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Army Previews Information Network Support Requirement
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Army Previews Information Network Support Requirement

The U.S. Army is conducting market research to explore potential industry sources of cybersecurity and operations support for its portion of the Department of Defense Information Network.

In a notice posted Thursday on SAM.gov, the military branch listed its internet technology service requirements to manage and maintain the DoDIN-Army infrastructure.

Basic services listed in the notice include system sustainment and security engineering, process development, information technology project management and network monitoring and compliance.

The branch is looking to procure contractor support through the issuance of a task order with one base year, plus four option years, under an existing contract vehicle.

Interested vendors can submit questions and comments regarding the sources sought notice until Aug. 2.

Army Previews Information Network Support Requirement

If you want insight into the Army’s tech priorities and programs, join us at the Potomac Officers Club’s 8th Annual Army Summit on Aug. 1 at the Hilton-McLean in Virginia. Click here to see all confirmed event speakers and to register for this important forum.

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Investigations Reveal OpenAI Supports Licenses for Advanced AI Tech Development
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Investigations Reveal OpenAI Supports Licenses for Advanced AI Tech Development

OpenAI said in a draft internal policy document that the company backs the concept of requiring government licenses for developers seeking to build advanced artificial intelligence platforms and is willing to be more transparent on the data it uses to train DALL-E and other image generators, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

“We commit to working with the US government and policy makers around the world to support development of licensing requirements for future generations of the most highly capable foundation models,” the draft memo reads.

Sources said OpenAI, Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google are expected on Friday to express their commitment to responsible AI development and deployment.

OpenAI also noted in the document that it is performing a survey on watermarking and that it is willing to host external red teaming activities.

The draft memo came a week after the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into the San Francisco-based company.

FTC sent a 20-page letter to OpenAI asking the ChatGPT maker about its security practices and how it handles personal data and trains AI models, according to a report by The New York Times.

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Navy to Help DOD Meet Computational Needs With ‘Blueback’ Supercomputer
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Navy to Help DOD Meet Computational Needs With ‘Blueback’ Supercomputer

The Navy DOD Supercomputing Resource Center will install at its facility at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi a new high-performance computing system that offers 17.7 petaFLOPS of computing performance, DVIDS reported Thursday.

Blueback is an HPE Cray EX4000 system expected to enter service in 2024 to support the computational needs of DOD’s science and technology, acquisition engineering and test and evaluation communities.

The supercomputer will replace three older HPC systems and comes with 128 AMD MI300A accelerator processing units, 24 NVIDIA L40 general purchase graphics processing units, 256,512 total compute cores and 20 petabytes of usable Cray ClusterStor E1000 Lustre storage.

DOD used a segment of its fiscal year 2023 funding to make an investment in Blueback as part of the department’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program.

In April, Navy DSRC deployed its Nautilus supercomputer and updated its HPE Cray EX HPC platform, dubbed Narwhal.

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Electrosoft Books $38M BEP Contract for Cybersecurity Services; Sarbari Gupta Quoted
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Electrosoft Books $38M BEP Contract for Cybersecurity Services; Sarbari Gupta Quoted

Electrosoft Services, Inc. has received a contract from Department of the Treasury‘s Bureau of Engraving and Printing for cybersecurity assistance.

Under the potential five-year, $37.8 million award, Electrosoft will support the bureau’s Office of Critical Infrastructure and Information Technology Security with security program management and analytical and technical cybersecurity work, the Reston, Virginia-based organization announced on Tuesday.

Sarbari Gupta, CEO of Electrosoft, said that in the current climate of constant cyberthreats, government agencies must “relentlessly monitor, detect and respond to dynamic cyberattacks,” while remaining compliant with shifting regulations and guidelines.

“We are honored to support the BEP OCIITS mission and assist with strengthening the agency’s cybersecurity posture,” said Gupta.

Electrosoft’s contracting responsibilities include security assessment and authorization, audit and compliance, information system security officer support and cyber engineering. The firm will also build and operate a 24/7 security operations center to assess and handle potential cyber incidents within OCIITS’ IT ecosystem.

BEP’s function is to produce notes – reaching 8 billion annually – and important security documents in secure U.S. printing facilities. These activities are reliant on computer-based systems.

Services provided by Electrosoft will help BEP reach compliance with significant laws and regulations, such as the Federal Information Security Management Act, the Office of Management and Budget Circular A130, Department of the Treasury security policy and BEP IT security policy and procedures, among others.

Last month, Electrosoft won a $4.5 million contract also for cybersecurity services from the International Trade Administration within the Department of Commerce. Under the one-year award, which was issued as part of a five-year prime contract, the company is creating, maintaining and analyzing information system security and privacy documentation while providing security training.

Days earlier, Electrosoft booked a $5.4 million recompete award from the Defense Logistics Agency to support the Information Operations (J6) Program Executive Officer (J62) with systems security and engineering services.

DOJ to Merge Cryptocurrency Enforcement, Anti-Computer Crime Units in Cybersecurity Push
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DOJ to Merge Cryptocurrency Enforcement, Anti-Computer Crime Units in Cybersecurity Push

The Department of Justice has moved to consolidate National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team functions into the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section under DOJ’s criminal division.

Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general for the criminal arm, said in her remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the combined office will prioritize initiatives to combat ransomware.

