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ORNL Joins Trillion Parameter Consortium to Develop AI for Scientific Research
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ORNL Joins Trillion Parameter Consortium to Develop AI for Scientific Research

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has joined a global consortium of research teams that aims to advance the development of large-scale generative artificial intelligence models for scientific discovery.

ORNL said Monday it will bring its expertise in developing trustworthy and energy-efficient AI systems to support the Trillion Parameter Consortium‘s — or TPC’s — goals for responsible AI use and development.

The laboratory will assist the consortium in building an open community of researchers interested in creating large-scale generative AI models, launching and coordinating projects across the AI and scientific community and creating a global network of resources and expertise to support the development of next-generation AI systems.

TPC researchers aim to use exascale supercomputers to train large language models on scientific research, including scientific codes, papers and observational and experimental data.

ORNL is home to the exascale supercomputer Frontier, which helps facilitate AI-based algorithms and simulations.

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NASA to Fly Galaxy-Scanning Mission Above the Antarctic During Annual Long Duration Balloon Campaign
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NASA to Fly Galaxy-Scanning Mission Above the Antarctic During Annual Long Duration Balloon Campaign

The Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory — a.k.a. GUSTO — mission, managed by NASA’s Explorers Program Office at Goddard Space Flight Center, is set to fly on the agency’s annual Antarctic Long Duration Balloon Campaign, which will begin around Dec. 1.

GUSTO, which is headed by University of Arizona’s Christopher Walker, aims to map a portion of the Milky Way galaxy while flying over Antarctica aboard a scientific balloon, NASA said Monday.

The portion of the galaxy to be scanned includes the galactic center and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The sensors that will be used are capable of detecting emission lines that would provide researchers insights regarding the lifecycle of the interstellar medium.

“The environment and stratospheric wind conditions provide a unique and valuable opportunity to fly missions in a near-space environment for days or weeks at a time,” NASA Balloon Program Office acting chief Andrew Hamilton explained.

Apart from GUSTO, this year’s balloon campaign will support four other missions.

“The BPO team is excited to provide support to all our missions this year,” Hamilton said.

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VA Begins Market Research for Data & Analytics Integrated Modernization & Operations Program
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VA Begins Market Research for Data & Analytics Integrated Modernization & Operations Program

The Department of Veterans Affairs has started soliciting information on potential vendors that could support the Office of Information and Technology’s — a.k.a. OI&T — Data and Analytics Integrated Modernization and Operations, or DAIMO, requirement.

DAIMO will support the mission of the product engineering service for data and analytics, or PES DA, pillar within OI&T to provide an integrated ecosystem of interoperable data management, discovery and analytics tools that facilitate evidence-based decision-making across the VA enterprise, according to a request for information published Friday.

Through DAIMO, VA intends to consolidate the development, modernization and sustainment of products and programs executed by PES DA, which oversees the data and analytics product line to promote the accurate sharing of data products that enable the delivery of healthcare and benefits to veterans, according to the draft performance work statement.

Interested offerors should state their experience with developing Master Data Management platforms to consolidate and synchronize core customer data across multiple disparate sources and provide examples of their experience creating artificial intelligence- and machine learning-enabled capabilities to detect data anomalies and trigger a system response to prevent data corruption.

VA also wants information on data science and analytics uses that cross data functional teams and experience of potential vendors when it comes to operating cloud-based and legacy systems and developing synthetic test data to mock partner systems and support performance testing.

Responses to the RFI are due Dec. 1.

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Army Releases Doctrinal Publication Focused on Achieving Information Advantage
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Army Releases Doctrinal Publication Focused on Achieving Information Advantage

The U.S. Army has released its first doctrinal publication outlining the service branch’s efforts and priorities to take advantage of data and information technologies during military operations and at home station.

Army Doctrine Publication 3-13, Information, sets the fundamental principles for creating and exploiting information advantages to achieve mission objectives while hindering adversaries’ ability to do the same, the service branch said Monday.

ADP 3-13 focuses on five activities to achieve information advantage: enable military activities for enhancing command and control; protect data, information and networks; provide informed perceptions of military operations and activities; influence the behavior of foreign relevant actors; and hinder adversaries’ capabilities to communicate and conduct information warfare.

“Operations now require leaders to consider how information enables operations, how to protect friendly information, how to employ information against an enemy or adversary, and how to attack the enemy’s ability to use information effectively,” said Richard Creed, director of Combined Arms Center’s Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate.

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Andrew Mara Named National Security Analysis Department Head at Johns Hopkins APL
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Andrew Mara Named National Security Analysis Department Head at Johns Hopkins APL

Andrew Mara, most recently executive vice president at the Center for Naval Analyses, has joined the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory as head of its national security analysis department, commonly referred to as the NSAD.

In this capacity, he will oversee a 200-person department that conducts analyses on national security issues for APL and its government sponsors, the laboratory said Monday.

“Andrew Mara is an accomplished researcher and leader whose analyses have guided some of our nation’s most critical national security strategy and investment decisions,” said APL Director Ralph Semmel.

Mara also served as director of the systems, tactics and force development division at CNA.

Prior to CNA, he spent 10 years at the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office, where he led strategic analyses on missile defense, nuclear command and control systems and space force structure assessment, among others.

Mara also served as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science within the National Defense University’s Center for Technology and National Security Policy.

NSAD is focused on providing analytical capabilities for senior government leaders and operational commanders to help inform decisions related to advanced capabilities, technology and policy, architectures and complex systems and operations.

