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Johns Hopkins APL Develops Safety Verification Tool for Autonomous Vehicles
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Johns Hopkins APL Develops Safety Verification Tool for Autonomous Vehicles

A research team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has developed a tool to help the U.S. Air Force test and evaluate autonomous vehicles in interactive environments.

The Safe Testing of Autonomy in Complex, Interactive Environments, or TACE, provides live, virtual and constructive environments for AFWERX’s Autonomy Prime testbeds and serves as a verification mechanism for safety runtime assurance, Johns Hopkins APL said Tuesday.

TACE is placed between a vehicle’s safety-critical control and autonomy systems where it monitors commands from the autonomy to the autopilot and passes data, such as position and speed and orientation, back to the autonomy.

To validate the safety assertions of the vehicle, TACE provides a runtime assurance capability that checks failure or violation of safety constraints.

“We recognized the critical need to accelerate autonomy technologies, and over the past ten years we developed TACE to meet various sponsor needs. We look forward to expanding these technologies for Autonomy Prime,” said Chris Eaton, APL’s project manager for TACE.

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Space ISAC Publishes White Paper on Machine Learning Security Operations Framework
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Space ISAC Publishes White Paper on Machine Learning Security Operations Framework

A Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center white paper offers considerations for using machine learning security operations and trustworthy artificial intelligence systems to protect the functionality of national space assets.

Space ISAC said Tuesday the center’s AI and ML community published the white paper on the MLSecOps framework.

Max Spolaor, senior engineering specialist at the Aerospace Corp. and co-author of the paper, described MLSecOps as a game-changing framework that offers the tools and best practices needed to establish and sustain “trust, security and reliability by capturing the data-centric rather than code-centric operational philosophy of AI/ML technologies.”

“Fortifying our machine learning systems with MLSecOps will move us toward greater space resiliency and open new possibilities as the demand for secure, reliable AI technologies in space continues to grow,” said Michelle Archuleta, director of data science at RS21 and one of the report’s co-authors.

Established in 2019, Space ISAC serves as a source of threat security data for space organizations in both public and private sectors. Its founding members include Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Aerospace Corp., MITRE, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Parsons, Microsoft, Deloitte, L3Harris Technologies and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

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Aera, Battelle Team Up for DOE-Backed Carbon Capture Hub Feasibility Study
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Aera, Battelle Team Up for DOE-Backed Carbon Capture Hub Feasibility Study

Aera Energy‘s federal subsidiary has teamed up with Battelle to study the feasibility of establishing a direct air capture hub at a Kern County, California, oil field and will undergo the Department of Energy’s award negotiation process to execute the project.

DOE chose Aera Federal’s proposed approach for capturing, transporting and storing carbon emissions through a regional sequestration site, the company said Monday.

Battelle will serve as a key partner on the potential $4.5 million effort aimed at demonstrating the viability of a direct air capture venture and technology to support large-scale decarbonization in California.

The other team members are Mosaic Materials and Carbon Capture.

“By integrating technologies like DAC with existing assets on the ground and other decarbonizing facilities to come, we can make real progress toward achieving California’s carbon neutrality goals while creating new jobs and opportunities in Kern County,” said Erik Bartsch, president and CEO of Aera Energy.

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NIST Issues Congressionally Mandated Report on Emerging Tech Areas
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NIST Issues Congressionally Mandated Report on Emerging Tech Areas

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a final report composed of congressionally directed studies on emerging technology areas that are anticipated to be critical to U.S. national security and economic growth.

The NIST report, published in accordance with the American COMPETE Act, covers artificial intelligence, quantum computing, internet of things, blockchain technology, new and advanced materials, unmanned delivery services and additive manufacturing and 3D printing.

The document presents a general overview of each tech area, a supply chain and marketplace assessment and recommendations to develop legislative proposals and policies.

For AI, the literature suggests that Congress should initiate actions to strengthen data privacy and protection laws that protect privacy, civil rights and civil liberties and reauthorize the National AI Initiative Act of 2020.

When it comes to quantum computing, the report calls on the federal government to support research and development efforts related to QC and assess the impact of efforts to make quantum computers available to students and researchers for education, training and experimentation, among other recommendations.

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FBI Promotes Special Agent Janeen DiGuiseppi to Insider Threat Office Assistant Director
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FBI Promotes Special Agent Janeen DiGuiseppi to Insider Threat Office Assistant Director

Janeen DiGuiseppi, former FBI special agent leading the Albany, New York, field office, has been promoted to assistant director of the agency’s Insider Threat Office.

She has been assigned to several field offices around the United States, and worked in different teams focused on violent crimes, drugs, public corruption and intelligence and surveillance, FBI said Monday.

DiGuiseppi was the first woman to be appointed special agent in charge of the Albany field office. Prior to that, she worked at the FBI Training Division’s Curriculum Management Section as section chief, and later deputy assistant director.

Her career at the agency started in 1999 in the Salt Lake City field office. She specialized in public corruption violations, violent crimes and drug cases.

Outside the U.S., her assignments took her to the FBI’s Major Crimes Task Force in Baghdad, Iraq, as well as in Kabul, Afghanistan.

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Patrick Dedham on NETCOM’s Efforts to Help Army Advance Zero Trust Adoption
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Patrick Dedham on NETCOM’s Efforts to Help Army Advance Zero Trust Adoption

Patrick Dedham, deputy to the commanding general to the U.S. Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command, said NETCOM is overseeing continuous improvement projects for the service branch to achieve a zero trust network.

