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CISA, Partners Release New Guidance to Enhance Cyber Resilience of Water & Wastewater Systems Sector
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CISA, Partners Release New Guidance to Enhance Cyber Resilience of Water & Wastewater Systems Sector

New guidance has been issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and the FBI to help water and wastewater systems — dubbed WWS — sector owners and operators in responding to cyber incidents.

The Incident Response Guide, which was developed with the help of 25 partners from the WWS industry, state and local governments and the nonprofit sector, tackles all the stages of the incident response lifecycle and the federal roles, resources and responsibilities associated with each step, CISA said Thursday.

The guide, whose use does not require technical expertise, also discusses cyber incident response best practices.

CISA Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity Eric Goldstein notes how the WWS sector “is under constant threat from malicious cyber actors” and says the newly released guide is “timely and actionable” and is reflective of “an outstanding partnership” between various stakeholders to safeguard WWS.

For his part, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran said his agency “will continue to combat cyber actors” who pose a threat to the WWS sector, which he described as “a vital part of our critical infrastructure.”

On the part of the EPA, Radhika Fox, the assistant administrator for water, said the agency is committed to improving the cyber resilience of the WWS sector, noting that threats to it “represent a real and urgent risk to safe drinking water and wastewater services that our nation relies on.”

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NASA, Johns Hopkins APL to Demo Wideband Terminal Technology for Satellite Communications
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NASA, Johns Hopkins APL to Demo Wideband Terminal Technology for Satellite Communications

NASA has collaborated with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to test a wideband polylingual terminal prototype for use in the agency’s Space Communications and Navigation program.

The Polylingual Experimental Terminal, or PExT, will be integrated with a York Space Systems-built S-class spacecraft bus and fly on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Transporter-11 mission in June 2024 for a six-month testing period, NASA said Thursday.

During the test, PExT will showcase contact and link management, forward and return link data flow and roaming between NASA’s legacy Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network and three commercial relay networks.

The terminal will also be assessed in mission scenarios such as self-pointing capabilities, long-term schedule execution, waveform adaptation and reloading, link fault recovery and command stack protection.

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New Working Group Intends to Make Commerce Department’s Public Data AI-Ready
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New Working Group Intends to Make Commerce Department’s Public Data AI-Ready

The Commerce Data Governance Board has formed a new working group that intends to determine how generative artificial intelligence could help the Department of Commerce advance its goal of expanding discovery and opportunity through data.

Sallie Ann Keller, chief scientist at the U.S. Census Bureau, has been named chair of the newly established AI and Open Government Data Assets Working Group, according to a blog post published Thursday on the department’s website.

The working group will develop technical guidelines for publishing AI-ready open data that can be used by generative AI and other emerging AI technologies and expects to publish the document by the end of 2024.

The group will also work with academia, industry and other partners in the public data ecosystem to help make the Commerce Department’s public data AI-ready.

The new organization consists of AI and data management experts across the department’s 13 bureaus.

POC - 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 and hear federal leaders and industry experts discuss the latest developments in the field.

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VA OIT Plans to Hire More AI Experts to Support Digital Services Overhaul
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VA OIT Plans to Hire More AI Experts to Support Digital Services Overhaul

Kurt DelBene, assistant secretary for information and technology and chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said the VA’s Office of Information and Technology is planning to hire artificial intelligence experts to enhance the delivery of healthcare and benefits to veterans online, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

“Especially with the PACT Act, adding new people who can get health care and benefits from us, it really puts a higher premium around being able to do things like automation,” DelBene said.

DelBene has called on Congress to pass a comprehensive funding bill for fiscal year 2024, noting that the VA OIT’s hiring effort would become a challenge under the continuing resolution passed Thursday to avoid a government shutdown.

“Obviously, the applied-for budget in 2024 is larger than our existing budget, and that’s what’s necessary to add more headcount,” DelBene said.

VA seeks to use AI tools to expedite healthcare enrollment for veterans by removing repetitive questions during the sign-up process.

“When we know who the person is applying for health care, we’re able to cut down the length of time that form takes, by avoiding asking questions that we might already know the answer to,” said Charles Worthington, chief technology officer at VA.

The department also launched a tech sprint to develop AI-powered speech-to-text tools and document processing platforms to enhance patient care and experience.

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Lt. Gen. Anthony Hale Named Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence
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Lt. Gen. Anthony Hale Named Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence

Lt. Gen. Anthony Hale, formerly commanding general and commandant of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence at Fort Huachuca, has been appointed deputy chief of staff for intelligence at the U.S. Army.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines welcomed Hale’s appointment in a statement published Thursday, noting that the Army official is “an extraordinary leader who has developed the Army intelligence enterprise and profession over a lifetime of service.”

Before his appointment, Hale has served as special assistant to the director of the Army Staff since September 2023.

He was also the director of intelligence for U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Hale succeeds Lt. Gen. Laura Potter, who has held the position since September 2020 and was recently assigned as director of the Army Staff.

Haines, a three-time Wash100 awardee, congratulated Potter on her new assignment and commended her “partnership and leadership of the Army intelligence enterprise over the past few years.”

“She balanced operations and crisis in this complex environment all while building a culture of continuous improvement and modernization to address emerging demands,” Haines said.

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Strategic Capabilities Office Accepting Research Submissions in Deep Learning, Cyber via BAA
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Strategic Capabilities Office Accepting Research Submissions in Deep Learning, Cyber via BAA

The Strategic Capabilities Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense has issued a five-year broad agency announcement soliciting research submissions in five technical areas.

