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Kathleen Hicks Directs DOD to Address Cyber Reciprocity Issues Via New Memo
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Kathleen Hicks Directs DOD to Address Cyber Reciprocity Issues Via New Memo

Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, has issued a memorandum aimed at addressing issues associated with cybersecurity reciprocity and the Risk Management Framework.

According to the memo signed by Hicks on May 2, DOD should streamline and speed up the delivery of capabilities to warfighters by “maintaining our cybersecurity standards and leveraging reciprocity between system owners and authorizing officials.”

The deputy defense secretary noted that she expects “testing re-use and reciprocity to be implemented except when the cybersecurity risk is too great.”

The document directs DOD components to raise any RMF policy and cybersecurity reciprocity implementation issues to the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer.

DOD CIO John Sherman cited the memo during his keynote at a symposium on Wednesday, according to a report by DefenseScoop.

“This is coming from the deputy secretary on down that reciprocity should be a default,” Sherman, a 2024 Wash100 Award recipient, told the publication.

“It should be the first choice as opposed to having to redo all the due diligence again. We’re trying to strike a balance in maintaining our [risk management framework-driven] cybersecurity, but to make sure that we are able to move more quickly and not have to basically check everyone’s homework,” he added.

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NOAA Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Marine Operations Center in Rhode Island
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NOAA Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for New Marine Operations Center in Rhode Island

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently broke ground at the site of a new marine operations center at Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island.

Partially funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, the facility will host the Marine Operations Center-Atlantic and is expected to open in 2017, NOAA said Monday.

NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said the center will secure Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification and “will soon be the homeport for one of our newest, lower-emissions vessels, working towards the goal to minimize NOAA’s own impact on the environment.”

The center will include a pier able to accommodate four large vessels and feature space for ship repairs and parking, a floating dock for smaller vessels and a building for shoreside support.

New York-based construction and development company Skanska will build the facility under a $146.8 million contract awarded in December 2023.

The new base will support NOAA’s Atlantic fleet, which collects data necessary to protect marine life, understand climate change, manage commercial fisheries and produce nautical charts.

DHS Releases Broad Agency Announcement for CWMD Research & Development
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DHS Releases Broad Agency Announcement for CWMD Research & Development

The Department of Homeland Security is soliciting research and development proposals to identify and explore new technologies designed to prevent, mitigate and respond to nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological threats and incidents.

A notice posted Tuesday on SAM.gov states that the broad agency announcement is valued at $182.3 million and will remain open for five years until May 6, 2029, to support the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office’s mission to counter the use and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

DHS will request white papers or proposals to address specific areas of interest under the BAA.

Open AOIs may cover biological defense, chemical defense, radiological and nuclear and data analytics portfolios.

The BAA is restricted to R&D efforts under technology readiness levels 1 to 7, which refer to basic research to development, test and evaluation activities.

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Space Force Wraps Up Factory Confidence Tests of 2 Military Satcom Payloads for EPS-Recapitalization Program
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Space Force Wraps Up Factory Confidence Tests of 2 Military Satcom Payloads for EPS-Recapitalization Program

The U.S. Space Force has completed factory confidence testing, or FCT, for two extremely high frequency military satellite communications payloads under its Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization program.

The tests were completed in collaboration with Space Norway in March and April at Northrop Grumman‘s facility in Dulles, Virginia, the Space Systems Command said Tuesday.

With the successful conclusion of this phase, SSC demonstrated that the MILSATCOM payloads satisfy all technical requirements and are prepared to support the EPS-R program’s launch window at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in mid-July.

The EPS-R program seeks to deliver secure communications capabilities to North Polar users and supports the National Defense Strategy’s integrated deterrence objectives.

Space Norway procured the two host space vehicles and launch services as part of its Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission.

According to the SSC, the spacecraft will host Ka-band payloads for ViaSat and X-band payloads for the Norwegian military.

Army to Tighten Access to Cloud-Based Collaboration Tools
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Army to Tighten Access to Cloud-Based Collaboration Tools

The U.S. Army has implemented new changes to access protocols for Army 365 services, the service branch’s suite of collaboration and document-sharing tools, in a move aimed at improving the security of sensitive information against digital threats, DVIDS reported Tuesday.

Beginning June 1, the Network Enterprise Technology Command will block access to all Army 365 services through commercial networks and exceptions to this access block will be granted by designated authorities on a very limited basis.

Users who need to access the services can submit exception requests through the designated portal.

In preparation for the access block protocol, the Army encourages users to transition to more secure alternatives such as Azure Virtual Desktop, or AVD, and Hypori to access Army 365 applications such as Webmail, Teams, SharePoint Online and OneDrive.

Hypori is a virtual machine that uses MobileConnect and EAMS-A for authentication and is accessible through the Hypori Halo and Mobile Connect applications.

AVD has enhanced security features including common access card login and S/MIME encryption.

Potomac Officers Club - 2024 Army Summit

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NSF, DOE Announce Selection of 35 National AI Research Resource Pilot Projects; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted
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NSF, DOE Announce Selection of 35 National AI Research Resource Pilot Projects; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted

The National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy have selected the first round of projects under the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, or NAIRR, pilot.

Through the pilot, AI researchers and students will gain access to advanced computing systems, data and other resources, NSF said Monday.

“The NAIRR pilot, fueled by the need to advance responsible AI research and broaden access to cutting-edge resources needed for AI research, symbolizes a firm stride towards democratizing access to vital AI tools across the talented communities in all corners of our country,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

In total, 35 AI-related projects were selected for the program. Twenty-seven of these projects will be backed by NSF-funded advanced computing systems, including Delta of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center’s Neocortex system.

