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State Department OKs Potential $110M Naval Strike Missile Sale to Latvia
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State Department OKs Potential $110M Naval Strike Missile Sale to Latvia

The State Department has approved a potential $110 million foreign military sale of the Naval Strike Missile Coastal Defense System and related equipment to the government of Latvia.

The foreign buyer has requested to purchase the missile defense system along with mobile operational platforms, training missiles, containers, integration equipment and ordnance handling equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Tuesday.

Contract items include spares, training equipment and aids, technical documentation, logistics, program support and technical and product assistance.

DSCA noted that Latvia will use the requested defense equipment to boost its interoperability with U.S. and NATO allies and enhance coastal defense capability in the Baltic Sea maritime domain.

The proposed deal will not require the deployment of contractor and government representatives to Latvia.

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Microsoft Says Iran Is Accelerating Use of Cyber-Enabled Influence Operations
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Microsoft Says Iran Is Accelerating Use of Cyber-Enabled Influence Operations

Microsoft’s Digital Threat Analysis Center has revealed that Iranian state actors are employing cyber-enabled influence operations to boost cyberattacks and achieve greater geopolitical impact.

Clint Watts, general manager of the Digital Threat Analysis Center, wrote in a blog post published Tuesday that Microsoft researchers connected 24 unique cyber-enabled IO to the Iranian government in 2022, a significant increase compared to just seven in 2021.

According to Watts, Iran’s integration of cyber and influence operations accelerated in June 2022, with researchers tracking 17 operations from June to December.

Iran’s cyberattacks are mainly targeted at Israel, Gulf state adversaries and other opposition figures and organizations.

Tehran also launched cyber operations against the U.S., Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In a new Microsoft Threat Intelligence report, the company defines cyber-enabled IO as combining offensive computer network operations with online messaging and amplification to influence target audiences’ decisions, perceptions and behaviors.

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Gen. Paul Nakasone: Cybercom’s Strategy is ‘Persistent Engagement’
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Gen. Paul Nakasone: Cybercom’s Strategy is ‘Persistent Engagement’

Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, revealed that “persistent engagement” is Cybercom’s strategic approach to operate in a challenging strategic environment, DOD News reported Tuesday.

He highlighted the importance of alignment with partners across the joint force and the private sector to address security challenges in the cyber domain.

“In this environment, the winners will be those that can set conditions for dynamic collaboration, that enable understanding and action,” he said Tuesday at a conference.

“Our desired end state is an end state of a unity of effort,” said Nakasone, who also serves as director of the National Security Agency and head of the Central Security Service. “This is an intangible competitive advantage.”

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Eccalon Books Cybersecurity SBIR Phase III Contract From DOD Office
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Eccalon Books Cybersecurity SBIR Phase III Contract From DOD Office

Eccalon, a small business focusing on technology commercialization, has secured an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide a cybersecurity platform to the Department of Defense.

The award was granted through the Small Business Innovation Research Phase III contract and is part of the DOD Office of Small Business Programs’ goal to involve small enterprises in national security projects, according to a notice posted Tuesday by the General Services Administration.

Under the terms of the contract, Eccalon will create a cybersecurity apparatus that employs artificial intelligence to detect multiple online threats. The technology will be used to support the small business and education sectors and will also include training and performance assessments.

This particular IDIQ was established through GSA’s Federal Systems Integration and Management Center.

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Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner Emphasizes Value of AI in Defense & National Security
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Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner Emphasizes Value of AI in Defense & National Security

Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, said he regards artificial intelligence as one of today’s most disruptive technologies that could be used to gain strategic advantage in industry and government.

Skinner made his remarks as a keynote speaker at the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International’s TechNet Cyber Conference, held on Tuesday.

He began his speech using ChatGPT and AI software, and proceeded to mention that 80 percent of AI-generated answers beat human responses in a medical study.

