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Biden to Nominate W. Kimryn Rathmell as National Cancer Institute Director
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Biden to Nominate W. Kimryn Rathmell as National Cancer Institute Director

President Joe Biden has expressed his intent to nominate W. Kimryn Rathmell, a physician-scientist oncologist and educator, to lead the National Cancer Institute.

“The National Cancer Institute is central to the success of the Cancer Moonshot and Dr. Rathmell will lead the agency towards new ways to prevent, detect and treat cancer and to ensure we reach more Americans with the tools we have to save and extend lives,” Biden said in a statement published Friday.

Rathmell currently serves as chair of the Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. She previously held leadership positions as a member of the National Institutes of Health Cancer Genome Atlas program, serves on NCI’s Board of Scientific Advisors and has worked on the Department of Defense’s Kidney Cancer Research Program.

Rathmell, who also serves as Hugh Jackson Morgan Chair in Medicine at VUMC, is a member of the Association of American Physicians and a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Her research focuses on the molecular, cell and genetic biology of kidney cancer.

Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Rathmell’s decades of experience will help drive NCI’s innovation and research to improve care for cancer patients.

POC - 2023 Healthcare Summit

Find out the latest health care technology trends at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 6. Register here to attend this important event.

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Secretary of State’s Advisory Board Considers Potential Impact of AI on Arms Control, Nonproliferation in New Study
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Secretary of State’s Advisory Board Considers Potential Impact of AI on Arms Control, Nonproliferation in New Study

A U.S. State Department advisory board has released a study outlining findings and recommendations to address the risks and benefits of using artificial intelligence, machine learning and related technologies in arms control, nonproliferation and verification.

The department said Thursday the report was developed by the secretary’s International Security Advisory Board in response to the request of Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, under secretary of state for arms control and international security.

The report’s findings and recommendations are divided into seven categories: nuclear weapons and proliferation; biological and chemical threats; autonomous weapon systems; global supply chains, export and trade; responsible state behavior and human rights; opportunities and applications in intelligence; and capacity building and human capital.

Its recommendations regarding nuclear weapons and proliferation include working with the Intelligence Community to expand its nonproliferation and deterrence strategy by adding early detection and deterrence based on the use of AI, machine learning and big data and using new approaches developed by national laboratories to determine an emerging nuclear program’s weapons-usable capability.

To address biological and chemical threats, the ISAB study calls on the department to lead international partners in preparing for potential negative uses of AI and ML in biotechnology and promote the development of gene synthesis security among U.S. allies.

The report also urges the State Department to maintain its posture on the language of “human control” and create a diplomatic strategy to guide the launch of an ad-hoc Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems treaty writing process.

DOD Introduces New Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment
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DOD Introduces New Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment

The U.S. Department of Defense has released a new strategy to improve its department-wide information capabilities.

Centered around four key areas – people and organizations, programs, policies and governance and partnerships – the 2023 Strategy for Operations in the Information Environment aims to bolster the department’s information planning and resources to help overcome hindrances to U.S. national interests, the DOD announced on Friday.

“Make no mistake: America’s competitors and enemies are moving quickly in the information environment, hoping to offset our enduring strategic advantages elsewhere,” DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin remarked.

“This strategy is an important step forward in swiftly and seamlessly synchronizing and integrating our own operations in the information environment so that we can continue to strengthen our deterrence – and position the United States to lead the way toward a 21st-century world that is more secure and free,” the Wash100 awardee added.

The information environment is impacted by all military activities and operations, according to the SOIE document. An OIE advantage is enabled by the integration of information into operational strategies, planning and design.

Part of the strategy is training personnel to lead and conduct OIE while including data and joint information force providers as part of the strategy. It will also build an agile infrastructure that includes systems capable of characterizing IE and supporting interoperability across joint forces.

The agency pledged to adapt concepts and guidance to ensure and maintain the posture of OIE and continuously monitor its ability to implement the data environment.

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Sonny Hashmi: GSA Aims to Speed Up AI Procurement Through Repeatable Acquisition Environment
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Sonny Hashmi: GSA Aims to Speed Up AI Procurement Through Repeatable Acquisition Environment

Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service and a previous Wash100 Award winner, said the agency intends to establish a repeatable acquisition environment to help federal agencies accelerate their procurement of artificial intelligence tools.

“We want to leverage kind of our governmentwide buying power capability to do it once and repeat many times,” Hashmi told FedScoop in an interview published Friday.

“And so what we want to do is to be able to build the right kind of repeatable acquisition environment, so it could look like a [blanket purchase agreement], it could look like some sort of an acquisition vehicle that then allows agencies to do very quick turnaround task orders against,” he added.

Hashmi said GSA will conduct listening sessions with government and industry partners to determine the common requirements as it works to develop the acquisition environment for AI.

The FAS commissioner noted that the agency will work to facilitate the AI procurement process by applying the lessons learned from cloud acquisition.

Sonny Hashmi: GSA Aims to Speed Up AI Procurement Through Repeatable Acquisition Environment

Learn more about government AI initiatives at the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21, 2024. At the event, top AI experts from both the public and private sectors will come together to discuss the impact of the technology on federal operations. Click here for more information, and click here to register to attend.

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Drenan Dudley Named Acting National Cyber Director
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Drenan Dudley Named Acting National Cyber Director

Drenan Dudley, deputy national cyber director for strategy and budget at the Office of the National Cyber Director, will assume responsibilities as acting head of the office while the White House awaits Senate confirmation for NCD nominee Harry Coker.

She will take over from Kemba Walden who has headed the ONCD on an acting basis since March when Chris Inglis, the nation’s first national cyber director, stepped down after almost two years in the position, NextGov reported Friday.

