Biden Administration Spearheads Initiatives to Accelerate Clean Energy, Critical Infrastructure Permitting Processes
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Biden Administration Spearheads Initiatives to Accelerate Clean Energy, Critical Infrastructure Permitting Processes

The Biden administration has initiated a series of actions aimed at accelerating the environmental review and permitting process for clean energy and critical infrastructure projects.

Among the initiatives are the implementation of the Permitting Action Plan released in 2022 to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the federal permitting and environmental review processes and the $1 billion investment from the Inflation Reduction Act to improve permitting.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality has finalized a rule to reform and modernize the federal environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Reforms include setting deadlines for agencies to complete environmental reviews and establishing a unified and coordinated federal review process.

The Department of Energy has also released a final transmission permitting reform rule to cut transmission review timeframes in half for complex environmental projects.

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USPTO Seeks Public Insights on Impact of AI on Patentability Evaluations
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USPTO Seeks Public Insights on Impact of AI on Patentability Evaluations

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office seeks input from the public about how artificial intelligence might impact evaluations when determining whether an invention could be patented under U.S. law.

The USPTO said Tuesday that the feedback it receives via a request for comments, due July 29, will be used to help with legal and Congressional advisory work as well as with policy formulation.

Among the issues covered by the RFC is the use of AI and how it affects what qualifies as prior art. Another issue is how AI use affects the assessment of the level of skill of a person having ordinary skill in the art.

The issuance of the RFC forms part of a broader effort by the USPTO to respond to President Joe Biden’s directives regarding the promotion of safe, secure and trustworthy AI. Related USPTO initiatives include the issuance of guidance concerning inventorship for AI-assisted inventions as well as guidance on using AI when preparing filings to be submitted to the agency.

ODNI Releases Latest Transparency Report on IC Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities
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ODNI Releases Latest Transparency Report on IC Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities

In line with requirements under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as amended, and the commitment of the intelligence community to principles of intelligence transparency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released the Annual Statistical Transparency Report Regarding the Intelligence Community’s Use of National Security Surveillance Authorities for Calendar Year 2023.

The report offers the public insight into the oversight framework governing the IC and provides statistics and other information about the use of various national security authorities, including those under FISA, ODNI said Tuesday.

Highlights in the CY2023 transparency report include increases in FISA Title I, III and VII Sections 703 and 704 orders and targets compared to the preceding year. FISA Title I and III involve electronic surveillance and physical searchers based on probable cause, while FISA Title VII Sections 703 and 704 involve the targeting of U.S. persons located abroad based on probable cause.

The report also notes an increase in FISA Section 702 targets but points out that the increase follows previous trends.

On April 20, authorities under FISA Section 702 were renewed after President Joe Biden signed a reauthorization bill that also sought to introduce reforms to mitigate risks to American privacy and civil liberties. The transparency report generally covers the period between Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023, so changes to 702 that went into effect this year would not be covered.

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Commerce Department Announces New Actions to Develop Secure AI Systems
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Commerce Department Announces New Actions to Develop Secure AI Systems

The Department of Commerce has announced department-wide initiatives related to the implementation of the October 2023 executive order on the safe, secure and trustworthy development of artificial intelligence.

The efforts include four draft publications from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to improve the security and trustworthiness of AI systems across the federal government and a request for public comment from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on how the proliferation of AI could affect certain evaluations.

NIST has released guidance documents to help manage the risks of generative AI, reduce risks posed by “synthetic” content and secure software development practices for generative AI and dual-use foundation models.

Under the EO, the agency also opened to public comments a draft plan to facilitate global engagement on AI standards.

Meanwhile, the USPTO is requesting industry comments on how AI could affect evaluations the office makes to determine whether an invention is patentable under U.S. law. The office aims to evaluate the need for AI-related guidance and help inform its work in providing technical advice to Congress.

“With these resources and the previous work on AI from the Department, we are continuing to support responsible innovation in AI and America’s technological leadership,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

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Jen Easterly Breaks Down President’s FY25 Budget for CISA at House Subcommittee Hearing
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Jen Easterly Breaks Down President’s FY25 Budget for CISA at House Subcommittee Hearing

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, said the president’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget of $3.01 billion for CISA includes $470 million for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation, or CDM, program to help strengthen operational visibility into agency networks.

Easterly appeared before the House Appropriations Committee’s homeland security subcommittee on Tuesday and called the CDM program an “invaluable tool” for the rapid deployment of protection to federal agencies.

“Using our CDM program and our vulnerability scanning tools, CISA identified and drove mitigation of over 15 million severe vulnerabilities across the federal government in FY 2023,” Easterly said in her testimony before the subcommittee.

According to Easterly, the president’s budget request includes $1.7 billion for the Cybersecurity Division to further develop the capacity to detect and counter cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, $394 million for the Joint Collaborative Environment tools and capabilities and $255 million for the delivery of local risk reduction services.

The CISA director stated that the budget would provide $187 million for infrastructure security and resilience efforts, $130 million for emergency communications, $98 million for the activities of the Stakeholder Engagement Division and $140 million for the National Risk Management Center.

