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Senate Bill Seeks to Increase Visibility Into US Investments in Adversarial Foreign Countries
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Senate Bill Seeks to Increase Visibility Into US Investments in Adversarial Foreign Countries

The Senate on Tuesday voted 91-6 to pass as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act a bill that would screen U.S. investments in national security industries in foreign countries of concern, such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.

The Outbound Investment Transparency Act introduced by Sens. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, would direct U.S. companies to inform the Department of the Treasury 14 days before making certain types of investments in artificial intelligence, advanced semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information science and technology, hypersonics, networked laser scanning systems with dual-use applications and satellite-based communications.

“This bill would increase the visibility of these investments, which will help the U.S. gather the information needed to better evaluate our national security vulnerabilities, confront threats from our adversaries, and remain competitive on the global stage,” Cornyn said in a statement published Tuesday.

The proposed legislation would direct the Treasury to develop a process for receiving notifications of covered activities.

The measure would also require the U.S. government to coordinate with allies and partner countries on the implications of a notification process and advance the implementation of a screening process for outbound investments in partner countries.

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State Department Counselor Derek Chollet Receives Presidential Nomination as Defense Undersecretary for Policy
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State Department Counselor Derek Chollet Receives Presidential Nomination as Defense Undersecretary for Policy

Derek Chollet, counselor of the Department of State, has been nominated as Department of Defense undersecretary for policy.

The nomination was announced by President Joe Biden and sent to the Senate on Tuesday, more than a week after Colin Kahl vacated the position.

Chollet previously worked at DOD as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, overseeing U.S. policies affecting Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.

He was appointed as State Department counselor in January 2021. Prior to joining the agency, he was executive vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a nonpartisan organization focused on American public policy.

He spent most of his 24-year career in government and politics, with positions ranging from legislative assistant to former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., to serving as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning at the White House National Security Council.

Accenture Federal Recognizes FSS Government Solutions With 2023 Small Business of the Year Award; John Goodman Quoted
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Accenture Federal Recognizes FSS Government Solutions With 2023 Small Business of the Year Award; John Goodman Quoted

Accenture Federal Services has selected FSS Government Solutions as its 2023 Small Business of the Year, AFS announced from its Arlington, Virginia headquarters on Wednesday.

FSS, a woman-owned information technology and project management consulting firm, is based in Annapolis, Maryland. The company offers project, program and portfolio management and technology and security support as well as financial, training and recruiting services.

John Goodman, CEO of AFS and six-time Wash100 Award winner, said that the company’s “trusted relationship” with FSS has endured for close to 10 years and represents its “steadfast commitment” to partnering with small businesses.

The chance to team with AFS, said FFS President and Owner Mary Fran Ebersole, has been an “incredible opportunity” for the woman-owned small business in its efforts to expand.

FSS Executive Vice President Keith Ebersole echoed these sentiments, emphasizing that AFS has “consistently demonstrated its commitment to supporting small businesses.”

Elaine Beeman, who serves as AFS’ chief leadership officer and leads the company’s civilian portfolio, emphasized FSS’ strong understanding of cloud and Pegasystems, which she said has “been instrumental” to AFS’ work to provide public sector customers with “meaningful innovation.”

“FSS has been pivotal to helping us provide mission-critical systems support for a number of our valued clients, including the Social Security Administration,” said Beeman.

“This partnership demonstrates the best of what’s possible when large and small businesses successfully unite to get the job done. I’m thrilled to recognize FSS with this annual award,” Goodman remarked.

AFS introduced its Small Business of the Year award in 2013 to “show its dedication and appreciation to the small business community across the country.” The recognition is intended to highlight small businesses that exhibit impressive program management skills.

BWXT Selected to Deliver Nuclear Reactor Engine and Fuel for DARPA Spacecraft Project; Joe Miller Quoted
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BWXT Selected to Deliver Nuclear Reactor Engine and Fuel for DARPA Spacecraft Project; Joe Miller Quoted

BWX Technologies has been chosen under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program to provide its reactor and fuels for the first demonstration spacecraft that uses nuclear thermal propulsion.