“We…are thinking about how this applies to cybersecurity. How does it apply to intelligence? How does it apply to our warfighting capabilities? And that’s where we really need industry’s help. To help us understand faster and better than the adversary how this capability can be leveraged,” said Skinner, a twice-inducted Wash100 Award winner.

He also shared updates on DISA’s digitalization initiatives, including the completion of the Thunderdome Zero Trust Network Prototype, as well as the first task order under the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contracts.

Another cyber event worth watching out for is the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Cyber Summit, to be held on June 8 in McLean, Virginia. Register here to take part in the conference.

POC - 2023 Cyber Summit
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2023 Wash100 Popular Vote Concludes With DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin as Winner
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2023 Wash100 Popular Vote Concludes With DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin as Winner

The 2023 Wash100 popular vote results have been finalized, with Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin topping this year’s list.

Executive Mosaic received nearly 40,000 votes over the course of three months, and ended up crowning six private sector and four government leaders as the 10 most beloved inductees.

Austin received his third Wash100 award, this time in recognition of his advocacy of integrated deterrence and military technology advancement. His full profile is available here.

2023 Wash100 Popular Vote Concludes With DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin as Winner
Wash100 Award

“The Department of Defense is on a two-year winning streak, as the GovCon community continues to enthusiastically come out in droves to support government agency and GovCon ecosystem executives in the Wash100 popular vote competition. This year, we received a surprising and overwhelming flurry of votes in the final hours of the contest that rearranged our top 10 and completely shifted the outcome of GovCon’s most exciting annual race for the popular vote,” said Jim Garrettson, CEO of Executive Mosaic and creator of the Wash100 Award.

“Congratulations to Secretary Austin on a well-deserved win, and thank you to our dedicated audience for your energetic and record-setting support in the Wash100 Award’s 10th anniversary celebration,” Garrettson continued. “Our team at Executive Mosaic has been committed to improving our recognition program year over year, and their dedication has made the Wash100 the most coveted executive award in the industry.”

2023 Wash100 Popular Vote Concludes With DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin as Winner

Up to the final week of the Wash100 Popular Vote contest, Austin was in close competition with Carahsoft Founder and President Craig Abod, who came out second as of the April 28 deadline. They are closely followed by Judi Dotson, head of global defense at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Dotson’s Booz Allen Hamilton colleague, Executive Vice President Steve Escaravage, ranked fourth in the list, while Microsoft Federal President Rick Wagner stood at number five. Google Public Sector was represented by CEO Karen Dahut, who gained enough votes to become the sixth most popular inductee.

The seventh and eighth spots went to Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland, director of the Defense Health Agency, and Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense. Shawn Purvis, president and CEO of QinetiQ US, received the ninth highest votes. Lauren Knausenberger, chief information officer of the Department of the Air Force, rounded out the top 10.

Thank you for making 2023 a record-breaking year for Wash100 votes. Congratulations to all of the 100 inductees for your achievements and contributions to the government contracting industry.

2023 Wash100 Popular Vote Concludes With DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin as Winner
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Watch: Liz Martin of AWS Talks Connectivity at the Tactical Edge
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Watch: Liz Martin of AWS Talks Connectivity at the Tactical Edge

For warfighters and military commanders to be able to use data to support decision making, they need to be able to access and connect to the cloud wherever and whenever the mission demands.

But at the tactical edge, warfighters often find themselves in disconnected or low connectivity environments, making cloud access difficult or impossible. Executive Mosaic spoke with Liz Martin, director of the Department of Defense business at Amazon Web Services, in a new video interview to find out how the company is supporting edge operations.

“Accessing, processing and sharing data at the tactical edge has become increasingly essential to enabling mission-wide decision making, whether the mission is a large-scale military operation, crisis response or coordinating the transportation of critical supplies and troops,” Martin told Executive Mosaic’s video reporter, Summer Myatt.

