Akima & 4 Subsidiaries Meet Requirements for ISO 27001 Certification; Bill Monet Quoted
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Akima & 4 Subsidiaries Meet Requirements for ISO 27001 Certification; Bill Monet Quoted

Akima has received ISO 27001 certification, a reflection of the company’s work to protect its customers’ information.

NQA, an independently accredited certification body, conducted the audit, which determined that Akima and four of its subsidiaries – Akima Global Technology, Akima Data Management, Cloud Lake Technology and Compass Point – have met security guidelines set by the International Organization for Standardization, the Herndon, Virginia-based company announced on Thursday.

“Akima has always placed a high value on secure management of data and information systems,” said Bill Monet, president and CEO of Akima and a four-time Wash100 Award recipient.

“This certification embodies our commitment to ensuring the best protection possible for us and our customers against ever-present – and always evolving – security threats,” he added.

Being granted this certification means that Akima’s Information Security Management Systems meet the requirements of confidentiality, integrity, availability of information and legal compliance put in place by ISO. During the audit, Akima demonstrated that its implementation of processes and security controls kept information protected and met these standards.

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GSA Brings Nearly 50 New Fellows Into Government via US Digital Corps
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GSA Brings Nearly 50 New Fellows Into Government via US Digital Corps

The General Services Administration has announced the addition of 48 early-career technologists to the U.S. Digital Corps as the second cohort of fellows that will work with 13 federal agencies to help the Biden administration advance key government priorities.

The fellows, who boast skills in data analytics and data science, cybersecurity, product management, design and software engineering, will back agency projects that support the President’s Management Agenda of delivering secure and equitable customer experiences and provide public access to government research over a two-year period, GSA said Tuesday.

“Growing this corps is another way we’re driving innovation and modernization while ensuring that Americans get the services they need – when they need them – from their government,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.

GSA selected the second cohort of fellows from 1,355 applicants. The agency plans to open the application process for the third cohort in the fall and expects the fellows to begin in the summer of 2024.

USDC welcomed the first cohort of fellows in June 2022.

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GE Research, Boston Fusion Among 5 Organizations Selected for DARPA’s Human-AI Teaming Program
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GE Research, Boston Fusion Among 5 Organizations Selected for DARPA’s Human-AI Teaming Program

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has chosen five teams to participate in its human-artificial intelligence teaming program focused on multimedia analytics.

Boston Fusion, GE Research, Systems & Technology Research, the University of California San Diego, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will lead research projects under the Environment-driven Conceptual Learning program, DARPA announced Tuesday.

ECOLE aims to develop AI agents that can continuously gain knowledge from machine learning-based algorithms in order to analyze massive amounts of video, image and other multimedia data for national security missions. The program’s first and second phases will each take 18 months to complete, while a third phase specializing in geospatial intelligence is expected to take 12 months.

The research projects chosen for ECOLE include Boston Fusion’s exploration of the “masking” technique to test AI agents’ recognition of an object despite the absence or removal of some of its properties.

GE Research, meanwhile, will devise automated object and action curricula generation that would help AI discover an object’s properties. The company will also create methods to address user input and knowledge structure conflicts.

Army Eyes Tech for Knowledge-Level Distributed Data Platforms
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Army Eyes Tech for Knowledge-Level Distributed Data Platforms

The U.S. Army has released a research and development topic focused on knowledge-level distributed data platforms for Ops-Log synchronization in support of a tactical data platform effort.

The service branch said Tuesday it looks to add technology for hybrid knowledge graph tech, richer knowledge-based representations and artificial intelligence/machine learning-powered decision support and reasoning capabilities.

Potential tech should address five areas: automated transformation of data to knowledge, knowledge-level representation of the tactical situational awareness, representing and continuously reasoning, situational pattern recognition and model projection and bridging knowledge between operations and logistics.

The Army will use the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs to facilitate three phases of the research and development.

Applications are due Sept. 5.

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Government Leaders Highlight Need for Industry Collaboration to Advance Multifactor Authentication Adoption
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Government Leaders Highlight Need for Industry Collaboration to Advance Multifactor Authentication Adoption

A White House-hosted symposium brought together agency and industry leaders to talk about how the federal government can advance the use of commercial multifactor authentication technologies.

During the MFA Modernization Symposium, agency officials agreed to foster collaboration with industry as the federal government updates cybersecurity policies to promote the adoption of MFA tools, the White House said Tuesday.

Industry participants expressed their plan to continue to improve technology implementation and standards to meet the government’s needs and help enterprises keep up with evolving cybersecurity threats.