“The National Cybersecurity Strategy highlights ransomware as not only an important concern, but as a threat to national security,” Argentieri noted.

She added NCET will continue to investigate and pursue cases against criminal activities in the cryptocurrency area and collaborate with other agency partners to prevent the use of digital assets in finance-related crimes such as money laundering.

Argentieri also announced that NCET Deputy Director Claudia Quiroz will lead the team on an interim basis and replace Eun Young Choi, the group’s inaugural director. Quiroz is a long-time assistant U.S. attorney from the Northern District of California and has been one of the original deputy directors of NCET since its inception.

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Pentagon, Intelligence Community to Share Secret Cloud Services; Ryan McArthur Quoted
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Pentagon, Intelligence Community to Share Secret Cloud Services; Ryan McArthur Quoted

The Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community will share classified cloud services under a memorandum of agreement as part of efforts to advance Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control. They plan to procure such services through DOD’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

In December 2022, DOD awarded Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Oracle spots on the JWCC contract, which will enable the department to directly purchase enterprisewide cloud service offerings from commercial service providers across all classification levels and security domains.

Ryan McArthur, JWCC program manager at the Defense Information Systems Agency, said authorization is one of the areas that needs to be addressed as DOD and IC intend to share secret cloud services.

“What we’re working through between TS [top secret] and secret is who should own authorizations from a TS and secret perspective. Right now, we’ve done reciprocity on the AWS [Amazon Web Services] side,” McArthur said.

“We’re actually working through agreements of who should have authorization if DoD transitions to having full authorization on the secret side, and I see maintaining full TS. But those are just in the beginning stages,” he added.

US, Panama to Form Partnership on Semiconductor Supply Chain Diversification
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US, Panama to Form Partnership on Semiconductor Supply Chain Diversification

The U.S. is partnering with the government of Panama to explore ways to build a secure and diverse global semiconductor supply chain under the International Technology Security and Innovation Fund.

The State Department said Thursday the U.S. government will review Panama’s semiconductor sector, regulations, infrastructure and workforce to inform potential future collaboration funded by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

ITSI Fund allocates $500 million over five years to implement new programs to support the global ICT and semiconductor supply chains.

For the semiconductor sector, the initiative will back programs that aim to secure critical material inputs, strengthen international policy coordination, expand and diversify downstream capacity in the Indo-Pacific and the Americas and protect national security.

2023 Microelectronics Forum

ExecutiveBiz will host the 2023 Microelectronics Forum on July 25 to discuss with semiconductor experts, government officials and industry leaders the future of the U.S. microelectronics sector. Click here to register and see the list of confirmed speakers for the forum.

USAF Transitions Vice Commander Titles to Deputy Commander; Gen. Charles Brown Quoted
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USAF Transitions Vice Commander Titles to Deputy Commander; Gen. Charles Brown Quoted

The U.S. Air Force will redesignate the duty titles of vice commander to deputy commander in an effort to standardize terminology used across all units under the service branch.

The changes, which take effect on Aug. 1, will make the initials CD as the official symbol for deputy commanders in active duty, U.S. Air National Guard, and Air Force Reserve, according to a memo issued Thursday.

The transfer of titles from vice to deputy commander was previously ordered by the Secretary of the Air Force for major commands in 2017. The latest decision does not change the duties of officers with redesignated titles.

“As global challenges continue to evolve and the importance of joint operations increases, we must ensure we are best aligned to meet these challenges with a clear, unambiguous structure,” said Gen. Charles Brown, chief of staff of the USAF.

State Department Requests Information on Consular Affairs Queue Management Modernization
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State Department Requests Information on Consular Affairs Queue Management Modernization

The State Department is fielding information on potential industry sources capable of providing operations, maintenance and technical support services to help the Bureau of Consular Affairs develop and deploy a modernized queue management system.

The Consular Affairs Queue Management program aims to upgrade technology systems that support customer experience at CA’s passport agencies and embassy and consulate waiting areas worldwide, according to a notice posted Monday on SAM.gov.

CA/CST is planning to deploy an upgraded version of the Q-Flow enterprise queue management software to 230 overseas posts, two domestic visa processing centers and 29 domestic passport agencies.

Under CAQM, the selected contractor will provide Q-Flow hardware, software and technical support services and consolidate the bureau’s operational environment under a unified technology framework to ensure the interoperability of modernized and legacy consular systems.

Responses to the request for information are due Aug. 1.

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Argonne National Lab, JD Power Team Up to Study EV Market Landscape
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Argonne National Lab, JD Power Team Up to Study EV Market Landscape

The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory has partnered with analytics firm J.D. Power to gain access to data sets about the electric vehicle market.

In a new agreement announced Monday, Argonne will analyze information from J.D. Power in order to gain understanding about drivers’ interest, adoption patterns and challenges and battery charging experience related to EVs.

The Michigan-based company will lend its proprietary EV Index to Argonne, which will provide its analysis to DOE, amid the increasing demand for EVs and charging stations across the country.

“Combined with Argonne’s technical data and analysis, J.D. Power’s data on EV-related consumer behavior will help Argonne and DOE advance the understanding of the current EV user and charging landscape,” said Claus Daniel, associate laboratory director for advanced energy technologies at Argonne.

“This understanding will support decision-making that moves the nation closer to its clean transportation and climate goals.”

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