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Pentagon Unveils National Defense Science & Tech Strategy; Heidi Shyu Quoted
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Pentagon Unveils National Defense Science & Tech Strategy; Heidi Shyu Quoted

The Department of Defense has issued a national strategy that outlines science and technology priorities, investments and goals to maintain U.S. technological leadership and advantage over adversaries.

The National Defense Science and Technology Strategy is guided by the National Defense Strategy and will address the emerging dynamics of strategic competition by executing on three lines of effort: focusing on the joint mission, creating and fielding capabilities at speed and scale and ensuring the foundations for research and development, DOD said Tuesday.

“This Strategy helps us make carefully crafted decisions that bolster our comparative advantages rather than engaging in wasteful technology races. We will emphasize developing asymmetric capabilities that will help ensure our national security over the long term,” said Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and a 2023 Wash100 awardee.

The strategy will continue to focus on 14 critical technology areas outlined in Shyu’s strategic vision.

These tech areas are grouped into three categories: seed areas of emerging opportunity, including quantum science, FutureG and biotechnology; effective adoption areas where there is commercial activity, including microelectronics and trusted artificial intelligence and autonomy; and defense-specific areas, including hypersonics and directed energy.

Under the strategy, DOD will broaden opportunities to conduct research and development work with industry partners and international allies.

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Johns Hopkins APL Researchers Develop Thermal Battery With Smaller Footprint
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Johns Hopkins APL Researchers Develop Thermal Battery With Smaller Footprint

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory researchers have developed a new thermal battery that uses nickel-aluminum heat pellets and provides higher power density despite having a smaller footprint.

The research team collaborated with the U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Weapons program and the Office of Naval Research to fine-tune their design and make the technology 60 percent smaller than most thermal batteries, Johns Hopkins APL said Tuesday.

“To make a smaller but more powerful battery, we had to change the electrolyte and cathode materials within it, and advancements in cathode chemistries haven’t changed for several decades,” said Yo-Rhin Rhim, a materials scientist in APL’s Air and Missile Defense Sector and the principal investigator on the battery project.

“To change those chemistries, we had to take a step back and adjust the heat source,” she added.

The researchers experimented with a cheaper heat source—aluminum foil dipped in nickel—to activate the battery.

An electric igniter activates the nickel-aluminum heat pellets to melt the electrolytes, activate the battery and power the system it is attached to.

In February, the APL team completed a series of testing for the thermal battery in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratories.

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New Executive Order Rescinds Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers, Contractors
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New Executive Order Rescinds Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers, Contractors

The White House has issued an executive order revoking the COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees and contractors, effective May 12.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday policies issued in September 2021 meant to implement vaccine mandates for federal employees and pandemic safety protocols for contractors enabled the government to achieve a compliance rate of 98 percent by January 2022.

“Following this important work, along with continued critical investments in tests and therapeutics that are protecting against hospitalization and death, we are no longer in the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and my Administration has begun the process of ending COVID-19 emergency declarations,” the president wrote in the latest EO.

“Vaccination remains an important tool to protect individuals from serious illness, but we are now able to move beyond these Federal requirements,” he added.

The new policy came a week after the White House announced that it will stop implementing COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal contractors and employees and foreign air travelers.

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NASA Space Technology Head James Reuter Retires
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NASA Space Technology Head James Reuter Retires

James Reuter, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate since February 2018, is retiring on June 30 after four decades of service with the agency, NASA announced Tuesday.

In his current role, Reuter oversees the development and implementation of NASA’s space technology investment strategies and coordinates the agency’s activities with industry and government partners.

“During Jim’s tenure, he created new innovative partnerships with industry and other government agencies to accelerate NASA’s technology work, with a special focus on innovating for the lunar surface,” said Bill Nelson, administrator of NASA.

He also established new initiatives to attract talent from academia and retain NASA’s early-career workforce, according to Nelson.

Reuter previously served as deputy associate administrator of STMD and held various leadership roles at Marshall Space Flight Center and Johnson Space Center.