The company’s subsidiary, BWXT Advanced Technologies, will collaborate with team lead Lockheed Martin to finalize and deliver the fueled nuclear reactor for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, BWXT announced from its Lynchburg, Virginia headquarters on Wednesday.

BWXT Advanced Technologies President Joe Miller said that this selection reflects the organization’s ability to design and deploy nuclear reactors and fuel at an “unmatched” scale.

“This partnership with Lockheed Martin working for DARPA adds another important dimension to BWXT’s already-impressive line-up of nuclear reactor designs for commercial and defense applications,” he added.

As a collaborator, BWXT will support the launch of the DRACO spacecraft, which DARPA has planned for 2027. DRACO is designed to launch from earth by a conventional rocket with the reactor turned off, aligning with launch safety protocols. Once launched, the reactor will be powered on.

With the reactor’s propulsion-enabling energy, DRACO will be equipped to navigate through space at high speeds with agility over lengthy periods of time. The technology uses High Assay Low Enriched Uranium fuel to quickly heat super-cold gasses — such as liquid hydrogen — for safety and reliability. This process causes a quick expansion of the gas, creating thrust to propel the spacecraft more efficiently than chemical combustion engines.

“These more powerful and efficient nuclear thermal propulsion systems can provide faster transit times between destinations. Reducing transit time is vital for human missions to Mars to limit a crew’s exposure to radiation,” said Kirk Shireman, vice president of lunar exploration campaigns at Lockheed Martin Space.

Shireman said that the system is a “prime technology” to take humans and materials to the moon.

“A safe, reusable nuclear tug spacecraft would revolutionize cislunar operations,” he added.

The team will carry out the work primarily at BWXT’s Mt. Athos Road complex located near its Lynchburg headquarters.

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Marine Corps Achieves Flight Milestone With General Atomics-Built UAS
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Marine Corps Achieves Flight Milestone With General Atomics-Built UAS

The U.S. Marine Corps has recorded over 20,000 flight hours with its MQ-9A medium-altitude, high-endurance unmanned aircraft system.

USMC has received eight MQ-9A UAS from General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business and uses two of the systems in operational missions, the company said Monday.

MQ-9A serves as the service’s Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Expeditionary or MUX platform. The service expects to receive 12 additional drones to meet its goal of having three squadrons in place by 2025.

GA-ASI President David Alexander said USMC’s acquisition of MQ-9A reflects its commitment to building up its aerial surveillance capabilities.

USMC expects to run a fleet of MQ-9A Extended Range systems equipped with new landing gear, wing-borne fuel pods, full-motion video, moving target indicator/maritime mode radar and a synthetic aperture radar to provide long-endurance surveillance and situational awareness capabilities.

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GAO Urges Congress to Address Gaps in Federal Regulation of Stablecoins & Trading Platforms for Crypto Assets
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GAO Urges Congress to Address Gaps in Federal Regulation of Stablecoins & Trading Platforms for Crypto Assets

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that Congress introduce a measure that would provide federal oversight of the spot market for nonsecurity crypto assets and stablecoins to protect consumers and investors from unfair trading practices.

GAO made the recommendation after it found gaps in regulatory authority over stablecoins and trading platforms for crypto assets that are not securities, according to a report publicly released Monday.

Per GAO, issuers often inform investors and consumers that reserve assets are backing stablecoins. However, there is a lack of standards for reserve levels or public disclosure of such reserves.

“This increases the risk that a stablecoin may not be able to hold its value and honor user redemption requests. To the extent these stablecoins become more integrated into the financial system, their failures could pose risks to financial stability,” the report reads.

The congressional watchdog also called on financial regulators to develop a coordination mechanism to detect and address risk related to blockchain.

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CSIS Forms Task Force to Assess CISA’s Federal Cyber Risk Management Mission
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CSIS Forms Task Force to Assess CISA’s Federal Cyber Risk Management Mission

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has formed a task force to assess the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s progress in delivering cyber services across the federal civilian executive branch.