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DIU, AETC Partner to Advance Pilot Training Using Commercial Devices
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DIU, AETC Partner to Advance Pilot Training Using Commercial Devices

A partnership between the Defense Innovation Unit and Air Education and Training Command aims to modernize pilot training using existing commercial technologies, including extended reality and mixed reality devices.

DIU and AETC have collaborated with Vertex Solutions, Discovery Machine, CAE and Google to field 225 immersive training devices at the four U.S. Air Force undergraduate training sites under the Pilot Training Transformation, or PTT, program, DIU said Monday.

The devices operate on a DIU-prototyped containerized commercial cloud network and capture and ingest data into a cloud-based learning management system to assist training instructors in managing grades, schedules and syllabus progression.

AETC is also prototyping a Multi-place Mixed Reality flight simulator that will serve as the primary aircrew training device for the U.S. Air Force’s TH-1H helicopter fleet.

Under the PTT initiative, DIU partnered with 19th Air Force/Detachment 24 and technology provider Metrea Simulations to prototype a Virtual Training for Air Dominance system to provide a next-generation simulation engine for virtual training environments.

New Executive Order to Create Interagency Committee to Improve Security in Federal Facilities
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New Executive Order to Create Interagency Committee to Improve Security in Federal Facilities

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to establish a new committee tasked with developing policies and standards to ensure the security and protection of federal facilities.

The Interagency Security Committee will assess existing security standards for federal facilities and come up with a strategy to track the implementation of such standards to ensure compliance by agencies, the White House said Monday.

The committee will also encourage agencies to share security-related intelligence; assess technology and information systems as a way of providing cost-effective improvements to security in facilities; and develop long-term construction standards for locations with threat levels or missions that require blast-resistant structures or other specialized security requirements.

The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security will chair the committee, which will consist of representatives from federal agencies, including the departments of Defense, State, Justice and the Treasury.

The EO directs the committee to submit to the director of the Office of Management and Budget and the assistant to the president for national security affairs a summary report detailing the results of compliance of agencies with policies and standards.

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NSA Releases International Cybersecurity Guidance on AI System Development; Rob Joyce Quoted
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NSA Releases International Cybersecurity Guidance on AI System Development; Rob Joyce Quoted

The U.S. National Security Agency teamed up with other stateside departments as well as some in the U.K. to issue a cybersecurity information sheet, or CSI, on artificial intelligence system development.

The guidance, which includes input from the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre and U.S Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warns against adversarial machine learning attacks that could compromise data in AI technologies.

The CSI emphasizes the implementation of secure design, development, deployment and operation in AI systems. It recommends conducting a holistic assessment of AI-specific threats and using the findings to prepare the system for the evolving attack vectors.

The document also urges developers to compare the benefits and weaknesses of different AI models, taking into consideration factors such as training dataset characteristics, use case appropriateness, model complexity and component supply chains.

“We wish we could rewind time and bake security into the start of the internet. We have that opportunity today with AI. We need to seize the chance,” NSA Cybersecurity Director and Wash100 awardee Rob Joyce commented.

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REI Systems to Modernize Insider Threat Detection Processes for DITMAC Under New Contract; Wagish Bhartiya Quoted
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REI Systems to Modernize Insider Threat Detection Processes for DITMAC Under New Contract; Wagish Bhartiya Quoted

REI Systems has won a contract to develop a case management service technology for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Insider Threat Management and Analysis Center.

Once implemented, the system is expected to streamline manual processes currently used by DOD staff and the public to report potential insider threats, the Sterling, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.

Wagish Bhartiya, chief growth officer of REI Systems, said he is “tremendously excited” about the award, which “reinforces REI’s growing footprint in the defense market” and expands its portfolio of low-code and case management capabilities.

“The DITMAC mission is core to keeping our country safe from internal threats. There is no higher calling than protecting those who work to protect our everyday citizens,” he said.

REI’s tool is intended to consolidate the reporting process and utilize data analysis best practices to enable more effective tracking and real-time analysis of threats and incidents. It will leverage artificial intelligence to enhance predictive warnings and will be built on the Salesforce.com platform.

The enterprise will also be responsible for creating a centralized repository that individuals can use to report incidents with or without disclosing their identity.

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Empower AI CEO Jeff Bohling Discusses Company’s Transformative Year
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Empower AI CEO Jeff Bohling Discusses Company’s Transformative Year

Empower AI is emerging from a year of notable change and transformation. In the summer of 2022, the company rebranded from NCI, then in November 2022, KKR became a majority shareholder, and at the start of 2023, Jeff Bohling became the company’s CEO. Executive Mosaic sat down with Bohling to discuss what has changed for Empower AI, what remains the same and what we can expect for the future.

“The new brand is gaining traction,” Bohling shared in a new video interview with Executive Mosaic’s Summer Myatt. “The release of ChatGPT last fall caused a lot of interest in everything associated with artificial intelligence. We benefit from that attention because of our AI platform, but our real focus remains on the mission, just as it was 34 years ago.”

Bohling shared that Empower AI’s ownership change sparked a series of leadership and strategic shifts as well. He said KKR had “a different investment thesis than the previous owner and wanted us to focus on our core strength.”

“This approach caused a change in strategy which necessitated a change in leadership. I’m happy to say that the change in leadership is complete and we are diligently focusing on building a strategy for the next three-to-five years. There has been a great deal of change, but the team is embracing it, and there’s a lot of excitement about the opportunities created with that change,” Bohling added.

For more insights into Empower AI’s strategy and to learn more about how the company is embracing AI, watch Jeff Bohling’s full interview. Stay informed about the latest GovCon news, expertise and thought leadership by subscribing to Executive Mosaic’s YouTube channel and by following us on LinkedIn.

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