Executive Order Directs DOJ to Issue Regulations to Protect Sensitive Data
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Executive Order Directs DOJ to Issue Regulations to Protect Sensitive Data

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to develop regulations to protect biometric, financial, genomic, personal health data and other sensitive personal information of U.S. citizens from access and exploitation by countries of concern.

The EO also requires DOJ to release regulations to improve protection of geolocation data on sensitive government sites, information on military members and other sensitive U.S. government-related data, according to a White House fact sheet published Wednesday.

DOJ should work with the Department of Homeland Security to establish high security standards to prevent countries of concern from accessing U.S. citizens’ data through other commercial means.

Under the new policy, the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services should work together to ensure that federal contracts, grants and awards are not used to facilitate access to sensitive health information of Americans.

The order calls for the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, also known as Team Telecom, to look at the threats to sensitive personal data of U.S. citizens in its assessment of submarine cable licenses.

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Highlight Awarded Air Force SBIR Direct-to-Phase II Contract; Kevin Long Quoted
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Highlight Awarded Air Force SBIR Direct-to-Phase II Contract; Kevin Long Quoted

Highlight Technologies has received a contract from the U.S. Air Force under the Small Business Innovation Research program to further develop a pilot program designed to facilitate access to data and applications on mobile devices at the controlled unclassified information level.

The company said Wednesday it will support the Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX through the SBIR Direct-to-Phase II contract valued at approximately $1 million.

AFRL and AFWERX have reportedly worked to streamline SBIR and the Small Business Technology Transfer program to speed up the contract award process and expand opportunities for small enterprises.

Kevin Long, vice president of national security solutions group at Highlight, said the company is excited to continue its work with the Air Force and its partner Hypori to deliver platforms that work to eliminate digital obstacles facing warfighters.

“We look forward to extending the lessons learned from the successful BYOD pilot within the US Army Airmen with easier access to their networks, data, and applications,” Long added.

Commerce Department Opens Funding Opportunity Application for Chip Substrate R&D; Laurie Locascio Quoted
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Commerce Department Opens Funding Opportunity Application for Chip Substrate R&D; Laurie Locascio Quoted

The Department of Commerce is now accepting project proposals focused on increasing domestic production of semiconductor packaging substrates.

The notice of funding opportunity, or NOFO, is backed by the CHIPS for America, which earmarked $11 billion for semiconductor research and development, the agency said Wednesday.

The funding opportunity will consider proposals on the development, production and demonstration of advanced packaging substrates and substrate materials which are critical to chip manufacturing. The agency will also select projects on workforce education and training related to substrate production.

“Materials and substrates are foundational to achieving the necessary advances in advanced packaging to ensure U.S. leadership in the global semiconductor ecosystem,” said Laurie Locascio, under secretary of Commerce and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “With this funding opportunity, we are taking the first step toward strengthening domestic advanced packaging approaches so that semiconductor manufacturers can access a full suite of U.S.-based manufacturing capabilities to bring their most innovative solutions to market.”

CHIPS for America will host a briefing on the NOFO on March 1, and its National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program will meet with potential applicants on March 12.

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Sigma Defense Lands $59M Navy Unmanned Vehicle Autonomy Software Integration Contract; Matt Jones Quoted
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Sigma Defense Lands $59M Navy Unmanned Vehicle Autonomy Software Integration Contract; Matt Jones Quoted

Sigma Defense has secured a potential five-year, $59 million contract to help the U.S. Navy integrate autonomy software into unmanned vehicles, or UxVs, using DevSecOps and agile methodologies.

The company said Wednesday it will serve as the autonomy baseline manager for the Program Manager Ships, Unmanned Maritime Systems within the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants and deliver tools and processes to equip UxVs with autonomous capabilities.

Under the contract, Sigma Defense will use the Rapid Autonomy Integration Lab process to enable continuous integration and continuous delivery of autonomous software to UxVs.

“Providing integration services for autonomy software for unmanned vehicles under the Autonomy Baseline Manager (ABM) contract is further delivering on our commitment of ensuring decision dominance for NAVSEA,” said Matt Jones, CEO of Sigma Defense.

In a separate announcement, the Department of Defense said the sole-source contract was awarded to SOLUTE, a Sigma Defense company, and has a one-year base period valued at $19.3 million with four option years.