The CSIS Task Force on CIA’s Evolving .gov Mission will stress test the agency’s current programs against possible threat scenarios to assess whether additional or different services might be required to help FCEBs manage their cyber risk, the Washington, D.C.-based policy think tank said Monday.

Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser for homeland security at CSIS, and Emily Harding, deputy director of the CSIS International Security Program, have been appointed co-chairs of the task force.

Benjamin Jensen, senior fellow for future war, gaming and strategy at CSIS, will serve as executive director.

Other task force members are Marene Allison, former chief information security officer at Johnson & Johnson; Malcolm Harkins, chief security & trust officer at Epiphany Systems; Phyllis Schneck, vice president and chief information security officer at Northrop Grumman; and David Simon, former chief counsel for cybersecurity and national security at the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The task force and supporting CSIS research team will publish a public report in October.

DLA Drafts Strategy to Address Supply Chain Security Vulnerabilities
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DLA Drafts Strategy to Address Supply Chain Security Vulnerabilities

The Defense Logistics Agency is developing a new strategy to protect U.S. troops and federal partners against disruptions caused by security vulnerabilities in the Department of Defense supply chain.

DLA said Monday it is developing and refining protective measures covering DLA systems and data; suppliers with access to controlled unclassified information, export control data and other DLA data; critical supplier operations; and other suppliers and systems involved in the DOD supply chain, DLA said Monday.

Peter Battaglia, director of DLA Logistics Operations’ Mission Assurance Directorate, said additional measures are needed to safeguard DLA’s technical quality data shared with defense suppliers.

“Say we’re providing our logistics data to one of the contract service suppliers that we operate with. We’re determining measures we can take to ensure they’re not going to lose our data, be it through malicious data breaches or inappropriate internal management,” he said.

The forthcoming strategy will also cover behavior-based security monitoring and cybersecurity expectations for suppliers that provide fuel and other critical items to the U.S. military.

Battaglia expects the strategy to be shared with major subordinate commands for feedback later this year.

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Nisha Morris Named NSA Chief of Strategic Communications; Gen. Paul Nakasone Quoted
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Nisha Morris Named NSA Chief of Strategic Communications; Gen. Paul Nakasone Quoted

Nisha Morris, a marketing and communications executive, has been appointed chief of strategic communications and senior executive adviser to the board of directors at the National Security Agency.

She will manage NSA’s overall communication vision and strategy and lead a global team of communications professionals to build public trust in the agency, NSA said Monday.

Morris brings to the role industry experience in brand promotion, crisis management, integrated communications, organizational transformation and digital marketing.

Before joining NSA, Morris was vice president of marketing and communications at City of Hope and led the medical institute’s $1 billion initiative to develop a cancer center and care network in Orange County, California.

She also oversaw communication, public relations and social media strategies of Providence St. Joseph Health and held PR roles at Dell Technologies and Smith Micro Software.

“Nisha’s background, breadth of experience and leadership will be integral as we highlight our mission, vision and values across interagency, industry, government, defense, academia and the American public,” said Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of NSA and a seven-time Wash100 Award recipient.

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CISA’s Eric Goldstein: Fundamental Cybersecurity Practices Can Help Organizations Reduce Intrusion Risk
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CISA’s Eric Goldstein: Fundamental Cybersecurity Practices Can Help Organizations Reduce Intrusion Risk

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is urging organizations to begin implementing Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals in compliance with the Biden administration’s policy to improve IT protection and defense of the country’s critical infrastructure.

Organizations in government and industry alike can start with simple and straightforward practices, such as changing default passwords, in order to incrementally achieve CPGs, Eric Goldstein, CISA’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, wrote in a blog post on Friday.

Voluntary CPGs, which are guided by the Cybersecurity Framework, were launched in December based on different entities’ sectors and sizes. CISA designed the goals according to an organization’s priority to ensure that implementation would be cost-effective.

According to the agency, critical infrastructure entities should accomplish essential CPGs first, before moving on to other items in the performance goals. These include adding phishing-resistant multifactor authentication; separating user accounts from administrator-level privileges; and creating and maintaining incident response plans.

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