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Rep. Mike Rogers Asks GAO to Look Into DOD Basing Process
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Rep. Mike Rogers Asks GAO to Look Into DOD Basing Process

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the Department of Defense’s basing process for the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command.

The congressman made the request after President Joe Biden selected Colorado Springs, Colorado, as USSPACECOM’s permanent HQ.

“National security decisions of this magnitude and significant economic interest require the process to be standardized, repeatable, transparent, and deliberate,” Rogers wrote in a Wednesday letter addressed to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro.

The lawmaker said the process for such permanent basing decisions “should remain analytical and focused on clearly announced criteria and requirements that can be publicly scrutinized.”

Rogers is asking GAO to submit a report citing the requirements used during the initial selection process for the command’s headquarters and state whether those requirements changed during the selection process.

NIST Seeks Comments on Preliminary Update From IoT Federal Working Group
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NIST Seeks Comments on Preliminary Update From IoT Federal Working Group

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is requesting feedback on the preliminary update from the Internet of Things Federal Working Group that provides an overview of the proposed strategic pillars of the IoTFWG’s planned roadmap.

The working group said the adoption of IoT across industries will be defined by seven strategic pillars: trust, ease of implementation, connectivity, sustainability, workforce, data governance and adjacent technologies.

According to IoTFWG, the successful adoption of IoT devices will depend on gaining the trust and confidence of organizations that will implement and expand its use and widespread implementation will require reducing the cost of devices and improving the availability of IoT technology.

The roadmap will focus on enhancing IoT connectivity, creating a resilient and reliable supply chain, developing a trained and workforce, protecting IoT-derived data and improving IoT interoperability with other devices.

Comments on the preliminary update are due Sept. 25.

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Goddard Space Flight Center Begins Harness Installation on Novel Dark Matter Space Telescope
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Goddard Space Flight Center Begins Harness Installation on Novel Dark Matter Space Telescope

Researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center commenced installation and testing of the flight harness for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which was created for dark energy and dark matter research.

The harness powers and connects the telescope to the central computer, which will use sensors to monitor the observatory’s functions, the agency said Wednesday.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed its critical design review phase in September 2021 and is scheduled to launch in 2027. The next-generation observatory, which is designed to have 200 times larger field view than the Hubble Space Telescope, will explore large cosmic structures, investigate dark energy, and map galaxies and dark matter.

The harness being integrated into the observatory is comprised of 32,000 wires and 900 connectors, bringing its weight to about 1,000 pounds. The components took two years for the Goddard team to measure, clean and connect to each other.

“Just as the nervous system carries signals throughout the human body, Roman’s harness connects its components, providing both power and commands to each electronic box and instrument,” said Deneen Ferro, lead of the Roman harness project development at Goddard Space Flight Center. “Without a harness, there is no spacecraft.”

ACC-APG Looking for Cloud-Based Digital Platform to Support Post-Award Optimization
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ACC-APG Looking for Cloud-Based Digital Platform to Support Post-Award Optimization

Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground is initiating an open call for commercially available technologies that could provide a cloud-based digital platform to optimize contract administration and post-award procedures.

The digital platform must be able to intake proposal and invoice data for comparative analysis of individual cost elements, calculate variance among individual cost elements, calculate project cost overrun and identify what elements are driving the overrun, according to an announcement posted by the Department of Defense’s Tradewinds initiative.

The selected contractor must implement adaptive algorithms to analyze data and identify opportunities for process improvements and cost savings, provide reporting and visualization tools, develop automated notification and alert tools and apply a feedback system.

Interested parties have until Sept. 6 to submit proposals.

Team of Joint & Coalition Warfighters Passes USAF Multi-Domain Integration Operations Training Course
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Team of Joint & Coalition Warfighters Passes USAF Multi-Domain Integration Operations Training Course

A group of 22 joint and coalition warfighters has successfully completed the Air Force’s Command and Control Warrior Advanced Course — a high-level, multi-domain integration program.

Composed of individuals from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force and Royal Australian Air Force, the team was trained in both kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities available to the Combined/Joint Force Air Component Commander, the Air Force 505th Command and Control Wing said on Thursday.

According to Capt. Austin Hairfield, a C2WAC 23-4 graduate and Air Combat Command/A3JC, subject matter experts participating in the month-long course joined forces to focus on graduate-level operational warfare planning.

During the course, the team created a timely air battle plan for the Combined/Joint Forces Air Component Commander that considered joint kinetic and non-kinetic capabilities “across the spectrum of conflict,” Hairfield elaborated.

Taught by the 705th Training Squadron, C2WAC educates air component headquarters personnel on the planning and execution of air component operations at the operational level to meet the standards of the Joint Force Commander. 

The program immerses participants in the responsibilities of the air component across the competition continuum at the operational level using the joint planning process for air and the joint air tasking cycle framework.

“The key to C2WAC being the U.S. Air Force’s premier operational planning course is directly related to the high-quality students and top-notch instructors that we have in our classroom,” said Lt. Col. Benjamin Lee, commander of the 705th TRS.

In this course, he said, the team was given the opportunity to draw from experiences spanning 10 component headquarters and two Agile Combat Employment-capable wings “to hone their operational planning expertise in very complex multi-domain scenarios at the highest classification level.”

The training program was completed at Hurlburt Field, Florida.

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DIU, Space Force Partner on New Tactically Responsive Space Mission
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DIU, Space Force Partner on New Tactically Responsive Space Mission

The Defense Innovation Unit and the U.S. Space Force have teamed up on a mission under the Tactically Responsive Space program that identifies commercial enterprises to help provide launch and on-orbit operations infrastructure.

