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US, China Hold Talks Over Trade, Investment Policies
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US, China Hold Talks Over Trade, Investment Policies

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and his counterpart in China addressed concerns over investment and trade policies between the two countries during a meeting on Thursday in Washington, the Financial Times reported Friday.

The U.S. Department of Commerce said Raimondo and Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, had “candid and substantive” talks with regard to trade and investment, including the actions by the Chinese government against U.S. companies operating in the Asian country.

The Chinese commerce ministry issued a statement saying Wang expressed concerns about U.S. export controls for semiconductors and a proposal to assess outbound investments for security reasons.

The U.S. Commerce Department said the meeting between Raimondo and Wang sought to “maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the relationship” between the two countries, according to the report.

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Air Force, MIT Demo Real-Time Magnetic Navigation on C-17A Transport Aircraft
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Air Force, MIT Demo Real-Time Magnetic Navigation on C-17A Transport Aircraft

The Department of the Air Force and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have jointly demonstrated real-time magnetic navigation on a C-17A Globemaster III using artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities from the DAF-MIT AI Accelerator.

The MagNav trial was conducted during exercise Golden Phoenix, held from May 11 to 15 at Travis Air Force Base in California, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

During the demonstration, the MagNav team used AI and machine learning from the AIA’s calibration and positioning neural network and learning from AI models based on data generated from the C-17 to speed up the neural network training process.

The team also worked with global partners through its Magnetic Navigation Open Challenge to enhance the neural network architecture, which eliminates magnetic noise produced by the aircraft.

Personnel from the Air Force Research Laboratory Sensors Directorate, Air Force Institute of Technology Autonomy and Navigation Center, MIT and MIT Lincoln Laboratory supported the demonstration.

SandboxAQ also secured approval to deploy a quantum magnetometer ahead of its schedule under the Small Business Innovation Research program.

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Microsoft’s Brad Smith on 5-Point Blueprint for Public Governance of AI
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Microsoft’s Brad Smith on 5-Point Blueprint for Public Governance of AI

Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said there are five actions governments should take when addressing emerging and existing issues related to artificial intelligence through law, public policy and regulations and the first is implementing and building on new government-led AI safety frameworks.

He cited as an example the AI Risk Management Framework launched by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Another step governments should take is requiring effective safety brakes for AI platforms that control critical infrastructure, Smith wrote in a blog post published Thursday.

“In this approach, the government would define the class of high-risk AI systems that control critical infrastructure and warrant such safety measures as part of a comprehensive approach to system management,” he noted.

Smith added that governments should direct operators to assess high-risk platforms to ensure the effectiveness of safety measures.

He cited the need to develop a regulatory and legal framework based on the technology architecture for AI and said the blueprint comes with information about some of the key components for developing and using generative AI models.

“Using this as context, it proposes that different laws place specific regulatory responsibilities on the organizations exercising certain responsibilities at three layers of the technology stack: the applications layer, the model layer, and the infrastructure layer,” Smith wrote.

The two other considerations Smith discussed are promoting transparency and ensuring access of academic and nonprofit organizations to AI resources and pursuing public-private partnerships to use AI as a tool to address the societal challenges that come with the adoption of new technology.

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Senators Urge Pentagon to Look Into Overpricing by Some Contractors
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Senators Urge Pentagon to Look Into Overpricing by Some Contractors

Five senators have called on the Department of Defense through a letter to conduct an investigation into alleged overpricing by some U.S. defense contractors in light of a CBS News report.

The May 24 letter from Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Mike Braun, R-Ind.; Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., was addressed to Defense Secretary and 2023 Wash100 Award recipient Lloyd Austin.

CBS News conducted a six-month investigation and found that DOD’s fixed-price contracts would often generate 12 to 15 percent for private profits, according to the lawmakers.

“Pentagon analysts found over-charges that boosted total profits to nearly 40 percent and sometimes as high as 4,000 percent,” the letter reads.

The lawmakers also cited a Government Accountability Office report, which found lapses in the ability of DOD accounting systems to provide complete and reliable information and capture and log transactions to the correct accounts.

“We ask that you please provide us an update on the Department’s efforts to implement outstanding GAO recommendations related to financial management and fraud risk reduction, as well as your efforts to investigate the price gouging uncovered by CBS’s recent reporting,” the letter states.

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DOD Provides Overview of Classified 2023 Cyber Strategy Submitted to Congress
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DOD Provides Overview of Classified 2023 Cyber Strategy Submitted to Congress

The Department of Defense sent Congress its classified cyber strategy for 2023, which aims to implement four lines of effort to address existing and future cyber threats.

The 2023 DOD Cyber Strategy is compliant with the National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy of 2022, the agency said Friday.

To formulate the strategy, DOD derived from real-world experience in cyberspace operations as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The agency emphasized the importance of its allies and partners in safeguarding the online domain, especially in the face of adversaries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. It also intends to collaborate with allies to fight violent extremist and transnational criminal organizations that weaponize Internet-based technologies.

The strategy outlines four complementary lines of defense, which include interagency coordination to reinforce the cyber resilience of critical infrastructure, and investment in the Joint Force’s own resiliency efforts. It also mentioned bolstering DOD’s Cyber Operations workforce through training and technology, as well as leading by example in adhering to international laws and norms on the responsible use of Internet-based capabilities.

