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Initial Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve Contracts Expected by End of Year; Col. Richard Kniseley Quoted
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Initial Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve Contracts Expected by End of Year; Col. Richard Kniseley Quoted

According to U.S. Space Force Col. Richard Kniseley, the Commercial Space Office is working to release the first contracts for the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve by the end of the year, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

Speaking at the recent Washington Space Business Roundtable, Kniseley, who heads COMSO, also said his office aims to hold a CASR industry session by August.

The Space Force put forward the idea of a Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve in early 2023. It envisioned commercial space companies voluntarily providing a part of their capabilities to the Department of Defense to address urgent needs during crisis or war.

Kniseley noted that, for the first CASR contracts, the focus would mainly be space domain awareness. He expects the issuance of contracts containing special provisions for vendors that wish to become CASR companies.

“I expect it to be some really good learning, because we’ve never done this before,” the COMSO chief said.

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South32 to Help DOD Enhance Chemical Element Supply Chain; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted
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South32 to Help DOD Enhance Chemical Element Supply Chain; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted

South32 has secured a $20 million award from the Department of Defense to increase domestic production of a chemical element essential to developing both lithium-ion batteries and cobalt-based batteries.

The award made through the Defense Production Act Investment Program supports South32’s Hermosa Project, which aims to sustainably produce battery-grade manganese in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, the DOD said Friday.

South32 will become the first sustainable, domestic producer of battery-grade manganese once the project is completed. With the investment, the mining company is expected to provide the essential material used in batteries for defense and civilian applications two years earlier than planned.

The award is also aligned with the 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy, which calls for continued and enhanced support for domestic production of materials to boost supply chain resilience.

“This first DPA award for manganese production is a big step towards reducing import dependency throughout the battery material supply chain,” said Anthony Di Stasio, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial base resilience.

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2024, the DPA investment program has allocated $356 million in total for 16 awards.

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Senate Bill to Streamline Tech Acquisition Processes Across Intelligence Community
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Senate Bill to Streamline Tech Acquisition Processes Across Intelligence Community

Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Mark Warner, D-Va.; John Cornyn, R-Tx.; and James Lankford, R-Ok., have introduced legislation that would streamline the acquisition of advanced technologies across the intelligence community.

The Enabling New Agile Buying-power and Leveraging Enhancements in Intelligence Community Acquisitions Act would create a fund to advance the transition of new products from research and development to production, giving priority to small businesses and nontraditional defense contractors, Kelly’s office said Friday.

The legislation would allow intelligence agencies to use streamlined acquisition processes and enhance existing authorities to facilitate partnerships within the commercial sector.

“By cutting unnecessary red tape, our bill provides new acquisition options, further drives national security innovation, and ensures the U.S. is always one step ahead,” Kelly said.

According to Warner, the bill would ensure that intelligence agencies are funded and have the flexibility they need to “acquire and integrate the most cutting-edge emerging technologies to protect our national security.”

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Brian Epley Selected to Succeed Andre Mendes as Commerce CIO
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Brian Epley Selected to Succeed Andre Mendes as Commerce CIO

Brian Epley, principal deputy chief information officer at the Department of Energy, has been appointed CIO at the Department of Commerce, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

He will assume his new role on June 3 and succeed Andre Mendes, who stepped down from the position in January after 14 years of service in the federal government.

Epley has served as principal deputy CIO at DOE since September 2022 and has led several information technology initiatives across the department, including efforts to modernize its network and telecommunications infrastructure under the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract.

He also helped establish the DOE CIO Office’s strategic direction for IT modernization, cybersecurity and data usage.

Prior to joining DOE, Epley spent six years at the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as deputy CIO and deputy assistant administrator for administration and resources management.

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Sharon Woods Named Director for J6 Endpoint Services & Global Service Center at DISA
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Sharon Woods Named Director for J6 Endpoint Services & Global Service Center at DISA

Sharon Woods, a senior executive leader with two decades of government experience, was named director for J6 Endpoint Services and Global Service Center at the Defense Information Systems Agency, according to her LinkedIn announcement.

She previously served as director for J9 Hosting and Compute at DISA, responsible for leading an enterprise service delivery organization with 2,000 staff and a nearly $1 billion budget, driving the development of cloud accelerators like DevSecOps and transforming the workforce to support both traditional data center and cloud capabilities.

In her new role, Woods will have oversight of the delivery of networking and endpoint services at all classification levels to the Department of Defense.

“This is a crucial mission, connecting the department’s globally dispersed workforce, from the Pentagon to the edge, with unified communications,” said Woods. “Incorporating my experience with cloud technology, I hope to drive modernization and propel J6 forward as the premier communications provider to the department.”

Her career also includes time serving as general counsel for the Defense Digital Service and attorney adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Notably, Woods spent almost a decade with the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of the Navy, assuming positions of increasing responsibility and culminating in the role of associate counsel at the Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems.

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State, Education, Commerce Departments to Get Technology Modernization Fund Investments; Clare Martorana Quoted
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State, Education, Commerce Departments to Get Technology Modernization Fund Investments; Clare Martorana Quoted

The departments of State, Commerce and Education will receive investments under the Technology Modernization Fund to improve public services and strengthen cybersecurity.