Dudley spent 16 years on the Senate Appropriations Committee before joining the ONCD in August 2022 as the assistant national cyber director for budget review and assessment.

“I look forward to continuing to implement the National Cybersecurity Strategy and supporting this administration’s continued efforts towards building a secure and resilient cyberspace that is aligned with our values,” Dudley said.

In July, President Biden nominated Coker, a more than four-decade public service veteran, as the next national cyber director.

The U.S. Navy veteran serves as a senior fellow at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security and an outside adviser to cyber and technology companies.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Travels to Ukraine to Discuss Security Assistance
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Travels to Ukraine to Discuss Security Assistance

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made a visit to Ukraine to emphasize U.S. support for the nation in the ongoing conflict with Russia.

During his time in Ukraine, Austin, a three-time Wash100 Award winner, will convene with the country’s leaders to discuss security assistance and determine a long-term plan for its forces, the Department of Defense said on Monday.

These conversations will center around strengthening the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and ensuring that the nation receives the warfighting capabilities necessary to combat Russian threats.

On Saturday, Austin spoke with Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s minister of defence, over the phone about recent battlefield developments and plans for the upcoming Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, which will be hosted virtually later in the week.

Austin’s last visit to Ukraine took place in April 2022, when he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a 2021 Wash100 winner, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials to discuss U.S. aid to the country and associated diplomatic support.

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NASA Achieves ‘First Light’ With Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment
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NASA Achieves ‘First Light’ With Deep Space Optical Communications Experiment

NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communications experiment on Tuesday achieved “first light” after a flight laser transceiver aboard the agency’s Psyche spacecraft transmitted and received near-infrared signals from Earth.

The DSOC experiment sent a near-infrared laser signal encoded with test data from a distance of nearly 10 million miles to a telescope at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in California, NASA said Thursday.

The space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California reportedly oversees the DSOC experiment and the Psyche spacecraft.

The experiment is part of the Psyche mission that launched in October to study the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and seeks to demonstrate data transmission rates 10 to 100 times greater than today’s radio frequency tools aboard spacecraft.

“Achieving first light is one of many critical DSOC milestones in the coming months, paving the way toward higher-data-rate communications capable of sending scientific information, high-definition imagery, and streaming video in support of humanity’s next giant leap: sending humans to Mars,” said Trudy Kortes, director of Technology Demonstrations at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The transceiver aboard Psyche also sent test data through the downlink and uplink lasers as part of the experiment.

The DSOC team will now further develop the systems responsible for controlling the pointing of the transceiver’s downlink laser on the transceiver in order to start the demonstration of maintaining high-bandwidth data transmission between the transceiver and Palomar Observatory.

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New FTC Competition Means to Address Risks Posed by Voice Cloning
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New FTC Competition Means to Address Risks Posed by Voice Cloning

The Federal Trade Commission is launching a competition calling for the development of products, procedures or policies that would address the harms that might be brought about by artificial intelligence-enabled voice cloning.

The Voice Cloning Challenge is geared toward submissions that could limit the unauthorized use of voice cloning software, detect the use of voice cloning in real-time, or detect voice cloning in recordings, the FTC said Thursday.

The submission period will begin on Jan. 2, 2024, and conclude on Jan. 12. The winner of the competition will receive $25,000 in prize money.

FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine said, “We will use every tool to prevent harm to the public stemming from abuses of voice cloning technology.”

For her part, FTC Chief Technology Officer Stephanie Nguyen said, “The challenge is crafted in a way that ensures companies are responsible for the first- and second-order effects of the products they release.”

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CISA Casts Net for Further Public Feedback to Improve Software Security Attestation Form
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CISA Casts Net for Further Public Feedback to Improve Software Security Attestation Form

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is seeking public input regarding the draft version of the Secure Software Development Attestation Form.

CISA said Thursday that the form will be used by federal agencies to obtain from software developers attestation regarding the security of their products.

The form covers requirements that software developers must meet before their products could be used by government agencies.

A Federal Register notice posted Nov. 16 indicates that the current solicitation marks the second information collection request issued by CISA for the attestation form.

The agency had launched an initial 60-day commenting period in April, resulting in 110 comments received. The new collection request, meanwhile, gives the public another 30 days to provide feedback, with the submission period ending on Dec. 18.

Of particular interest to the government are comments that evaluate the necessity and utility of the information to be provided by software developers in accomplishing the attestation form, comments that help make the provision of such information less burdensome and comments that improve the quality and clarity of the required information.

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STARCOM Unveils Space Domain Awareness Doctrine Publication; Brig. Gen. Timothy Sejba Quoted
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STARCOM Unveils Space Domain Awareness Doctrine Publication; Brig. Gen. Timothy Sejba Quoted

Space Training and Readiness Command has provided the U.S. Space Force with a Space Doctrine Publication developed to present best practices and authoritative guidance regarding space domain awareness, or SDA.

The first operational level doctrine publication outlines how the Space Force could build and maintain SDA to ensure the U.S. has the freedom to operate in, from and to space, Space Operations Command said Thursday.

SDP 3-100, Space Domain Awareness, also underscores how important SDA is for all domain operations. Other highlights include characterization of the space environment, identification of roles and responsibilities of SDA-associated organizations and discussions about space capabilities and the orbital, terrestrial and link segments of space systems.

“Effective SDA is foundational for space forces to conduct prompt and sustained operations that fulfill the cornerstone responsibilities of the Space Force, preserving freedom of action in the space domain, enabling joint lethality and effectiveness, and providing independent options capable of achieving national objectives,” said Space Force Brig. Gen. Timothy Sejba, commander of STARCOM. “Space Force commanders and their staffs rely on timely and actionable SDA to satisfy these responsibilities.”

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