Proposed Samsung CHIPS and Science Act Investment to Bolster Semiconductor Industry in Texas
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Proposed Samsung CHIPS and Science Act Investment to Bolster Semiconductor Industry in Texas

The U.S. government intends to provide $6.4 billion in funding through the CHIPS and Science Act to help establish a semiconductor ecosystem in central Texas in partnership with Samsung Electronics.

The Department of Commerce said Monday that under a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms it had signed with Samsung, the electronics company would, in turn, invest more than $40 billion over several years.

The proposed investments would benefit several projects at two locations in Texas.

The city of Taylor would see the construction of two logic foundry fabs, a research and development fab and an advanced packaging facility. The city of Austin would see the expansion of existing facilities that would give them the ability to produce technologies critical to various U.S. industries.

Under the partnership, Samsung has also pledged to collaborate with the Department of Defense.

According to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, CHIPS and Science Act investments like the one with Samsung “will be a catalyst for continued private sector investments to help secure the long-term stability we need to put America at the beginning of our semiconductor supply chain and to safeguard a strong resilient ecosystem here at home.”

For his part, Kye Hyun Kyung, the device solutions division president and CEO at Samsung Electronics, said, “We’re not just expanding production facilities; we’re strengthening the local semiconductor ecosystem and positioning the U.S. as a global semiconductor manufacturing destination.”

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Rob Brown Selected as SVP of Alpha Omega’s National Security Sector
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Rob Brown Selected as SVP of Alpha Omega’s National Security Sector

Rob Brown has been appointed as senior vice president of national security solutions at Alpha Omega Integration.

He was chosen for his extensive experience in the technology and national security fields, a background that complements Alpha Omega’s focus on these sectors, the Vienna, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.

Chris Cole, executive vice president of national security at Alpha Omega, emphasized the necessity of delivering “innovative solutions that propel customer missions forward” for long-term success. Brown, he said, “is one of the best in the industry for aligning customer needs with industry-leading solutions.”

“We’re thrilled to have Rob joining our team as we continue to drive impact and reinforce our commitment to safeguarding our nation’s security interests,” he added.

Brown previously served as chief technology officer and executive vice president of Systalex, a small business focused on cloud, systems architecture, data management and more. Prior to Systalex, he spent seven years at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, where he held multiple roles, including the chief technology officer post.

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DOD CIO Office Issues Guidance on DevSecOps Continuous Authorization to Operate
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DOD CIO Office Issues Guidance on DevSecOps Continuous Authorization to Operate

The Department of Defense’s Office of the Chief Information Officer has released a document meant to serve as guidance for defense agencies seeking to achieve continuous authorization, or cATO, to operate for DevSecOps platforms and other applications produced by a software factory as part of efforts to counter cyberthreats.

The DevSecOps Continuous Authorization Implementation Guide states that the authorizing official should demonstrate three competencies to reach cATO: continuous monitoring of risk management framework controls, active cyber defense and use of an approved DevSecOps reference design for a software factory with a secure software supply chain.

A cATO assessment ensures the software factory includes a holistic set of information to enable continuous risk analysis against agreed-to risk tolerances, feedback from cyber operations on unexpected changes in incident analysis, security configurations and other factors and continuous security posture and risk reporting, according to the document that was cleared for publication Thursday.

The guidance has classified key practices into three categories: DevSecOps platform, cATO process and DevSecOps team or people.

For instance, several cATO practices apply with regard to the DevSecOps platform, including the use of a cybersecurity service provider for monitoring the system single authorization boundary for malicious threat actor actions, development of a continuous monitoring strategy and use of security automation for tracking the application security posture within the production system.

In February 2022, the Pentagon issued a memorandum providing guidance on the necessary steps to do to allow systems to operate under a cATO state.

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Register here to join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual CIO Summit on April 17 and learn more about the latest modernization strategies and how industry can help meet the priorities of federal CIOs.

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USCYBERCOM Turn to Flexible Buying Strategies to Speed Up Cyber Procurement; Courtney Maggiulli Quoted
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USCYBERCOM Turn to Flexible Buying Strategies to Speed Up Cyber Procurement; Courtney Maggiulli Quoted

U.S. Cyber Command is growing its acquisition team and advancing the use of flexible procurement strategies as it plays an increasing role in the Department of Defense’s cyber procurement efforts, Federal News Network reported Monday.

“So we’s expanding our ability to acquire cyber goods, cyber services for the DoD in an integrated and holistic way,” Courtney Maggiulli, program executive officer for cyber, J9 acquisition and technology at CYBERCOM, said at a conference.

Maggiulli noted that her PEO intends to add 50 billets in 2024 as part of efforts to expand its workforce and that the command is advancing the adoption of non-traditional approaches to acquire and integrate cyber capabilities, including its use of DOD’s Adaptive Acquisition Framework.

She pointed to the framework’s software acquisition pathway and the middle tier of acquisition pathway, which she considers as “allowable ways to pursue acquisition that have strategies that are more responsive and tailored to the types of acquisitions we’re doing.”

The software pathway uses DevSecOps and Agile development practices, while the middle-tier acquisition seeks to facilitate rapid prototyping and fielding efforts.

“We’re being given flexibilities and tools by Congress that allow us to be faster and more responsive for the type of acquisition we’re doing with cyber,” Maggiulli said.

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Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6 and hear cyber experts, government and industry leaders discuss the latest trends and the dynamic role of cyber in the public sector. Register here.

