS authorities,” Raimondo added.

The department is soliciting comments on how potential classes of ICTS transactions that are integral to CVs may pose risks to U.S. national security and implementation mechanisms to address such risks through mitigation measures or potential prohibitions, among others.

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Senate Bill Pushes for Increased Standardization Activities in Emerging Tech; Sen. Mark Warner Quoted
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Senate Bill Pushes for Increased Standardization Activities in Emerging Tech; Sen. Mark Warner Quoted

A new bill introduced by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., seeks to fortify the standardization process for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

The Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act of 2024 would authorize funding for a pilot program to support standard-setting meetings and require congressional progress reporting of standardization programs, according to a statement published Thursday in Warner’s official website.

The legislation directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to investigate U.S. involvement in international standard development activities and submit its findings to Congress.

It would also allocate $10 million in grants over four years to support domestic gatherings and assemblies relevant to AI and other critical and emerging technologies.

If passed, the bill would allow for the creation of a web portal containing existing international standards and instructions on how people can participate in AI and CET standardization activities.

“In recent years, the Communist Party of China has asserted their dominance in the global technology space, and as their status has risen, our authority and influence has fallen,” Warner stated. “This legislation clearly outlines steps we must take to reestablish our leadership and ensure that we are doing all we can to set the global standards for critical and emerging technologies,” added Warner, a three-time recipient of the Wash100 award.

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Senate Confirms Aprille Joy Ericsson as DOD Assistant Secretary
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Senate Confirms Aprille Joy Ericsson as DOD Assistant Secretary

Aprille Joy Ericsson, new business lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Instrument Systems and Technology Division, has been named assistant secretary at the Department of Defense.

The Senate confirmed by voice vote Ericsson’s nomination Wednesday five months after President Biden nominated the more than 30-year NASA veteran to assume one of the three assistant secretary of defense positions in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

Ericsson joined NASA in 1992 and has since held various roles of increasing responsibility, including chief technologist, program executive for Earth science and business executive for space science.

She assumed the new business lead position at Goddard in 2017 and oversaw public-private partnerships on research and development efforts.

The new OUSD(R&E) assistant secretaries will replace the deputy chief technology officer role and focus on science and technology, critical technologies and mission capabilities.

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VA Seeks Veteran-Owned Small Businesses to Provide Software Tool, Information Submission Support
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VA Seeks Veteran-Owned Small Businesses to Provide Software Tool, Information Submission Support

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a request for information to determine the availability of small business contractors that can support the capital planning and investment control, a.k.a. CPIC, tool used by the Investment Oversight and Reporting Branch, or IORB, of the VA Office of Information and Technology’s Information Technology Programming and Budget Formulation Service.

The same contractors must also have the ability to support the IORB in generating the submissions required by the budget formulation service as it prepares the annual VA IT budget, according to the RFI posted Saturday on SAM.gov.

The IORB uses the CPIC tool — a web-based, government-owned application called Folio — in preparing these submissions.

VA is looking into service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses or veteran-owned small businesses certified under the Small Business Administration’s Veteran Small Business Certification Program for the requirement.

Because the requirement may be competed under the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, the sought-out SDVOSBs and VOSBs should not already be T4NG Contract holders.

Interested parties have until March 11 to respond.

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Battelle’s Lou Von Thaer & ARKA’s Andreas Nonennmacher Spotlighted for 2024 Wash100 Wins
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Battelle’s Lou Von Thaer & ARKA’s Andreas Nonennmacher Spotlighted for 2024 Wash100 Wins

Executive Mosaic celebrated Battelle’s Lou Von Thaer and ARKA Group’s Andreas Nonnenmacher for their 2024 Wash100 Award wins on Monday.

The coveted Wash100 Award has annually chosen the most distinguished executives in the government contracting industry for 11 years. In each iteration of Wash100, nominees are hand-picked using a comprehensive selection process that looks at the past, present and expected future influence of each individual to identify the strongest leaders in GovCon.

Von Thaer, president and CEO of Battelle, secured his 9th Wash100 win this year. He returned to the ranks for winning key contracts in 2023, including a $416 National Science Foundation award, a spot on a potential $499 million Air Force Lifecycle Management Center contract and a $107 million Department of Defense task order, and driving innovation within the company. Read his full profile here.

Battelle’s Lou Von Thaer & ARKA’s Andreas Nonennmacher Spotlighted for 2024 Wash100 Wins

Nonnenmacher, president of ARKA and a first time Wash100 honoree, was selected for expanding the company and fostering defense innovation through key acquisitions. Since Nonnenmacher assumed his current role in 2020, he has integrated numerous enterprises, including AMERGINT, Danbury Mission Technologies, The Stratagem Group and more, into ARKA. Click here to read his full profile.

ARKA is sponsoring the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Space Summit, which is set for tomorrow, March 5. To learn more and secure your spot before registration closes, click here.

The annual Wash100 popular vote contest offers you the opportunity to choose your favorite 2024 winners. To cast your 10 votes in this lively competition, visit Wash100.com.

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