The General Services Administration said Thursday the State Department will use $18.2 million in TMF funding to implement generative artificial intelligence tools to facilitate data processing and enable personnel to glean insights from data to support diplomacy missions worldwide.

The department will also receive $13.1 million in funds to implement a zero trust architecture model and accelerate the creation of a Consolidated Identity Trust as part of efforts to protect identity data and improve cybersecurity.

With $12 million in TMF funding, the Commerce Department’s National Weather Service will modernize weather.gov and its application programming interface.

The Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid will receive a $5.9 million TMF investment and will use it to enhance the “My Activity” feature on StudentAid.gov, improving the digital experience for millions of borrowers.

“As chair of both the TMF Board and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers Council, I’m thrilled to see our catalytic funding stream powering the use of AI and improving security at the State Department,” said Clare Martorana, chair of the TMF Board and federal chief information officer.

“I’m equally excited about the TMF’s two other critical investments – with students getting more modern access to manage their education journeys and the public gaining access to life-saving weather information in an accessible manner for all,” added Martorana, a previous Wash100 awardee.

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White House Introduces AI Principles for Developers, Employers
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White House Introduces AI Principles for Developers, Employers

The White House has unveiled a set of principles meant to guide the development and deployment of artificial intelligence tools in the workplace as part of efforts to protect and empower workers.

The Department of Labor developed the principles in accordance with the AI executive order released in October, according to a White House fact sheet published Thursday.

The eight principles are centering worker empowerment; ethically developing AI; establishing AI governance and human oversight; ensuring transparency in AI use; protecting labor and employment rights; using AI to enable workers; supporting workers impacted by AI; and ensuring responsible use of worker data.

AI developers and employers should consider the principles during the technology’s design, development, training, testing, deployment, adoption, auditing and oversight.

The White House said Microsoft and Indeed are among the tech companies that have committed to adopting the principles.

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Bipartisan Senate Group Endorses Policy Priorities Tackling Threats and Opportunities Presented by AI
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Bipartisan Senate Group Endorses Policy Priorities Tackling Threats and Opportunities Presented by AI

The Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group has released a roadmap that details priority policies related to artificial intelligence that the group believes ought to be given congressional consideration.

The roadmap is the result of months of stakeholder meetings, discussions and nine AI Insight Forums, which were convened to better illuminate the AI policy landscape, the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday.

The AI policies proposed under the roadmap include ensuring U.S. leadership in AI by increasing funding for AI innovation; addressing national security threats and opportunities posed by AI; evaluating the impact of AI on the U.S. workforce; and ensuring the competitiveness of U.S. companies and higher education institutions when it comes to AI innovation.

With the release of the roadmap, Sen. Schumer, D-N.Y., said, “[The] work continues with our Committees, Chairmen, and Ranking Members to develop and advance legislation with urgency and humility,” noting that, “[no] technology offers more promise to our modern world than artificial intelligence. But AI also presents a host of new policy challenges.”

The Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group’s members are Sens. Schumer; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; and Todd Young, R-Ind.

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New CISA Issuance to Help Federal Agencies Implement DNS Encryption
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New CISA Issuance to Help Federal Agencies Implement DNS Encryption

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a new document that helps federal civilian agencies encrypt their Domain Name System traffic.

The Encrypted Domain Name System Implementation Guidance offers a variety of resources — including technical guidance and references and a checklist of required changes — that agencies can use when putting into effect DNS encryption wherever feasible, CISA said Thursday.

Mandated by Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-22-09 titled “Moving the U.S. Government Toward Zero Trust Cybersecurity Principles and the National Cybersecurity Strategy,” DNS encryption enhances the cybersecurity posture of a government agency’s IT network.

Eric Goldstein, the executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said, “This guide will help agencies progress further in their zero trust security journey. CISA continues our efforts and collaboration with agencies to modernize federal agency cybersecurity successfully and securely.”

The same document can also be used by non-government organizations to determine the steps they can take to achieve zero trust.

New CISA Issuance to Help Federal Agencies Implement DNS Encryption

Cyber experts, government leaders and industry visionaries will speak about the dynamic and evolving role of cyber in the public sector at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit, which will take place in June. Register now to attend this important event!

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DON Updates Neptune Portal to Accelerate Cloud Acquisition, Delivery
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DON Updates Neptune Portal to Accelerate Cloud Acquisition, Delivery

The Department of the Navy’s cloud management program has revamped its cloud portal to provide a streamlined interface for cloud service managers to access offerings from multiple vendors, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft’s Azure, Google, and Oracle, at multiple classification levels.

The updated Neptune Cloud Portal features upgraded catalog listings for DON cloud service managers and dashboards for infrastructure-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and software-as-a-service offerings, PEO Digital said Thursday.

DON cloud service managers will also access commercial cloud services offered by other Department of Defense programs, such as the U.S. Air Force Cloud One, cArmy cloud infrastructure and the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability.

PEO Digital established the Nepture Cloud Management Office in June 2023 to accelerate cloud adoption across the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in support of DON’s digital transformation goals.

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