“MFA is personally for me a priority. If there are barriers that government policies are placing on your ability for customers to adopt MFA and securely do business, we want to know about those. It’s clearly critical to protecting sensitive data and it’s our collective responsibility,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, said at the event.

Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer; Chris DeRusha, federal chief information security officer and deputy national cyber director; and Brandon Wales, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, highlighted the need to modernize the government’s approach to authentication during the event.

Neuberger, Martorana and DeRusha are previous Wash100 awardees.

FAA Unveils Near-Term Implementation Plan to Enable Advanced Air Mobility Operations
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FAA Unveils Near-Term Implementation Plan to Enable Advanced Air Mobility Operations

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued an implementation plan, dubbed Innovate28, to enable advanced air mobility operations at scale at multiple sites by 2028.

The roadmap outlines FAA’s action plan to integrate AAM into the national airspace system in the near term in a way that maintains operational safety, the agency said Tuesday.

Innovate28 details how the agency and its partners will certify aircraft types, develop a framework for operation, manage airspace access, conduct operator training, establish infrastructure and facilitate community engagement.

The implementation plan also lays out a scenario sequence explaining how an AAM aircraft would operate after completing the certification processes.

“This plan shows how all the pieces will come together allowing the industry to scale with safety as the north star,” said Deputy FAA Administrator Katie Thomson.

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Defense Innovation Board Recommends ‘Oasis’ Fund for Bridging Valley of Death
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Defense Innovation Board Recommends ‘Oasis’ Fund for Bridging Valley of Death

The Defense Innovation Board has recommended that the Department of Defense establish an investment mechanism that would bridge the technological “valley of death” and help companies transition their technologies from early development stages to production, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

In a report, DIB said there is an immediate need for reform to overcome the inability to transition new technologies from the research and development phase into production.

The board suggests that the Pentagon create an “Oasis” of funding to bridge its annual R&D investment portfolio into its two-to-three-year, program-specific budget cycles.

The new mechanism could be funded by passing a separate annual appropriation, taxing service programs or changing end-of-fiscal-year budget rules.

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FCC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Voluntary Cybersecurity Labeling Program; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted
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FCC Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Voluntary Cybersecurity Labeling Program; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a voluntary cybersecurity labeling program that would put a U.S. Cyber Trust Mark on smart devices that meet national security standards.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Tuesday, saying the new program would help consumers make sound data privacy decisions when purchasing Internet-enabled devices.

The program would authorize FCC to regulate smart devices based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework. The draft proposal also includes a new logo for the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark, which will be placed along with an informational QR code on packaging of certified wireless communication products.

The agency is currently seeking public input to help shape the program’s policies. It is inviting feedback on what devices to include, who should manage the program, how to educate consumers about it and whether different security standards should apply to different types of products.

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ODNI Debuts Updated Data Strategy for Intelligence Community; Lori Wade Quoted
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ODNI Debuts Updated Data Strategy for Intelligence Community; Lori Wade Quoted

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released a new strategy outlining the focus areas for intelligence community agencies to advance the adoption of common services aimed at making data more discoverable and interoperable.

The IC Data Strategy 2023–2025 lists four strategic focus areas for action and the first two are performing end-to-end data management and delivering data interoperability and analytics at speed and scale, ODNI said Tuesday.

The other two focus areas are advancing partnerships for continued digital and data innovation and transforming the IC workforce to be data-driven.

“The IC Data Strategy directs our collective energy towards making data securely accessible and interoperable across boundaries and domains,” said Lori Wade, chief data officer for the IC.

“Our focus areas will expand our ability to securely discover, access, and leverage the IC’s data at the speed of mission,” added Wade.

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Maj. Gen. James Adams Nominated as USMC Programs & Resources Deputy Commandant
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Maj. Gen. James Adams Nominated as USMC Programs & Resources Deputy Commandant

Maj. Gen. James Adams, deputy director of requirements and capability development for the Joint Staff since June 2020, has been nominated as deputy commandant for programs and resources at the U.S. Marine Corps.

If confirmed, Adams will serve as the principal adviser to the commandant of the Marine Corps on all financial matters and act as CMC’s principal spokesperson on program and budget matters, DOD said Monday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, announced that Adams is also nominated for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general.

Adams was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1991 and designated a naval aviator two years later. He was selected to fly the AH-1W Super Cobra and has flown combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His staff assignments include defense requirements analyst for the Joint Staff and two tours as a weapons and tactics instructor for Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One.

Adams also commanded Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 as a lieutenant colonel.

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