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Secretary of State Antony Blinken Introduces First-ever Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken Introduces First-ever Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy

The Department of State has released the Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy, an initiative aimed at expanding international cooperation and responsible behavior in space activities while ensuring U.S. global leadership in the domain.

The document highlights three main pillars, including advancing space policy internationally, leveraging U.S. space activities, and strengthening the technical skills and knowledge of the department’s workforce to support the framework’s implementation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.

To execute the framework, the State Department will continue interagency collaboration with NASA as well as the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Interior and Transportation. It will also foster existing relationships with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Space Council, National Security Council, Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Agency for International Development to ensure diplomacy in space-based activities.

The U.S. government plans to share its capabilities, such as satellite applications, geospatial intelligence, and remote sensing satellite imagery to achieve foreign policy goals. Space diplomacy is expected to benefit initiatives and strategies related to climate change, international security and economic competitiveness, according to the framework.

“As near-earth space gets more crowded, the Framework will help maintain the rules-based international order and foster cooperation for long-term sustainability, commercialization, exploration, and space utilization,” stated Blinken, a Wash100 awardee.

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Brig. Gen. Scott Cain to Assume Command of Air Force Research Laboratory
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Brig. Gen. Scott Cain to Assume Command of Air Force Research Laboratory

Brig. Gen. Scott Cain will assume command of the Air Force Research Laboratory, succeeding Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, who has served as the AFRL commander since June 2020 and is set to retire after 32 years of military service.

Cain joins AFRL from Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where he was director for air, space and cyberspace operations, the laboratory said Tuesday.

In his new role, Cain will oversee an organization with over $3 billion in annual budget and a workforce of more than 11,500 service members, civilian personnel and contractors.

He will also lead technology research and development efforts across AFRL to address emerging warfighting needs.

Gen. Duke Richardson, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, will host a change of command ceremony on June 5 at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Hangar 2 to officially welcome Cain as the new AFRL commander.

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OSTP Launches RFI to Support Development of National AI Strategy
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OSTP Launches RFI to Support Development of National AI Strategy

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is soliciting information from individuals and organizations regarding the national priorities to help mitigate the risks and maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence.

In a request for information issued Friday, OSTP said the public input will help shape the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy to protect Americans’ rights and safety with respect to the technology.

The agency is interested in recommended standards, regulations, investments and practices to ensure that AI is used to preserve the public’s rights and safety. It is also fielding comments on the national security risks posed by AI, and how the technology can help identify and address cyber vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure.

The National Artificial Intelligence Strategy will additionally include provisions connected to the Biden administration’s net-zero emission goal. Respondents are encouraged to share insights on AI’s impact on the net-zero strategy as well as other areas of environmental quality.

The RFI will close on July 7.

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NASA, Boeing Complete Checkpoint Review of Starliner Flight Test Preparations
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NASA, Boeing Complete Checkpoint Review of Starliner Flight Test Preparations

NASA and Boeing have completed a joint checkpoint review of the first crewed flight mission of the latter’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Ninety-five percent of the certification for the Crew Flight Test mission is complete, including approval of Starliner’s crew module batteries, and all Orbital Flight Test-2 anomalies are closed, NASA said Friday.

“In addition to the closeout of ongoing work, the team remains vigilant on tracking new technical issues as we complete certification for crewed flight,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

The team is now preparing to fuel, roll out to the launch site and integrate the spacecraft with the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NASA and Boeing said emerging issues must be resolved before the team decides to fuel Starliner in June, including replacing a by-pass valve in the active thermal control system on the spacecraft’s service module.

Engineers are also evaluating if a tape used on the spacecraft to prevent wire chafing is acceptable for crewed flight missions.

DISA Initiates Efforts to Help Small Businesses Obtain Security Clearance
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DISA Initiates Efforts to Help Small Businesses Obtain Security Clearance

Carlen Capenos, director of small business programs for the Defense Information Systems Agency, said DISA is taking action to expand the utilization and participation of small businesses in defense contracts, including eliminating barriers to secure a facility clearance, Federal News Network reported Friday.

Capenos said DISA changed its participation plan “to include two companies who are small businesses that in the first year of the contract, should they win it, they will sponsor for the clearance.”

“We put our first solicitation out for that, and we got zero pushback. We got the names of the companies, they’re going to get the facility clearance, so we think that’s a win. Now, we’ll see how it goes,” Capenos said.

DISA, in collaboration with the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency, is also hosting a webinar on June 13 to help prepare small businesses for the facility clearance process.

In addition, the agency wants to ensure that prime contractors are meeting their subcontracting goals by requiring them to send a biannual report on their subcontractors’ performance.

“There’s always a reason why primes are not meeting their subcontracting goals. Ours is more of the question, what are you going to do about it? I think just making sure that our large businesses know that we are monitoring it, that we do want to know and that we’re willing to help them, is important,” Capenos said.

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DIU Seeks Commercial Tech to Help Automate Credibility Assessments
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DIU Seeks Commercial Tech to Help Automate Credibility Assessments

The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking information on commercial platforms that could help automate credibility assessments used to vet new and existing Department of Defense personnel.

DIU said it is looking for a minimum viable product that comes with usable interfaces, automated scoring and new sensing tools under the Polygraph+ program.

Interested vendors should state in their solution briefs if they plan to provide prototypes for one or multiple lines of effort.

The program’s three lines of effort are non-invasive physiological or behavioral sensing for objective CA measurement; tools to automate data fusion and CA scoring, configurable for current and new data inputs; and usable, intuitive tools to aid evaluator decision making.

DOD is also interested in technologies that could apply natural language processing to CA.

Prototype development will be carried out in three phases and the initial phase will involve a benchmark of credibility assessment scoring and sensing tools. Phase 2 will deal with in-lab validation and iterative development cycles based on input from live testing, while Phase 3 will focus on network accreditation to ensure functionality and deployment on DOD platforms.

Responses are due June 5.

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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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