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Richard DalBello: OSC to Set Up TraCSS Operations Centers in Maryland, Colorado
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Richard DalBello: OSC to Set Up TraCSS Operations Centers in Maryland, Colorado

Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said OSC has selected Colorado and Maryland to host the operations centers for its Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, program, SpaceNews reported Friday.

NOAA will operate the primary operations center for the operational TraCSS platform at the David Skaggs Research Center in Boulder, Colorado, and a second center at another facility in Suitland, Maryland.

Sandy Magnus, the chief engineer for TraCSS, said during a panel at the 39th Space Symposium that the Suitland site will start operations first, as the Boulder facility will require some renovations to accommodate operations for the civil space traffic coordination system.

Once operational, the Boulder center will primarily oversee TraCSS operations while the Suitland facility will handle information technology and systems engineering support.

TraCSS aims to provide space situational awareness data and associated services to private and civil space operators.

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Sara Schwartzman Named Deputy Chief of NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Policy Branch
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Sara Schwartzman Named Deputy Chief of NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Policy Branch

Sara Schwartzman, formerly a policy analyst at NASA, has been appointed deputy chief of the Policy Branch in the space agency’s Science Mission Directorate, according to her LinkedIn post.

She will manage space policy and program analysis and strategic planning efforts in support of NASA’s Earth and space science initiatives in her new capacity.

Prior to her appointment, Schwartzman was a policy analyst within the Science Mission Directorate’s Policy Branch at NASA headquarters.

She joined NASA in 2022 as a program support specialist overseeing operational, administrative and financial portfolios in the Science Mission Directorate.

Before that, Schwartzman was a U.S. Senate bill clerk for seven years and advised Senate leadership on complex legislative policy, procedural issues and operational practices.

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CISA Zero Trust Expert Sean Connelly Leaving Agency for Private Sector
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CISA Zero Trust Expert Sean Connelly Leaving Agency for Private Sector

Sean Connelly, the senior cybersecurity architect and Trusted Internet Connections program manager at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, is leaving the agency after 11 years of service, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Connelly’s last day at CISA is April 19.

His accomplishments at the agency include developing and releasing the TIC 3.0 update, the agency’s first zero trust model and its April 2023 update; co-authoring National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-207, which tackles zero trust architecture; and launching the CISA Zero Trust Initiative Office.

Connelly is reportedly moving to IT security company Zscaler, where he is expected to work to help foreign governments adopt zero trust.

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MDA’s Lt. Gen. Heath Collins: FY2025 Budget Request Covers Japan Partnership to Develop Hypersonic Interceptor
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MDA’s Lt. Gen. Heath Collins: FY2025 Budget Request Covers Japan Partnership to Develop Hypersonic Interceptor

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Heath Collins, the director of the Missile Defense Agency and a 2024 Wash100 awardee, recently told lawmakers that his agency’s budget request for fiscal year 2025 covers a planned collaboration with Japan to develop the glide phase interceptor, a weapon meant to defeat hypersonic glide vehicles.

Collins explained during a House Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee hearing on Friday that the formal agreement on the collaboration is expected this spring, under which Japan will fund and develop propulsion elements and other key components.

The MDA director also said his agency intends to decide by the end of fiscal year 2024 on a single GPI interceptor design for continued development. RTX company Raytheon and Northrop Grumman are currently under separate MDA contracts to develop the GPI concept, according to a report by The Defense Post.

FY2025 will see GPI technology maturation and risk reduction work, Collins added.

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JHTO Selects Finalists for Hypersonic Prototype Development Challenge
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JHTO Selects Finalists for Hypersonic Prototype Development Challenge

The Department of Defense’s Joint Hypersonics Transition Office, in collaboration with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, has selected the finalists for a two-phase challenge that aims to develop novel approaches to rapid development and flight testing of hypersonic prototypes.

L3Harris Technologies‘ Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary, Castelion Corporation, GoHypersonic, Northrop Grumman and Specter Aerospace will move forward to Phase II of the Hyper-AMPD! prize challenge to build a feasibility study on the white paper concepts they submitted for Phase I, NAVSEA said Friday.

JHTO is looking for novel ideas that can be developed and tested within 24 months to accelerate the integration of hypersonic weapons into the U.S. missile defense systems.

The office will select up to two winners of the challenge, which offers $500,000 in cash prizes.

“Submissions came from a wide range of idea generators, as well as created new partnerships in response to this challenge. It was incredibly difficult to narrow the selection for Phase II, but I am very excited to see the outcome of the feasibility studies over the coming months,” said Sarah Armstrong, Director of JHTO’s Systems Engineering Field Activity at NSWC Crane.

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Syneren Awarded WHS Contract for Defense Tech Security Administration Support Services
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Syneren Awarded WHS Contract for Defense Tech Security Administration Support Services

Syneren Technologies will provide the Defense Technology Security Administration Information Technology Enterprise and its users with a range of services under a potential $31.1 million contract from the Washington Headquarters Services.

The Department of Defense said Friday Syneren was initially awarded an $11.9 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for basic services, enhanced IT surge capabilities and training, as well as program, service and enterprise IT management.

Efforts are aimed at ensuring user satisfaction and compliance with applicable federal laws and regulations. The contractor will perform work at the Mark Center in Alexandria, Virginia, through April 16, 2025.

Syneren provides digital transformation services in support of government and industry customers. Its offerings cover hardware and systems engineering, health IT, software development, data analytics, artificial intelligence/machine learning, robotic process automation, IT systems support, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, independent test evaluation and program management.

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