He has also supported the International Space Station, Constellation and Space Shuttle programs.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks: Innovation Is in America’s DNA
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Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks: Innovation Is in America’s DNA

Innovation has historically enabled the United States to be at the forefront of warfighting capabilities, Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks stated.

The remarks were part of her keynote speech on Tuesday at the 2023 Ash Carter Exchange on Innovation and National Security in Washington, D.C.

During the address, she highlighted the contributions of former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter to the advancement of innovation within the department. This includes early stage development of the B-12 stealth bomber and the conversion of the Standard Missile-6 interceptor into an offensive anti-ship missile.

Defense innovation always involves taking advantage of change to add military value, she noted.

“Innovations are often shaped by who’s in the room, and who has a seat at the table,” Hicks said. “It isn’t just about which tech sectors get R&D dollars. It’s also about having a warfighter-centric culture, and making sure we bring together operators, intel analysts, and technologists routinely and systematically. Because it’s the interaction among these diverse communities that often sparks and catalyzes innovation, and keeps an innovation ecosystem vibrant and fresh and effective,” the Wash100 awardee emphasized.

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CYBERCOM Releases Changes to 2023 Command Challenge Problem Set; Gen. Paul Nakasone Quoted
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CYBERCOM Releases Changes to 2023 Command Challenge Problem Set; Gen. Paul Nakasone Quoted

The U.S. Cyber Command published a revised version of its Command Challenge Problem Set, which details areas of improvement that the branch can address through collaboration with commercial and academic partners, CYBERCOM said Tuesday.

The document is based on the 2020 Technical Challenge Problem Set, and is available on the Technical Outreach Division page of CYBERCOM’s website.

The branch is looking for novel and innovative technologies in six problem categories: vulnerabilities and exploits; network security, monitoring and visualization; modeling and predictive analytics; persona and identity; permeability and agility across domains; and infrastructure and transport.

Solutions to vulnerabilities and exploits include reverse engineering, defensive patching, and malware fingerprint and signature detection. Meanwhile, challenges in network security range from knowledge and awareness, to defendable network approaches.

In the predictive analysis category, issues include data environment forecasting and automation of threat discovery and anomaly detection.

Problems that need to be addressed in the identity category are misrepresentation, cryptocurrency, malign influence and multi-factor authentication vulnerabilities.

“As we work to defend the nation against some of the most challenging threats today and look forward to using them to increase our dialogue and collaboration with industry, academia, and foreign partners,” said Gen. Paul Nakasone CYBERCOM Commander and Wash100 award recipient.

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US & Allies Release Advisory on Russian Cyber Espionage Tool ‘Snake’
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US & Allies Release Advisory on Russian Cyber Espionage Tool ‘Snake’

National security and cybersecurity agencies from the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have released a joint advisory on a malware network used by the Russian government for long-term intelligence collection.

The cyber espionage tool, dubbed Snake, has infected computers in over 50 countries worldwide to gather sensitive information from high-priority targets, including research facilities and government networks, the National Security Agency said Tuesday.

The Hunting Russian Intelligence “Snake” Malware advisory provides technical information and mitigation recommendations to assist network users in detecting and eliminating malicious software and related activities.

“Snake infrastructure has spread around the world. The technical details will help many organizations find and shut down the malware globally,” said Rob Joyce, director of cybersecurity at NSA and a two-time Wash100 awardee.

NSA collaborated with the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and international allies on the joint advisory.

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SAIC Launches New Data Search & Retrieval Platform; Andy Henson Quoted
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SAIC Launches New Data Search & Retrieval Platform; Andy Henson Quoted

Science Applications International Corp. has released its new encrypted query analytics and data retrieval tool.

Created to provide secure and efficient data search and retrieval, EQADR offers modern, cryptographic, cross-boundary data search, retrieval and analytics, the Reston, Virginia-based company announced on Tuesday.

Andy Henson, vice president of innovation at SAIC, said that agencies depend on data to execute their missions in a secure space.

