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DIU Announces 2nd Cohort of Immersive Commercial Acquisition Training Program
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DIU Announces 2nd Cohort of Immersive Commercial Acquisition Training Program

The Defense Innovation Unit has finalized its second cohort for the 2023-2024 Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program, which trains acquisition professionals in the Department of Defense on the Other Transaction Authority process for commercial technology procurement.

The new ICAP members are comprised of two members each from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, as well as a representative from the U.S. Army and the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, DIU said Tuesday.

The latest cohort is as follows:

  • Ralph Barnes, U.S. Army
  • Shaun Bright, DITCO
  • Christine Docker, U.S. Air Force
  • Brittany Harris, U.S. Air Force
  • Rebecca Lingenfelter, U.S. Navy
  • Tianna Seaman, U.S. Navy

The team will undergo training that combines experiential learning through DIU prototype projects with classroom set-up education from the Defense Acquisition University.

The government contracting professionals are expected to develop a training plan based on the lessons they learned at the end of the program. The plan will be the foundation for similar programs that will be launched in their respective DOD branches, in order to spread information about OTAs and commercial solutions opening processes for acquiring novel commercial technologies.

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Interagency Guidance Aims to Strengthen Open Source Software Security in Critical Infrastructure
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Interagency Guidance Aims to Strengthen Open Source Software Security in Critical Infrastructure

Several agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, collaborated to publish a new set of recommendations for the use of open source software, or OSS, in critical infrastructure facilities and operational technology organizations.

CISA announced Tuesday that the guidance was developed in partnership with the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Department of the Treasury as a function of its 2023 open source software planning initiative.

In order to strengthen security of open source software utilization, the guidance recommends increased involvement by organizations’ senior leadership in implementing vulnerability coordination and management activities. Vendors should also participate in programs that support OSS development best practices.

The document reiterated the importance of robust authentication processes and regular patch management for OT and industrial control system environments. It also endorsed the establishment of a framework for creating an open source program office to oversee security and software asset inventory.

Cybersecurity will be one of the main topics of the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Homeland Security Summit, taking place on Nov. 15 in Falls Church, Virginia. To participate in the event, register here or click on the link below.

POC - 2023 Homeland Security Summit
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Intel CIO Jimmy Hall Shares How State Department Is Tackling Cybersecurity
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Intel CIO Jimmy Hall Shares How State Department Is Tackling Cybersecurity

At the Department of State, Intelligence Chief Information Officer Jimmy Hall is taking on key modernization and information technology initiatives designed to improve how the agency delivers intelligence to its diplomats around the world.

In a new video interview with Executive Mosaic, Hall outlined the State Department’s top five goals, offered his own objectives and explained the actions being taken to advance those critical initiatives both agency-wide and within the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, or INR.

For INR, the highest priorities include elevating strategic intelligence, undergoing a digital transformation, strengthening cybersecurity, cultivating a diverse and talented workforce and cultivating a resilient business enterprise.

“Cybersecurity is one of our key tenets,” Hall said in conversation with Executive Mosaic’s video reporter Summer Myatt. “We’re now investing in real-time, threat-based automated monitoring capabilities, which we didn’t have before.”

Hall also explained that INR is conducting a cybersecurity audit to investigate key areas and review any potential vulnerabilities.

“We’ve taken on an internal security review on our own, where we’ve decided to look at three areas: security management, access management and safeguarding the data,” he shared.

To hear the other steps the State Department and INR are taking to increase cybersecurity, migrate to the cloud and advance other IT initiatives, watch Jimmy Hall’s full video interview here.

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New FDA Committee Created to Advise on Digital Health Technologies; Jeff Shuren & Troy Tazbaz Quoted
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New FDA Committee Created to Advise on Digital Health Technologies; Jeff Shuren & Troy Tazbaz Quoted

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has established a new committee to advise on the implications of digital health technologies, or DHTs.

Set to be fully operational in 2024, the Digital Health Advisory Committee will focus on complicated scientific and technical considerations surrounding a wide array of DHTs to inform the FDA on the potential benefits, risks and clinical outcomes tied to DHT use, the administration announced on Wednesday.

Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said DHTs are an important part of the organization’s efforts to improve health equity and expand healthcare to everyone across the U.S.

“As digital health technologies advance, the FDA must capitalize on knowledge from inside and outside of the agency to help ensure we appropriately apply our regulatory authority in a way that protects patient health while continuing to support innovation,” Shuren said.

Technologies the committee will look into include artificial intelligence and machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, digital therapeutics, wearables, remote patient monitoring and software. The committee will also examine the related concepts of decentralized trials, patient-generated health data and cybersecurity.

Committee members will provide the FDA with technical and scientific expertise on relevant topics. These individuals will represent various disciplines and backgrounds to make sure DHTs are created with the needs of diverse populations in mind. The team will comprise nine core voting members, including the chair, and temporary members will be selected for each meeting depending on the topic at hand.

“Technology moves at an incredible pace, and we’re excited to have a committee of experts throughout the field who can help ensure our regulation of these exciting tools maintains an appropriate pace while working within parameters of safety and effectiveness standards,” said FDA Digital Health Center of Excellence Director Troy Tazbaz.

He added that it is the FDA’s “duty” to seek out as much knowledge as possible on emerging DHTs to ensure that proper regulations are implemented while promoting innovation in healthcare.