The Victus Haze mission under the TacRS program intends to harness commercial capabilities for end-to-end execution to address on-orbit threats to space systems, DIU said Thursday.

“It is critical that we tap into and leverage commercially developed capabilities – ones that we can rapidly field to execute the VICTUS HAZE mission and then be able to count on for future TacRS operational needs,” said Maj. Jason Altenhofen, deputy for the Space Safari Program Office within Space Systems Command.

“Our partnership with DIU provides the right ecosystem, expertise, and mission focus to execute the VICTUS HAZE mission and establish a robust partnership with commercial providers,” added Altenhofen.

According to DIU, TacRS encompasses the spacecraft bus, ground segment, logistics, launch service and on-orbit operations.

DIU said it issued a Commercial Solutions Opening opportunity for the TacRS program in August and plans to award contracts in the fall of 2023.

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Rep. Nancy Mace Proposes Federal Cybersecurity Vulnerability Reduction Act
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Rep. Nancy Mace Proposes Federal Cybersecurity Vulnerability Reduction Act

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., has introduced a bill that would direct the Office of Management and Budget to update the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require federal contractors to implement vulnerability disclosure policies, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

The Federal Cybersecurity Vulnerability Reduction Act would require defense contractors to comply with procurement regulations while permitting chief information officers at agencies to waive VDP requirements “in the interest of national security or research purposes.”

According to FNN, the proposed legislation would extend the VDP requirements to all contracts that are over the simplified acquisition threshold.

“By mandating Vulnerability Disclosure Policies (VDP) for federal contractors, we can ensure a proactive approach to cybersecurity, enabling contractors to identify and address software vulnerabilities promptly,” Mace said in a statement.

“This legislation, aligned with internationally recognized standards, empowers contractors to stay ahead of malicious actors, preventing potential exploits and protecting sensitive information,” she added.

Mace is chairwoman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s cybersecurity, information technology and government innovation subpanel.

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SOSi’s Jim Edwards Shares Career Background, Core Values & More
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SOSi’s Jim Edwards Shares Career Background, Core Values & More

Jim Edwards currently serves as senior vice president of business development at SOS International, where he is responsible for gaining new business for the company and expanding its relationships with defense, intelligence and federal civilian clients.

Recently, Edwards spoke with the Potomac Officers Club for an Executive Spotlight interview, during which he shared his strategy for adapting to constant change in the federal government, revealed his core values for team building and discussed the challenges faced by businesses during the innovation process.

In this excerpt from the interview, Edwards offers his insights on the factors involved in creating a successful team:

“I am a strong advocate for promoting diversity in our thoughts, backgrounds and approaches to problem solving. I strive to create an environment that encourages our team to explore new ideas, adopt new technologies, evaluate new business practices and collaborate broadly. Those who are afraid of change or alternative ideas are destined to become irrelevant as new ways of working upend our industry. Of course, these are not new ideas. When I was pursuing an MBA, we read noted leadership and management consultants like Steven Covey and Tom Peters, who were advocating similar thoughts more than 30 years ago.”

To learn more about Edwards’ leadership approach, read the full Executive Spotlight interview on the Potomac Officers Club’s website.

Want to participate in your very own Executive Spotlight interview? Each Potomac Officers Club member has the chance to take advantage of this exciting brand-building opportunity. To browse our membership options and unlock the benefits the Potomac Officers Club has to offer, click here.

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MITRE Banks on 2 Programs to Strengthen Global Cyber Defense Capability
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MITRE Banks on 2 Programs to Strengthen Global Cyber Defense Capability

MITRE plans to expand its International Cyber Capacity Building and Active Defense Capability Set programs to help strengthen U.S. and allied cyber defense.

ICCB will add 28 countries to its partner network to counter cyber threats from China, while ADCS will be deployed to 21 nations in Europe as well as the Indo-Pacific and Africa to provide IT defense training and technology support, the company said Tuesday.

The two programs are built on standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as MITRE’s ATT&CK and CALDERA IT defense frameworks.

ICCB collaborates with the Department of State to bolster strategic cyber capacity in developing countries. It has reached more than 100 nations, including Costa Rica, Albania and Ukraine, and will expand to Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, as well as parts of Africa.

MITRE’s ADCS team provides technical manuals, military cyber workforce pre-assessments, tools and self-study resources to prepare partner countries for online defense. In the next four years, the program will be rolled out in Romania and Slovenia, while a customized program will be launched in the Indo-Pacific Command and Africa Command.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Requests Recommendations on Supply Chain Resilience
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Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Requests Recommendations on Supply Chain Resilience

Gina Raimondo, secretary of the Department of Commerce, has requested recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness to promote supply chain reliability with partners and allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

During the committee’s virtual meeting, Raimondo asked how the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework could be applied in the U.S. private sector and how the federal government could help enhance supply chain consistency in sectors in which India and other IPEF partners operate, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

“The last two years of supply chain crises have revealed that the U.S. government needs to invest more in supply chain resilience,” Raimondo said. 

“Your experience, energy, and leadership are helping us formulate and implement solutions to make our supply chains more resilient, diverse, and secure,” the secretary said to ACSCC members.

Raimondo also highlighted the work of the Commerce Department’s Supply Chain Center to strengthen supply chain resilience by helping the government make data-driven decisions and supporting public-private collaborations.

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