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OSTP Issues Follow-on RFI for 2023 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations
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OSTP Issues Follow-on RFI for 2023 National Plan for Civil Earth Observations

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is seeking feedback from expert individuals and organizations regarding its draft National Plan for Civil Earth Observations.

The Congress-mandated draft is the third version to be developed since 2014 and is intended to maintain U.S. global leadership in the Earth observation enterprise, OSTP said in a notice published Wednesday.

An interagency team of experts called the U.S. Group on Earth Observations was tasked to formulate the 2023 National Plan, which includes near- and long-term actions needed to address socio-economic challenges, such as climate change, in the next 10 years.

The latest request for information is a follow-on to the RFI issued by OSTP in May and will close on Dec. 31.

DCSA Brings Together Agency, Industry Partners for Latest NBIS Demo Day
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DCSA Brings Together Agency, Industry Partners for Latest NBIS Demo Day

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency hosted a virtual demonstration day to provide information on the latest National Background Investigation Services updates, DVIDS reported Tuesday.

The NBIS Demo Day convened more than 5,300 participants from federal agencies and industry and included discussions on the new eApp and the latest NBIS features and capabilities.

Scott DiStefano, NBIS training chief, said attendance for the NBIS Demo Day nearly tripled in size since the launch of the training sessions in 2020.

According to DiStefano, the NBIS Training program has provided live training to more than 6,000 users through over 200 live webinars and developed more than 135 training products.

The latest interactive session enabled participants to raise questions that NBIS experts answered in real-time via the Teams’ chat function.

“Our representatives from NBIS Training, Solutions, eApp, and Onboarding teams fielded over 1,000 questions from the audience and customers,” DiStefano said.

In late October, 100 federal agencies and 11,000 companies migrated to the NBIS eApp where they can submit requests for personnel background investigations.

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Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotor Blades Undergo Testing at JPL Facility
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Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotor Blades Undergo Testing at JPL Facility

NASA conducted tests in September on next-generation carbon fiber rotor blades that could power larger and more capable Mars helicopters in the future.

The tests were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s space simulator, the same facility where the Surveyor, Voyager and Cassini spacecraft were initially subjected to space-like conditions, the JPL website said Wednesday.

During the test, the rotor blades were spun at 3,500 revolutions per minute, or at nearly supersonic speed.

According to Sample Recovery Helicopter deputy test conductor Tyler Del Sesto, the new blades were made to spin 750 RPMs faster than what Ingenuity — NASA’s helicopter currently operating on the red planet — could achieve.

Compared to Ingenuity’s rotors, the new blades are over 10 centimeters longer and possess greater strength. They also feature a different design.

“These more efficient blades are now more than a hypothetical exercise,” Del Sesto noted, adding, “They are ready to fly.”

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Rick Therrien on Improved Logging, Cybersecurity Playbook Automation Efforts at IRS
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Rick Therrien on Improved Logging, Cybersecurity Playbook Automation Efforts at IRS

Rick Therrien, director of cybersecurity operations at the Internal Revenue Service, said the IRS has made progress in collecting audit logs and has begun automating its cybersecurity response playbooks by merging log data with its security orchestration, automation and response platform, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

“We’ve taken a number of manual playbooks in the past year, and we’ve provided automation to those through our SOAR platform,” Therrien said during a Nov. 16 webinar.

“You have to have the data, but then what’s your response to that data, and being able to do that in a repeatable way, and also being able to do it at the scale of a large enterprise,” he added.

Therrien noted that the IRS has made strides in zero trust adoption, particularly in multifactor authentication, and that over 22 million taxpayers have started using ID.me’s identity service to create IRS accounts online.

“And then internally for everyone who has access to IRS systems, we had them on multifactor authentication for a number of years, but the lift of converting the legacy systems to multifactor is something that we’ve made tremendous strides in the last 12 months,” he said.

The IRS cybersecurity chief talked about the Department of the Treasury’s PROviding Treasury Enterprise Cybersecurity Technology and Services program, also known as PROTECTS, and the IRS’ plan to perform a tabletop exercise on artificial intelligence threats in fiscal year 2024.

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FTC Approves Use of Compulsory Process for AI-Related Investigations
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FTC Approves Use of Compulsory Process for AI-Related Investigations

The Federal Trade Commission has voted 3-0 to approve a resolution authorizing the use of compulsory process by FTC staff in conducting nonpublic investigations into artificial intelligence-based products and services.

Through the resolution, FTC staff will be authorized to issue civil investigative demands, or CIDs, in AI-related investigations and the FTC will retain its authority to determine when CIDs are given, the Commission said Tuesday.

CIDs are a form of compulsory process issued to obtain documents, information and testimony to advance FTC consumer protection and competition investigations.

The FTC seeks to prevent the use of generative AI in fraud, privacy infringements and various activities that may violate the FTC Act and other regulations, as well as address competition issues that the emerging technology may create in the market.

The omnibus resolution will take effect for 10 years.