New FDA Committee Created to Advise on Digital Health Technologies; Jeff Shuren & Troy Tazbaz Quoted

The creation of the Digital Health Advisory Committee is just one way the FDA is driving healthcare technology development forward. At the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Healthcare Summit, you have the chance to hear from Dr. Ranya Habash, a member of the FDA’s Digital Health Network of Experts, who will participate in a panel discussion on human centered design and rapid prototyping in healthcare applications. You will also hear from numerous officials from other Department of Health and Human Services organizations. To learn more and register to attend, click here.

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White House OSTP, NNCO Host Inaugural Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit
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White House OSTP, NNCO Host Inaugural Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office held a summit in September to discuss ways to create a national network and facilitate access to tools and other resources that are critical to advancing nanotechnology research and development efforts.

Leaders from 35 innovation institutes, open research laboratories and user facilities participated in the inaugural Nanotechnology Infrastructure Leaders Summit held on Sept. 11 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the White House said Friday.

Key themes of the discussions during the event included the role of better communication and collaboration in bridging basic science and applied research and manufacturing; opportunities to facilitate sharing of best practices across organizations; and the need for researchers and industry stakeholders to understand the diversity and breadth of the country’s shared infrastructure.

For the first theme, one of the examples discussed was the adoption of a “combined approach that leverages the collective expertise and a broader industry perspective” to help establish industry-friendly processes, intellectual property agreements and contracts.

In August, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology issued its assessment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative outlining a set of recommendations on nanotechnology coordination across the federal government.

DOE Advisory Committee Publishes 10-Year Plan for Nuclear Physics Research
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DOE Advisory Committee Publishes 10-Year Plan for Nuclear Physics Research

The Department of Energy’s Nuclear Science Advisory Committee has released a document detailing a 10-year plan and recommendations for U.S. nuclear physics research.

The committee unanimously accepted and unveiled the 2023 Long Range Plan for Nuclear Science, which has implications for the experimental and theoretical research programs at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, the laboratory announced.

One of the recommendations in the plan was to prioritize capitalization and investments in nuclear science and essentially the country’s national user facilities such as Jefferson Lab and Argonne National Laboratory, which owns the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System.

The long-range strategy also endorsed the establishment of a U.S.-led consortium focused on new ton-scale experiment construction employing neutrinoless double beta decay process.

NSAC supported the completion of Jefferson Lab’s Electron-Ion Collider, which is vital in the investigation of gluons, which, alongside quarks, are basic constituents of protons and neutrons in the study of quantum chromodynamics. The collider will be built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.

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Marine Corps Begins Search for AI Chatbot to Support GEOINT Data System
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Marine Corps Begins Search for AI Chatbot to Support GEOINT Data System

Marine Corps Systems Command has begun requesting information on potential industry sources capable of developing an artificial intelligence chatbot program for the service branch’s integrated tactical data system.

A notice posted Thursday on SAM.gov states that MCSC is looking for an AI chatbot capability that uses natural language processing to receive and parse requests and output textual responses for the Distributed Common Ground/Surface System-Marine Corps Geospatial Intelligence Program.

DCGS-MC GEOINT is an enterprise system designed to enable Marine analysts to task, collect, process, analyze, store and disseminate GEOINT data and products needed to provide battlespace visualization to support commanders’ decision-making.

Interested parties have until Oct. 20 to respond to the request for information.

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Christopher Barnhurst on Need for Resilient Network Infrastructure as DISA Advances Zero Trust
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Christopher Barnhurst on Need for Resilient Network Infrastructure as DISA Advances Zero Trust

Christopher Barnhurst, deputy director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, said DISA should be prepared to deliver information to warfighters worldwide in the event of a conflict and amid cyberattacks by implementing a resilient, secure network infrastructure backed by zero trust.

“As we think about moving to zero trust, what we think about is an integrated set of capabilities that protect data and not necessarily focus on protecting the network. It’s worth emphasizing that we’re not trying to leave the front door open either,” Barnhurst said during his keynote address at a Sept. 28 conference in Virginia.

“There still are boundary protections that need to be in place,” he added.

Other senior DISA leaders joined Barnhurst at the event, where they discussed the zero trust-based Thunderdome project.

Brian Hermann, director of the agency’s cybersecurity and analysis directorate, cited the need for DISA to better manage its data and simplify the user experience.

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Cara Allison Marshall Named Defense Business Board Executive Director
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Cara Allison Marshall Named Defense Business Board Executive Director

Cara Allison Marshall, principal director for East Asia within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, has been appointed executive director of the Defense Business Board, according to a LinkedIn post published Tuesday.

She will provide oversight of the board, which supplies advice and recommendations on how to improve the Pentagon’s business operations.

In her previous role, Marshall advised senior defense leadership on the development and execution of defense policies, strategy and bilateral security relations for the East Asia region.

Established in 2002, the Defense Business Board comprises private sector executives with business management experience and offers the secretary and deputy secretary of defense insights on best business practices for addressing management challenges.

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Eric Stein Says State Department Used AI, Machine Learning in Declassification Pilot
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Eric Stein Says State Department Used AI, Machine Learning in Declassification Pilot

Eric Stein, deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Global Information Services at the State Department, said the department declassified diplomatic cables from late 1997 using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Federal News Network reported Monday.

The State Department used declassification decisions to train the machine learning model and Stein said the tool has a 97 percent accuracy in determining whether to declassify a record as part of a pilot program that included personnel in the entire review process.

“And some of those 3% issues weren’t even review decisions,” he said at an Oct. 5 event. “They were actually data quality issues or other challenges.”

Stein called the pilot a proactive measure to improve transparency at the department using technology.

The State Department has fully operationalized the technology and plans to extend the use of the tool to email and other types of records, according to the report.

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