Executive Mosaic Celebrates 1st Wash100 Wins for MDA’s Heath Collins & Empower AI’s Jeff Bohling
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Executive Mosaic Celebrates 1st Wash100 Wins for MDA’s Heath Collins & Empower AI’s Jeff Bohling

Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins and Empower AI CEO Jeff Bohling were recognized by Executive Mosaic on Thursday as winners of the coveted 2024 Wash100 Award.

Each year, Executive Mosaic selects the top 100 most influential and innovative men and women working in the federal government and government contracting industry to its Wash100 list. These executives are chosen for their outstanding leadership, innovation, vision, reliability and achievements in the GovCon sector.

Lt. Gen. Collins secured his first ever Wash100 Award this year for his work to defend our nation’s homeland, troops and allies from missile threats. Collins was confirmed to his role in December 2023, and he’s responsible for carrying out MDA’s global mission to develop and deploy technologies designed to defend U.S. forces against ballistic missile attacks and threats. Read more about Collins and his work at MDA here.

Bohling similarly appears on the Wash100 list for the first time this year. The Empower AI CEO was recognized for his artificial intelligence leadership and support to public sector customers during this monumental era of AI development and transformation. Find out more about why we selected Bohling and Empower AI to this year’s list — read his full Wash100 profile here.

You can vote for Lt. Gen. Heath Collins and Jeff Bohling as your favorite 2024 Wash100 Award winner at Wash100.com! Only one executive can be crowned the popular vote winner — voting closes April 30, and the winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

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A Look Into the Relationship Between Microelectronics & AI Security
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A Look Into the Relationship Between Microelectronics & AI Security

Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm, and AI technologies require a significant number of microelectronics to function. These tiny chips are the backbone of any digital capability, and their powerful influence on larger systems means that vulnerabilities cannot go unchecked. 

A Look Into the Relationship Between Microelectronics & AI Security

Microelectronics is one topic that may be covered during the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual AI Summit on March 21, where key leaders in the field will come together to share their insights on AI and related topics. Dr. William Streilein, chief technology officer of the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and AI Office, will deliver the opening keynote address. 

Click here to learn more, and click here to register to attend.

Public sector organizations are racing to unlock the benefits AI technologies have to offer, but the novelty of these capabilities and quick pace at which they are developing has brought about a number of security concerns, many of which can be tied to potential vulnerabilities in the microelectronics these systems are built on.

Through legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act, the federal government is looking to rebuild the domestic semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem to secure the microelectronics supply chain while creating jobs.

Continued investments in semiconductor manufacturing, said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, are a necessity to meet the growing demand for AI technologies.

During an Intel Corp. event earlier this month, Raimondo shared that she has spoken about this topic with Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which developed the widely known generative AI tool ChatGPT.

“When I talk to him or other customers in the industry, the volume of chips that they project they need is mind boggling,” she said.

OpenAI recently widened the availability of its tools for use by public sector entities by altering an earlier policy that prevented military organizations from using its applications.

A spokesperson for OpenAI told The Register in January that while company policy “does not allow our tools to be used to harm people, develop weapons, for communications surveillance, or to injure others or destroy property,” there are many national security use cases that “align with our mission.”

In remarks published to the Commerce Department website earlier this week, Raimondo noted that generative AI was not yet prominent enough to consider during the creation of the CHIPS and Science Act.

Now, she said, it is recognized that generative AI “takes tens of thousands of leading-edge chips to train.” 

“If we want to continue to lead in AI and other central technologies, then we must successfully implement this CHIPS initiative and make sure we are being bold enough with our vision,” said Raimondo.

Though she is confident about current CHIPS Act efforts, Raimondo anticipates the need for a second push.

“I suspect there will have to be — whether you call it Chips Two or something else — continued investment if we want to lead the world,” she said.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn more about AI at the 5th Annual AI Summit! Register here.

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Army Initiates Force Structure Transformation
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Army Initiates Force Structure Transformation

The U.S. Army has released a white paper outlining changes to its force structure to advance modernization and better address future threats amid the evolving security environment.

The military branch said Tuesday it is advancing a force structure transformation effort after performing an assessment using the Total Army Analysis process — a.k.a. TAA — and conducting consultations with Congress.