Senate Bill Looks to Advance VA’s Emergency Management Capabilities
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Senate Bill Looks to Advance VA’s Emergency Management Capabilities

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; and Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, have introduced bipartisan legislation to advance the Department of Veterans Affairs’ emergency response and management capabilities.

The Advancing VA’s Emergency Response to Crises Act of 2023 would require the VA to implement a fully operational high-frequency emergency communications system to maintain communications across its medical facilities during disasters or emergencies without requiring external infrastructure, the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs said Tuesday.

“In the last few years, we’ve seen disasters strike all parts of this country, from the COVID-19 pandemic to massive flooding in my home state of Montana. Due to its size and reach, VA is in a prime position to respond to these crises,” said Committee Chairman Tester.

The bill would also require the VA to report to Congress on the current status of its Regional Readiness Centers, establish a tracking system to ensure that its emergency caches and emergency pharmacy vehicles are fully stocked with unexpired inventory and coordinate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to analyze cross-agency coordination during emergencies.

POC - 2023 Healthcare Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 6 to learn about emerging innovations and trends in the healthcare sector. Register now to join the highly anticipated event.

Defense Innovation Board Officials Cite Primary Challenges to Modernization
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Defense Innovation Board Officials Cite Primary Challenges to Modernization

Defense Innovation Board officials pointed to efforts to streamline the acquisition process, rapid technology deployment and promotion of competition as some of the key challenges to modernization, GovCIO Media & Research reported Friday.

“The areas we’re looking at are everything from security processes, whether that is individual security clearances or secure facilities and their broad use, to the authority to operate in a secure ecosystem, to personnel practices, to the acquisition mechanisms themselves, everything ranging from the assets that we have or the data we need to receive,” Sue Gordon, a director at CACI International and a two-time Wash100 awardee, said during the board’s Nov. 14 meeting.

Thomas Sasala, deputy director of the Army’s Enterprise Management Office, cited the importance of data readiness during the board meeting.

“Without data readiness, you can’t have a ready military force. So we need to train our soldiers on data like we train them on the platforms and the weapons they use every day. The soldiers need to be comfortable with using data at the speed of mission to achieve that operational advantage,” said Sasala.

At its Jan. 26 meeting, the board expects to release results from two studies: “Lowering Barriers to Innovation” and “Building a DOD Data Economy.”

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DARPA Begins Market Research for Cyberspace Operations R&D Requirement
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DARPA Begins Market Research for Cyberspace Operations R&D Requirement

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has started soliciting information on potential vendors that could provide classified cyberspace operations and information operations, or COIO, research and development support services.

The DARPA Information Innovation Office wants information on potential offerors that have the capability to develop COIO technologies to address existing and emerging information operations and cyberthreats, according to a request for information published Wednesday.

Responses to the RFI may be classified or unclassified.

Interested vendors should include in their white papers a list of personnel with COIO experience and their respective clearances as well as their organizational experience, including previous accomplishments and ongoing work.

Submissions should also provide a description of facilities and assets that are available for COIO R&D.

DARPA will accept responses to the RFI through Nov. 21 of next year.

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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BAE Systems Wins $36M Army Award for Equipment Recovery, Evacuation System Maintenance
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BAE Systems Wins $36M Army Award for Equipment Recovery, Evacuation System Maintenance

The U.S. Army has awarded a BAE Systems subsidiary a $36.4 million contract award for work on evacuation system vehicles and heavy combat equipment recovery systems.

During the two-year contract period, BAE Systems Land & Armaments will conduct the brunt of the assignment at its headquarters in York, Pennsylvania, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

The project is slated to conclude on Aug. 31, 2025 and was provided through the Army Contracting Command’s Detroit, Michigan Arsenal.

The company’s land and armaments group wrapped up a prior, one-year Army contract in August — worth $47.9 million — in support of the service branch’s Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

In January, the unit won a $71.9 million award from the U.S. Navy to manufacture parts and components for its Columbia-class submarine program through 2030.

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CISA Revives Data Analysis Working Group to Defend Critical Infrastructure Against Ransomware
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CISA Revives Data Analysis Working Group to Defend Critical Infrastructure Against Ransomware

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is bringing back the Cybersecurity Insurance and Data Analysis Working Group, also known as CIDAWG, to guide organizations in IT defense investments, CISA Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan announced.

In a blog published Nov. 20, he wrote that the agency is introducing a new iteration of the working group in December to combat ransomware and other online threats faced by critical infrastructure entities.

CIDAWG was created in 2014 primarily to conceptualize a cyber incident data and analysis repository. It was comprised of IT risk management experts from the insurance and critical infrastructure sectors.

CISA plans to relaunch the working group as part of an interagency effort that will deploy tools such as the Joint Ransomware Task Force, Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot and the Pre-Ransomware Notification Initiative, which obtains intelligence from the cybersecurity research community and infrastructure organizations.

“Achieving the goal of driving down cyber risk, as stated in the National Cybersecurity Strategy, requires coordinated action across the United States Government, the private sector, and American society,” Natarajan said. “Everybody has a role to play in cybersecurity…and we need everybody to play their role.”

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