“Today, the DOD relies on many military applications that are data heavy and depend on low latency to support critical communications and coordination in the field. However, accessing the cloud capabilities needed to support these applications and large-scale data demands in remote environments can be really a challenge,” she added.

In response to these needs, AWS launched a new tactical edge service called the modular data center, which was designed to get storage and compute capabilities to the edge and help warfighters manage large workloads in disconnected, disrupted, intermittent or limited environments.

“This is a cost effective, self-contained modular data center solution,” Martin explained. “It’s essentially the size of two shipping containers and comes preconfigured with data center infrastructure, including networking, cooling and power distribution equipment.”

The new AWS offering is only available to U.S. government customers under the DOD’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability Contract, which the company won one of four spots on in December 2022.

This video is part of Executive Mosaic’s interview series featuring all four JWCC winners. Check out what Google, Microsoft and Oracle added to the conversation, and subscribe to Executive Mosaic’s YouTube channel to stay up-to-date with the latest insights from GovCon’s leaders.

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Beth Killoran to Join GAO as CIO
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Beth Killoran to Join GAO as CIO

Beth Killoran, deputy chief information officer at the General Services Administration, will serve as CIO of the Government Accountability Office, effective May 7, Fedscoop reported Monday.

Prior to GSA, she served as CIO at the Department of Health and Human Services for three years.

Killoran’s career additionally includes nearly four years at the Department of Homeland Security, where she served as director of the Program Management Office Enterprise System Development Office and deputy director of the office of program accountability and risk management.

She also served as director of program management and integration at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

According to Federal News Network, Killoran will succeed Howard Williams at GAO and will help the congressional watchdog improve its cybersecurity posture and advance information technology modernization efforts.

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Lawmaker Raises Concern Over OPM’s Advantageous Position in Talent Acquisition
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Lawmaker Raises Concern Over OPM’s Advantageous Position in Talent Acquisition

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, wrote a letter to the Office of Personnel Management expressing concerns about the potential conflict of interest posed by OPM’s dual role as competitor and regulator in the federal talent acquisition market, Federal News Network reported Monday.

“Aside from its role as a regulator of agency compliance with federal hiring laws and regulations, OPM sells hiring-related services to those agencies which it oversees via USA Staffing, even though there are many private firms that assist both the private and public sector with hiring and related human capital acquisition activities,” Comer wrote in a March 22 letter to OPM Director Kiran Ahuja.

The letter also raised concerns over USA Staffing’s advantage with its access to OPM policy decisions and planned software updates in advance of private competitors and cybersecurity issues associated with the staffing service.

Chuck Young, managing director for public affairs at the Government Accountability Office, told FNN in an email that GAO is working on a report that examines how OPM oversees the USA Staffing service. The report is expected to be released later this year.

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Companies Pitch In-Transit Visibility Approaches at TRANSCOM Industry Day; Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck Quoted
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Companies Pitch In-Transit Visibility Approaches at TRANSCOM Industry Day; Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck Quoted

Twelve vendors participated in an industry day last week to present systems they believe could help the U.S. Transportation Command to track shipments better.

Military and civilian members of TRANSCOM’s Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise considered in-transit visibility proposals from the commercial sector during the event at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, the command said Monday.

Each industry participant had the opportunity to demonstrate cargo tracking tools or methods across unit movement and deployment, sustainment and vehicle shipment scenarios within one hour.

Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, director of strategy, policy, programs and logistics at TRANSCOM, said military services lose visibility of equipment from ports of debarkation and he believes the private sector could help the Department of Defense transform ITV capabilities.

At the industry event, a panel of experts sought multimodal transportation processes from the presenters in hopes of addressing speed, data repository and flexibility challenges associated with DOD’s current radio frequency identification network.

“The hope is that these organizations can help the JDDE develop a better ITV network that will support improved data and, in time, feed data repositories that could leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence tools for better decision making,” said Josh Hunt, a TRANSCOM logistics management specialist.

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