The transformation effort will enable the Army to develop new capabilities to meet the requirements outlined in the National Defense Strategy and reduce the gap between force structure and current active duty end strength.

According to the document, TAA decisions will reduce the “authorized” troop levels to about 470,000 warfighters by fiscal year 2029.

To enact the transformation initiative, the Army will add more than 30 new or updated systems across its critical modernization portfolios into new and current types of units.

The service will complete the establishment of its five multidomain task forces: new theater-level assets that include a headquarters and headquarters battalion; a long-range fires battalion; a multidomain effects battalion; a brigade support battalion; and an indirect fire protection capability, or IFPC.

The military branch is making key investments in the force structure supporting integrated air and missile defense at the division and corps levels. These include four additional IFPC battalions, nine counter-small unmanned aircraft system batteries and four additional Maneuver Short Range Air Defense, or M-SHORAD, battalions.

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DOE Backs Cyber Tool Development Projects to Boost Energy Sector Resilience
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DOE Backs Cyber Tool Development Projects to Boost Energy Sector Resilience

The Department of Energy is funding 16 projects aimed at supporting the development of cybersecurity tools and technologies for reduced cyber risks and improved American energy system resilience.

DOE said Monday it awarded $45 million to the projects managed by its Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response, or CESER, to help prevent cyber attacks against power grids, renewable energy generation sources, electric utilities and pipelines, and lessen cyber incident-caused energy disruptions.

General Electric‘s GE Research arm is one of the awardees. It looks to create a quantum-based capability to secure communication of time-sensitive coordination messages important to power grid resilience.

Another funding recipient is Georgia Tech Research Corp., which will develop a framework that uses artificial intelligence approaches to automate vulnerability assessment, discovery and mitigation in distributed energy resources tools.

Click here to learn more and view the full list of the selected projects across six states.

“DOE is committed to strengthening the nation’s energy sector, including protecting it against current or emerging cyber threats that would threaten Americans’ access to secure, reliable energy,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Keen on gaining more insights about cyber-focused government efforts? Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear from esteemed cyber experts, government leaders and industry visionaries speaking on the dynamic and ever-evolving role of cyber in the public sector. Register here!

POC - 2024 Cyber Summit
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NASA, SpaceX Update Launch Schedule for NOAA’s Final GOES-R Series Weather Satellite
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NASA, SpaceX Update Launch Schedule for NOAA’s Final GOES-R Series Weather Satellite

NASA and SpaceX now expect to launch the fourth and final satellite in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – R Series no earlier than May.

The new target date for the GOES-U satellite launch will provide the agency and the company more time to perform additional testing on a new center core booster of the Falcon Heavy rocket, NOAA said Tuesday.

NOAA manages the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated office with NASA and oversees satellite operations and the ground system.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland developed the Magnetometer instrument for GOES-T and GOES-U satellites and is responsible for the acquisition of instruments and spacecraft.

Lockheed Martin is responsible for designing, developing and testing the GOES-R series satellites, while L3Harris Technologies is the provider of the Advanced Baseline Imager instrument and ground system.

The launch of the GOES-U satellite was originally set to occur no earlier than April 30.

POC - 2024 Space Summit

Hear government leaders, space experts and industry executives discuss the latest space technologies, commercial investments and urgent issues facing the space domain at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Space Summit on March 5. Register here.

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Sen. Mark Warner on Importance of AI Regulations, Standards
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Sen. Mark Warner on Importance of AI Regulations, Standards

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., has highlighted the need for regulations and standards to guide the secure and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence technologies, warning that the lack of guardrails in AI could pose risks to federal programs, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Warner has sponsored a bill with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., that aims to advance risk management guidelines for federal use of AI technologies.

The bill would require agencies to incorporate the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s AI Risk Management Framework into their AI management policies and programs.

“When the NIST standards come out, they ought to be the rules at least all government operates against,” the three-time Wash100 awardee said. “You drive government as first actor — not the whole society — but start with government.”

Warner said that unregulated AI technologies could also harm elections and the financial markets.

To address AI market threats, Warner and Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., introduced the Financial Artificial Intelligence Risk Reduction Act to require financial regulators to address financial market disruptions caused by AI-generated content.

POC - 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 to hear more about cutting-edge AI innovations from government and industry experts. Register here!

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