SCO is interested in submissions describing new and unconventional uses of existing platforms and emerging technologies that can be rapidly deployed to counter or deter U.S. adversaries, according to a solicitation notice published Wednesday on SAM.gov.

The five key technical areas are autonomous systems, deep learning, cyber, cross-domain kill chains and non-traditional defense technologies.

Each topic of interest comes with subcategories. Under the deep learning technical area, for instance, subcategories include approaches that use synthetic data to train neural networks, semantic processing and deep learning enabled by graphics processing unit computing.

Submissions could be solicited through individual calls in one or more of the five technical areas. Competitions under this BAA will consist of a phase for white paper submission, a downselect, a proposal phase and a final selection decision.

SCO expects the BAA to result in multiple awards that could be in the form of a procurement contract or an other transaction agreement.

The BAA will run through Jan. 16, 2029.

POC - 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31 and hear defense leaders, researchers and experts discuss the latest developments in the field of military technology.

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GAO Cites Gaps in Agencies’ Compliance With FedRAMP Process for Cloud Services
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GAO Cites Gaps in Agencies’ Compliance With FedRAMP Process for Cloud Services

A study conducted by the Government Accountability Office found that some federal agencies have been using cloud services that were not covered by the Office of Management and Budget’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program.

The government watchdog on Thursday recommended that OMB update FedRAMP guidance to help agencies track and reduce the cost of applying for FedRAMP authorization.

Use of FedRAMP increased 60 percent from 2019 to 2023, but some government departments still do not use the process to procure services such as cloud security, GAO wrote. Reports from both federal entities and cloud service providers, or CSPs, cited delays in stakeholder response when they apply for authorization, with some CSPs failing to submit complete documentation.

The challenges have prompted OMB to revise its FedRAMP guidance to improve the efficiency of the program. However, OMB has not implemented the new version, which includes monitoring and reporting agencies’ use and spending on the authorization process.

OMB has so far not expressed its intention to follow GAO recommendations from the report.

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CRDF Global to Support State Department Counterterrorism Program Under New Contract; Tina Dolph Quoted
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CRDF Global to Support State Department Counterterrorism Program Under New Contract; Tina Dolph Quoted

CRDF Global has been selected to participate in a U.S. Department of State program.

Under prime contractor Valiant, CRDF Global will support a Somalia-based initiative overseen by the department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism, the Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit announced on Tuesday.

“CRDF Global’s vision of creating a safer world is realized through partnerships like this, and we are proud to work alongside Valiant on this program,” said Tina Dolph, president and chief operating officer of CRDF Global and a four-time Wash100 Award winner.

Wash100 will return for its 11th year next week! Visit Wash100.com to browse the full list of previous awardees and access more information about the 2024 Wash100 celebration.

Peter Capwell, general manager of Valiant’s mission support arm, said the enterprise is “honored to implement this program and play a role in the region.”

This award  follows CRDF’s October win of a five-year contract from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, under which the nonprofit is responsible for improving laboratory systems and services associated with HIV and tuberculosis testing.

CRDF has previously worked with the State Department. In September 2022, the nonprofit entered a $3.9 million cooperative agreement with the department intended to promote sustained dialogue between the U.S. and U.K. on possible applications for nuclear science.

Earlier that month, CRDF Global received a $7 million award to help the State Department cultivate cross-sector efforts to prevent the development of chemical and biological weapons.

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New NIST Special Publication Refines Guidelines for Organizational Cybersecurity Infrastructure Evaluation
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New NIST Special Publication Refines Guidelines for Organizational Cybersecurity Infrastructure Evaluation

The National Institute of Standards and Technology revised a special publication designed to guide organizations in the measurement of their cybersecurity infrastructure’s effectiveness.

NIST on Wednesday launched a solicitation for public comment for its draft guidance, which can be implemented alongside the institute’s Cybersecurity Framework.

The first of the two-volume special publication centers on quantitative and qualitative metrics, data analysis techniques and impact and likelihood modeling. NIST provides recommendations on the approach that best fits an organization. The second part of the document discusses the development and implementation of an information security management program.

“Everyone manages risk, but many organizations tend to use qualitative descriptions of their risk level, using ideas like stoplight colors or five-point scales,” said Katherine Schroeder, one of the publication’s authors. “Our goal is to help people communicate with data instead of vague concepts.”

The public comment period will close on March 18.

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NASA Demos Software Enabling Spacecraft Swarm Navigation
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NASA Demos Software Enabling Spacecraft Swarm Navigation

NASA recently used its Starling CubeSats to demonstrate a key component of the Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment, which is focused on developing a capability that would enable each member of a spacecraft swarm to achieve awareness of its location and the location of the other spacecraft within the group.

During the recent demo, a piece of StarFOX software was able to process imagery captured by Starling CubeSat sensors to distinguish members of the swarm from other spacecraft and the starfield in the background, and to estimate with accuracy the orbits of the other swarm members, NASA said Wednesday.

The processing was carried out on Earth, with the captured images being transmitted to the ground. A subsequent test will have to be carried out in orbit and achieve similar results.

The Starling mission comprises four CubeSats that were launched aboard Rocket Lab‘s Electron vehicle in July. The spacecraft completed commissioning in December and subsequently moved into swarm experiment configuration. The mission’s overarching goal is to test various technologies, including the Stanford University-led StarFOX, that would make it possible for spacecraft to work cooperatively in swarms.

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