DOD will issue an unclassified summary of the 2023 Cyber Strategy later this year.

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GAO Offers Recommendations to Help DOE Advance Insider Threat Program Implementation
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GAO Offers Recommendations to Help DOE Advance Insider Threat Program Implementation

The Government Accountability Office has called on the Department of Energy to track and report the actions it has taken in response to independent reviewers’ findings and suggestions to help fully implement the Insider Threat Program.

DOE should come up with a process to better integrate insider threat responsibilities, assess the program’s human, technical and financial resource requirements and offer recommendations to the department’s secretary on where resources should be allocated to ensure that the program is positioned to meet minimum standards, GAO said in a report published Wednesday.

“Unless DOE identifies and assesses the resources needed to support the Insider Threat Program, it will be unable to fully ensure that components are equipped to respond to insider threat concerns, potentially creating vulnerabilities in the program,” the GAO report reads.

The congressional watchdog recommended that the Insider Threat Program’s senior official clearly define the responsibilities of contractors in the initiative and that the DOE secretary ensure that the program implements a departmentwide approach to handling insider risk.

In 2014, DOE launched the Insider Threat Program as part of efforts to ensure the security of the country’s nuclear weapons systems and related information.

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NIST Posts Framework for Reporting Federal System Vulnerabilities
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NIST Posts Framework for Reporting Federal System Vulnerabilities

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has published recommendations on developing policies and procedures for reporting and managing vulnerability disclosures for federal government systems.

The NIST Special Publication 800-216 outlines a unified federal vulnerability disclosure framework that applies to software, hardware and digital services used across the government, the agency said Wednesday.

According to NIST, the framework seeks to address the proper handling of vulnerability reports regarding information systems owned or controlled by government agencies.

It also establishes a framework for the dissemination of vulnerability mitigation and remediation.

NIST developed the document in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget and the departments of Defense and Homeland Security.

Treasury Establishes Executive Steering Group to Address Cloud Adoption Risks
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Treasury Establishes Executive Steering Group to Address Cloud Adoption Risks

The Department of the Treasury has formed a new public-private executive steering group to address challenges outlined in the Financial Services Sector’s Adoption of Cloud Services report.

The Cloud Executive Steering Group will provide best practices for implementing hybrid cloud environments, document effective diligence and risk management practices as well as work to improve transparency and cloud service monitoring, the department said Thursday.

In partnership with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the steering group will establish a common set of terms and definitions to support policymaking and industry cooperation.

The group will also collaborate with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to improve information sharing and coordination for the supervision of financial institutions.

CESG will be headed by officials from member agencies and companies of the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council.

The co-chairs of the steering group are:

  • Graham Steele, treasury assistant secretary for financial institutions
  • Michael Hsu, acting comptroller of the currency
  • Rohit Chopra, director of CFPB
  • Bill Demchak, CEO of PNC Financial Services
  • Ron Green, Chair of Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and Chief Security Officer of Mastercard
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DIU Seeks AI-Based Tools to Advance Public Information Collection, Analysis
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DIU Seeks AI-Based Tools to Advance Public Information Collection, Analysis

The Defense Innovation Unit is inviting commercial companies to submit technology proposals for enhancing the collection and analysis of publicly available information using generative artificial intelligence and large language models.

DIU is seeking commercially available AI technologies that can automate information operations discovery and evaluation and provide commanders with understandable representations and visualization of the operating information environment.

The prototype must also provide analysts with content and messaging capabilities, assist them in drafting content and suggest a dissemination plan.

Selected prototype projects must adhere to DIU’s Responsible AI Guidelines, which outline ethical principles for incorporating AI into its commercial prototyping and acquisition programs.

Tools created under the program should be interoperable with the Department of Defense’s Command and Control of the Information Environment technologies.

Local GovCon Personality Ashley Williams Clinches Miss Virginia USA 2023 Crown
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Local GovCon Personality Ashley Williams Clinches Miss Virginia USA 2023 Crown

Executive Mosaic is proud and honored to be the workplace of the new Miss Virginia USA 2023, Ashley Williams.

Local GovCon Personality Ashley Williams Clinches Miss Virginia USA 2023 Crown
Ashley Williams is Miss Virginia USA 2023

Ashley joined the Executive Mosaic team as an event coordinator in July 2022, and for nearly a year, she has played an important role in making our industry-leading events successful, informative and enjoyable for all involved.

“As a talented, hardworking and passionate individual, Ashley is the clear choice to represent the state of Virginia and Executive Mosaic. Her professionalism, upbeat attitude and optimistic spirit have made a clear impact on our members, clients, speakers and employees, and we truly value her contributions to our company’s mission and to the broader GovCon community,” said Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic.

“Ashley has the full support of the entire EM team as she goes on to compete for Miss USA, and we could not be more proud of her,” Garrettson continued.

Prior to being crowned Miss Virginia USA in April, the former Miami Dolphins NFL cheerleader and Florida native served as Miss Reston USA. Ashley will be representing Virginia at the upcoming Miss USA 2023 competition in Reno, Nevada.

Executive Mosaic congratulates Ashley on her success and wishes her well on the national stage!

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