Easterly noted that the proposed CISA funding will enable the agency to broaden risk management and analysis efforts across critical infrastructure sectors and “maintain analytic capabilities, including risk methodology and framework development to identify critical infrastructure interdependencies and cascading consequences.”

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Navy Unveils Solicitation Plans for MIDS WDL SF2 Radio Development, Production Contract
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Navy Unveils Solicitation Plans for MIDS WDL SF2 Radio Development, Production Contract

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command plans to launch a full and open competition for a potential $900 million multiple-award contract to develop and produce MIDS WDL SF2 radios.

NAVWAR intends to issue a request for proposals for the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, according to a special notice published Tuesday on SAM.gov.

The proposed IDIQ contract will have a five-year ordering period and include systems engineering and integration — or SE&I — support for the MIDS WDL SF2 terminal, which stands for Multifunctional Information Distribution System Weapons Data Link Small Weapons Attritable Family 2.

SE&I support includes the future development of new technologies, engineering releases, waveforms, block upgrades and block cycles.

According to a request for information released in December, key performance parameters for the proposed procurement effort may include multiwaveform support, software control of modes, National Security Agency certification, operational availability, airworthiness and spectrum certification and cryptographic enhancements.

The RFI states that the procurement initiative will be a follow-on to a WDL SF2 delivery order under the existing MIDS Joint Tactical Radio System contract with Data Link Solutions.

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Army Drops Task Order Competition for Electronic Warfare Management Tool
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Army Drops Task Order Competition for Electronic Warfare Management Tool

The U.S. Army has decided to cancel the competition for the Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool task order due to “evolving requirements and a strategic realignment within the program.”

The service branch said Tuesday the EWPMT task order was under the Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services Enterprise contract.

The Army is focused on deploying current EWPMT capability and advancing software architecture modernization, which involves transitioning EWPMT’s spectrum management and electromagnetic warfare capabilities to the Tactical Assault Kit framework in collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps.

The TAK-X framework is expected to offer microservice-based, modular software architecture and enable agile development and integration.

The modernized architecture, EWPMT-X, will be demonstrated in 2025 to gather feedback from operators. The military branch expects the modernized platform to replace the current EWPMT capability by fiscal year 2026.

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Permitting Council Invests in Federal IT Projects to Advance Critical Infrastructure Authorizations
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Permitting Council Invests in Federal IT Projects to Advance Critical Infrastructure Authorizations

The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council will invest $30 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to support the development and improvement of information technology at federal agencies to speed federal permitting reviews and authorizations of infrastructure projects.

The investment will support 13 IT projects in 11 federal agencies and will incorporate new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, geographic information systems and data-sharing tools, into permitting processes, the Permitting Council said Monday.

Four offices within the Department of the Interior will receive funding worth $14.2 million combined to enhance a public comment analysis tool, implement IT software for renewable energy, streamline workflow and conduct a right-of-way system feasibility study.

The rest of the investment will go to the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development and Forest Service, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Department of Energy and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“In order to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity to transition to a clean energy economy and rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, we need to make sure that federal agencies are equipped with state-of-the-art IT resources that will support meaningful public engagement, enhance transparency and timeliness of decisions without sacrificing environmental quality,” said Eric Beightel, executive director of the Permitting Council.

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Next-Generation Space-Based Missile Warning Capability Passes Critical Design Review
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Next-Generation Space-Based Missile Warning Capability Passes Critical Design Review

The Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Polar, or OPIR NGP, program has cleared its space vehicle critical design review, an important milestone in the development of the space-based global missile warning capability.

The CDR indicates that standards have been met, allowing for the program to push through with the fabrication, assembly and testing of the NGP space vehicle, the Space Systems Command said Monday.

The NGP, intended as the successor to the Space Based Infrared Systems Highly Elliptical Orbit hosted program, “is a critical cornerstone of our nation’s deterrence strategy, providing a strategic missile warning capability with unrivaled performance and resilience against any adversary,” according to Capt. Christian Chavez, the space vehicle and resiliency lead within the SSC NGP program.

Chavez also described the NGP as “an unblinking eye that warns us of impending attacks against our homeland and our allies” and a critical system that helps the U.S. maintain a strategic advantage in space.

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Government & Industry Seek to Fill Cyber Positions Using Skills-Based Hiring Principles
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Government & Industry Seek to Fill Cyber Positions Using Skills-Based Hiring Principles

National Cyber Director Harry Coker Jr. announced at a recent White House event the intent of the federal government to transition by summer the Information Technology Management job series — which encompasses a majority of the federal IT workforce — to skills-based hiring.

The move is part of a broader effort to use a skills-based hiring framework, when appropriate, with the ultimate aim of promoting access to cybersecurity jobs in the government without relying on college degree requirements, the Office of the National Cyber Director said Monday.

For their part, representatives from multiple organizations across various industries present at the event expressed their commitment to follow the government’s lead and bolster their cyber talent pipeline by relying on skills-based principles and practices like apprenticeships, scholarships and trainings.

Examples of such efforts include a technical and professional learning initiative by Verizon in collaboration with edX; a cybersecurity curriculum pilot program involving Cisco Networking Academy and Wichita State University; and continued investments by Motorola Solutions in talent development partnerships and programs.

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