DOE will provide the remaining eight projects access to the department-backed systems, including the AI Testbed at Argonne National Laboratory and the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“While this is only the first step in our NAIRR efforts, we plan to rapidly expand our partnerships and secure the level of investments needed to realize the NAIRR vision and unlock the full potential of AI for the benefit of humanity and society,” Panchanathan said.

The projects selected for the initial NAIRR Pilot round include work on language model safety and security, the use of AI in agricultural pest identification and the development of AI tools to protect medical imaging data, among many other research areas.

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NSWC Crane Awards LEEAP Hybrid Electric Project to Tessa Two
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NSWC Crane Awards LEEAP Hybrid Electric Project to Tessa Two

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division selected Indianapolis, Indiana-based non-traditional organization Tessa Two to work on a prototype hybrid electric platform development.

The company received Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems, or S2MARTS, other transaction authority for the Light Expeditionary Energy Agile Platform – Hybrid Electric project, the National Security Technology Accelerator, which manages the OTA, said Monday.

The platform is envisioned to enable a lighter-classed vehicle to carry high power and high energy technologies for electronic warfare, providing warfighter with better protection. The initiative seeks to enhance military vehicles and generators to meet the requirements of changing warfighting concepts.

Tony Kestranek, deputy director of S2MARTS, said, “The Marine Corp Ultra-Light Tactical Vehicle/Light Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle needs to be agile yet capable, and that’s exactly what NSWC, Crane is developing through LEEAP.”

The project could potentially run for five years and have a follow-on activity.

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Greg Stephens Joins DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Lab as COO
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Greg Stephens Joins DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Lab as COO

Greg Stephens, former vice president at Amentum‘s technical services business, was appointed chief operating officer of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory at the Department of Energy.

Fermilab said Monday Stephens has experience working at 11 of the 17 U.S. national laboratories throughout his over 35 years of career in the academic, international, commercial, and government landscape.

Commenting on Stephens’ anticipated leadership of the lab’s operations, Fermilab Director Lia Merminga said, “His extensive experience, including at many of the national laboratories, and leadership roles, will be a huge asset in his leadership of our laboratory operations toward the safe, secure, efficient and effective execution of our mission.

At Amentum, Stephens was responsible for driving the delivery of a range of services, including operations, engineering, maintenance, quality assurance and risk assessment, to customers in support of their high-hazard chemical, biological and nuclear operations.

His career also includes time as an aerospace and simulation communications engineer at General Electric, operations manager at Westinghouse Electric Company and chief engineer for Tritium programs at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.

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For Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, AI Key to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Mission
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For Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, AI Key to National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Mission

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency must turn to artificial intelligence in order to manage the deluge of data generated by a growing number of collection assets that bear ever-improving imagery technologies, according to NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth.

During the 2024 GEOINT Symposium on Monday, Whitworth, a 2024 Wash100 winner, cited the benefits the NGA has enjoyed from Project Maven, whose AI capabilities have helped accelerate the location of targets and anomalous objects. Even so, the NGA official noted the continued need for improved computer vision technologies, which would deliver superior positive identification and geolocation at speed.

Whitworth also pointed to the need for artificial intelligence to be integrated into collection orchestration, a part of the NGA mission that he described in 2023 as “the art of tasking pieces of the collection puzzle to become aligned with national priorities, operational and analytical needs, and real-world deadlines.” With the incorporation of AI, Whitworth envisions “a service that will continuously present options for the collection managers” based on prevailing variables like “constellation constraints, standing needs, and dynamic events.”

Just as important is the need to implement an enterprise AI infrastructure that is sufficiently optimized for the needs of the NGA so as to bring down cost.

Beyond hardware, Whitworth underscored the importance of AI being made part of the analytical workforce, an effort that would “require common tooling, techniques, and standards.”

Underpinning everything is the ethical and responsible use of AI, which the NGA seeks to spearhead. Whitworth said his agency is developing a program called GEOINT Responsible AI Training, which will train analysts to not only assess the risks of applying AI onto geospatial intelligence but also recognize and mitigate AI shortcomings.

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White House Issues 2nd National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan, Announces ONCD Cybersecurity Posture Report
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White House Issues 2nd National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan, Announces ONCD Cybersecurity Posture Report

The White House has published the second version of its implementation plan for the National Cybersecurity Strategy.

The National Cybersecurity Strategic Implementation Plan, or NCSIP Version 2, lays out 100 high-impact initiatives, includes 31 new objectives and brings in six agencies to lead initiatives for the first time, the White House said Tuesday.

These initiatives are categorized into five pillars: defend critical infrastructure, disrupt and dismantle threat actors, shape market forces to drive security and resilience, invest in a resilient future and forge international partnerships to pursue shared goals.

A strategic objective that falls under the third pillar is driving the development of secure Internet of Things devices. Developing a government IoT security labeling program is one of the initiatives to help achieve this goal.

This initiative is being advanced by the Federal Communications Commission, which has adopted rules to establish a voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for wireless IoT products, also known as the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark. Launched in March, the rules are intended to inform consumer decisions when buying such devices and create incentives for producers to meet higher cyber standards.

The FCC is expected to complete the initiative by the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, according to the implementation plan.

The release of NCSIP Version 2 coincides with the issuance of the Office of the National Cyber Director’s report on the country’s cybersecurity posture, which discusses five trends that transformed the strategic environment in 2023.

These five trends are evolving risks to critical infrastructure, ransomware, supply chain exploitation, commercial spyware and artificial intelligence.

Also listed in the report are cybersecurity actions that have been taken by the federal government, such as establishing cyber requirements to protect critical infrastructure, strengthening the national cyber workforce and advancing software security to produce safer products and services.

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