In an article published Wednesday on the Army’s website, Dedham stated that there are seven pillars of a zero trust architecture: user; data; device; network; automation and orchestration; visibility and analytics; and application and workload.

“NETCOM’s end state is to have a DoDIN-A based on Zero-Trust principles that treat every system connection and endpoint as a threat using four main premises: log and inspect all internal and external traffic, control attempted access to networks, keep network resources secure and verify all sources and resources,” he wrote.

Dedham noted that the command performed a gap analysis on existing Army and Department of Defense capabilities and identified 26 gaps across the seven pillars’ dependencies.

He cited several measures to mitigate the identified gaps such as granular data access control and internet-accessible endpoint management and security.

Dedham also mentioned the activities NETCOM is conducting to support DOD’s zero trust capabilities and highlighted the role of continuous improvement and integration of an Army unified network to enable the service to achieve its end state when it comes to cybersecurity.

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John Ballard Appointed President of National Intelligence University
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John Ballard Appointed President of National Intelligence University

The board of visitors of the National Intelligence University has appointed John Ballard, the former academic dean and provost at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, to serve as president of the federally chartered research university.

He succeeds J. Scott Cameron, who headed the intelligence community’s federal degree-granting institution for six years, according to Avril Haines, director of national intelligence and a three-time Wash100 awardee.

Haines said Ballard brings to the role extensive national security and higher education experience, having previously held positions at the Joint Forces Staff College, New Zealand’s Massey University, the Naval War College, the National War College and the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates.

She also expressed gratitude to Cameron for leading the NIU through a transformative period, including its transition from the Defense Intelligence Agency to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“Thank you to Dr. Cameron, an ODNI plankholder, for his enduring exceptional service and leadership at NIU and the IC, and welcome to Dr. Ballard, who no doubt will benefit from Dr. Cameron’s lasting impact,” Haines said.

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CISA Releases Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative’s Remote Monitoring Defense Plan
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CISA Releases Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative’s Remote Monitoring Defense Plan

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has published a cyber defense plan to help organizations respond to threats against remote monitoring and management software.

The RMM Cyber Defense Plan was developed by the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative, which is comprised of industry and government experts, CISA said Wednesday.

The strategy includes two foundational pillars: operational collaboration and cyber defense guidance. The first pillar has two corresponding lines of effort, which involve enhancing information sharing about threats and vulnerabilities, and creating an enduring RMM operational community.

Cyber defense guidance discusses ways to educate RMM end-users and promote best practices to mitigate the exploitation of remote monitoring systems.

The plan builds on the JCDC 2023 Planning Agenda. Organizations are encouraged to review both the RMM defense plan as well as the JCDC agenda.

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Sen. Warner Urges AI Companies to Prioritize Product Safety, Transparency
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Sen. Warner Urges AI Companies to Prioritize Product Safety, Transparency

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has called on artificial intelligence companies to broaden their efforts to promote and increase security and transparency in their products.

Warner urged companies that signed on to the voluntary commitments proposed by the Biden administration to take additional action to address risks in their technologies and implement development and monitoring practices to prevent potential misuse of their products.

The lawmaker sent letters to Google, Amazon, Anthropic, Meta, Microsoft, Inflection AI and OpenAI to extend their commitments to all their AI-powered product offerings.

“While representing an important improvement upon the status quo, the voluntary commitments announced in July can be bolstered in key ways through additional commitments,” Warner, a three-time Wash100 awardee, wrote in one of the letters.

Apple, Databricks, Scale AI and three other AI companies that did not participate in the commitments also received letters from Warner requesting their plan to prioritize product safety and transparency.

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DAF to Continue BWB Prototype Aircraft Project With JetZero; Frank Kendall Quoted
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DAF to Continue BWB Prototype Aircraft Project With JetZero; Frank Kendall Quoted

The Department of the Air Force’s blended wing body prototype aircraft initiative is moving into its next stage.

JetZero, a Long Beach, California-based aerospace company, was selected to conduct this portion of the program, the DAF announced on Wednesday.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, a four-time Wash100 Award recipient, noted that BWB aircraft “have the potential to significantly reduce fuel demand and increase global reach.”

“Moving forces and cargo quickly, efficiently and over long distance is a critical capability to enable national security strategy,” he added.

The BWB aircraft project is intended to mature and demonstrate this technology’s capabilities to expand the amount of air platform options available for both the DAF and private sector organizations. The Air Force Operational Energy Office expects initial flight testing to conclude as early as 2027.

BWB technologies have existed for decades, but rapid progress in numerous technology areas, including structural design, materials technology and manufacturing, has created the opportunity for large-scale production.

The BWB model blends the body into the high-aspect-ratio wing, which can reduce aerodynamic drag by more than 30 percent and deliver additional lift, allowing for extended range, increased loiter time and more efficient payload delivery to minimize logistics risks.

Currently, 60 percent of the Air Force’s total annual jet fuel consumption comes from a variety of BWB-enabled military transport configurations.

The Department of Defense is continuing to fund the development of BWB technologies, with plans to invest $235 million into related projects within the next four years. These programs are a joint effort between the DAF, NASA and the Defense Innovation Unit as well as the DOD’s Office of Strategic Capital, which assisted its collaborators.

“It’s been a little over a hundred years since a few brave Airmen took to the skies and proved the first aerial refueling capability, extending the global reach of our Air Force,” said Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, installations and environment.

“This announcement marks another game-changing milestone for the Air Force in our efforts to maintain the advantage of airpower effectiveness against any future competitors,” he said.

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