“We are providing our customers with data encryption solutions to help them reach the next phase of their digital transformation journey. SAIC’s EQADR delivers on providing security and performance to accelerate data-driven decision-making,” said Henson.

The platform’s cross-domain approach is intended to provide precise, on-demand queries from higher-side to lower-side networks while securing sources, methods and analytical tradecraft. Designed to support the transfer of sensitive data, EQADR conceals search terms and can quickly sort open-source data, minimize classified data storage costs and share intellectual property.

Within the past year, SAIC has introduced multiple new products, including the Software-as-a-Service edition of its Koverse security-first data management and governance platform. Launched in June 2022, the technology uses attribute-based access controls to offer zero trust for data.

More recently, SAIC released Tenjin, a novel data platform that supports low-code to full-code artificial intelligence and machine learning development and operation.

SAIC Launches New Data Search & Retrieval Platform; Andy Henson Quoted

SAIC is sponsoring the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Annual Air Force Summit — an event that will connect Air Force leaders, private sector experts and other specialists to dig into a variety of Air Force priorities on July 18. To learn more and register to attend the summit, which will feature numerous engaging speeches and rigorous panel discussions, please visit the Potomac Officers Club events page.

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Jim Garrettson Delivers 2023 Wash100 Award to Akima’s Bill Monet
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Jim Garrettson Delivers 2023 Wash100 Award to Akima’s Bill Monet

Bill Monet, president and CEO of Akima, was recently presented with his 2023 Wash100 Award during a meeting with Executive Mosaic CEO and Wash100 creator Jim Garrettson.

Now in its 10th year of life, the Wash100 carries on the tradition of recognizing the most impactful leaders in the government contracting industry. Each year, the award conducts an intense analysis of each nominee’s past triumphs and anticipated momentum to select the strongest executives in the expansive GovCon field.

A four-time winner, Monet once again stood out from the competition. This year, he was honored for his success in securing significant contract awards and making new additions to Akima’s leadership team in pursuit of company growth and stronger mission support. Click here to read his full profile.

Since his induction into the 2023 Wash100 class, Monet has proven the award’s prediction of future success.

In March, Akima won a $194 million U.S. Army contract to provide logistics and engineering technician support for the service branch’s Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania.

Akima also recently selected Robin Dewar as vice president of business development and appointed Ross Berkoff as general manager of its RiverTech subsidiary.

Last month, Akima agreed to acquire training and simulation products provider Pinnacle Solutions to expand its participation in military programs.

Executive Mosaic is excited to see where Monet’s distinguished leadership takes Akima as the year continues.

How Adobe Is Tackling Content Authentication in an AI-Driven World
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How Adobe Is Tackling Content Authentication in an AI-Driven World

With artificial intelligence on the rise, content authentication and verification is becoming more of a challenge than ever. But companies like Adobe are working to create new tools for verifying the attributes and history of images and videos online, which could have significant impact on both the public and private sectors.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” said Brendan Curley, vice president of public sector sales at Adobe, in a video interview with Executive Mosaic. “It’s not just us — 900 companies have committed to installing and allowing basically an icon to be put on a picture or video so that you can validate its authenticity.”

“When more and more companies are committing to that, we can have a better sense of what’s true and what isn’t,” he added.

Adobe has a long-standing partnership with Microsoft — Curley explained that Adobe’s Sign product is built on Microsoft Azure and that the two companies are connected “on a lot of levels.” Now, Adobe and Microsoft are teaming up to solve the growing content authenticity issue plaguing social media and online communities.

In conversation with Executive Mosaic’s video reporter Summer Myatt, Curley acknowledged that while many of Adobe’s commercial products are geared toward creative industries, content authenticity and validation are of paramount importance in today’s climate.

“As the technology continues to grow, we want to encourage people to be creative. But when it comes to people trusting the data that they’re seeing, it’s important that we can look at that and validate it and make our own decisions in terms of the authenticity,” Curley shared.

Watch Brendan Curley’s full video interview here, and don’t forget to connect with Executive Mosaic on LinkedIn.

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