Senate Lawmakers Aim to Expand Minority Business Development Agency’s Reach
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Senate Lawmakers Aim to Expand Minority Business Development Agency’s Reach

A group of Senate lawmakers is urging the Department of the Treasury to expand opportunities for underserved and underrepresented small businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide by diverting funding to the Minority Business Development Agency.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and six colleagues sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to request the transfer of $200 million in technical assistance funding from the State Small Business Credit Initiative to support the MBDA’s Capital Readiness Program, Wyden’s office said Monday.

According to the lawmakers, there are nearly 3,000 organizations nationwide applying for CRP funding and the program’s current budget may not be sufficient to accommodate requests from qualified applicants.

“It is clear to us that $100 million in funding is not nearly enough to close the gap in access to capital, capacity building and network access for underserved entrepreneurs and small businesses,” the letter states.

The senators added that the repurposed funds from SSBCI would enable MBDA to expand its reach to more rural communities and expand its existing network of accelerators and incubators.

“Given the economic challenges of minority and underserved enterprises, we believe it is imperative that Treasury productively re-deploy the remaining $200 million of SSBCI technical assistance funding to MBDA for its Capital Readiness Program,” the lawmakers said.

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NIST Debuts Small Business Cybersecurity Community of Interest
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NIST Debuts Small Business Cybersecurity Community of Interest

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has launched a community of interest for companies and trade associations to share their insights and expertise to help NIST meet SB cybersecurity needs.

On Friday, the institute opened its doors to organizations looking to join the Small Business Cybersecurity Community of Interest.

The new venue will allow small enterprises and nonprofit groups to learn about NIST’s existing and planned IT defense resources. In turn, they can provide feedback that can be used by NIST’s Cybersecurity Center of Excellence for continuous product improvement.

Members can discuss business situations and insights, challenges, perspectives, as well as capabilities and necessities to improve their cybersecurity systems.

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Rep. Mike Gallagher Reintroduces COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
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Rep. Mike Gallagher Reintroduces COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023

Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has reintroduced a measure that would direct the current administration to declassify all information related to the potential association of the COVID-19 pandemic with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 was co-sponsored by Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y.; Chris Stewart, R-Utah; John Rutherford, R-Fla.; Michael Cloud, R-Texas; Mark Green, R-Tenn.; Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; August Pfluger, R-Texas; and Daniel Webster, R-Fla., Gallagher’s office said Friday.

“It’s been three years since COVID-19 upended our lives and we’re still asking basic questions about the origins of this virus. That’s unacceptable,” Gallagher said.

“It’s time for Congress to act and force the administration to declassify the relevant intelligence surrounding the pandemic,” he added.

The Senate on Wednesday unanimously passed a companion bill introduced by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. and Mike Braun, R-Ind.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News in an interview that aired Tuesday that the pandemic “most likely” originated from a laboratory in China.

“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said during the interview. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.”

A classified intelligence report showed that the U.S. Department of Energy has concluded that the pandemic most likely stemmed from a lab leak based on new intelligence, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. Intelligence Community at large has not accepted the findings and claims there is not enough evidence to yet make a determination.

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House Bills Seek to Promote Innovation in Commercial Satcom Industry
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House Bills Seek to Promote Innovation in Commercial Satcom Industry

Reps. Cathy Rodgers, R-Wash., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., ranking member of the panel, have reintroduced a pair of bills that would advance innovation, security and competition in the commercial satellite communications industry.

The Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act seeks to clarify the Federal Communications Commission’s authorities under the Communications Act as part of efforts to modernize FCC’s satellite licensing rules, incentivize innovation and investment, promote responsible use of space and advance the country’s leadership in next-generation satcom networks, the House panel said Monday.

The Secure Space Act seeks to prohibit the FCC from granting a license to malicious actors based on the framework implemented in the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act.

The bills “will unleash American innovation, streamline our regulatory processes, preserve U.S. technological leadership, and protect our networks from untrusted actors,” Rodgers and Pallone said in a joint statement.

The lawmakers first proposed the measures in December.

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Sen. Ron Wyden Advocates for Wide Adoption of Phishing-Resistant Multifactor Authentication
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Sen. Ron Wyden Advocates for Wide Adoption of Phishing-Resistant Multifactor Authentication

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has called on the office of the Senate’s sergeant at arms to initiate additional steps to advance the adoption of phishing-resistant multifactor authentication in the upper chamber in line with the Office of Management and Budget’s policy and industry best practices.

In a letter to Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson dated March 3, Wyden suggested offering FIDO tokens at no cost to Senate offices and employees.

The lawmaker noted that FIDO tokens are industry standard for phishing-resistant MFA and are widely recommended by government and industry cybersecurity experts.

“Thousands of Senate employees who currently use less-secure forms of MFA must be re-issued new, phishing-resistant FIDO tokens and the Senate must stop supporting methods of MFA that are vulnerable to phishing,” the senator wrote in the Friday letter.

Wyden also implored Gibson to require the use of such tokens not only for remote workers accessing the upper chamber’s virtual private network but also for those who are logging into Senate-issued laptops and desktop computers.

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Dept of Commerce, NASA Partner to Assess US Civil Space Industrial Base
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Dept of Commerce, NASA Partner to Assess US Civil Space Industrial Base

The Department of Commerce has partnered with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to assess the competitiveness of the domestic civil space industrial base.

The Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Technology Evaluation will spearhead the survey to determine the supply chain network and structures of organizations that work with civil space agencies, BIS said Monday. 

OTE aims to collect information on the mergers and acquisitions trends, emerging technology advancements, foreign sourcing and dependencies, workforce, cybersecurity investments, export controls and other factors affecting the sector.

NASA and NOAA will use data from the survey of space companies and suppliers to respond to supply chain disruptions due to impending loss of manufacturing sources and materials, cyberattack incidents, COVID-19 pandemic impacts and other challenges.

The joint project will also guide the planning and execution of the civil space provisions of the National Space Policy directive released in 2020 and other national space policy priorities.

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Robin Milton Promoted to VP of Strategic Communications & Marketing at LMI
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Robin Milton Promoted to VP of Strategic Communications & Marketing at LMI

Robin Milton has been elevated to vice president of strategic communications and marketing at LMI.

In a LinkedIn post published last week, Milton shared the promotion and emphasized her gratitude for the opportunity to grow in her career.

“I am thrilled to serve as LMI’s vice president of strategic communications and marketing. As LMI continues to expand its presence in the innovation space, I look forward to furthering LMI’s brand awareness and its 60+ year legacy in management consulting,” Milton said in an email to ExecutiveGov on Tuesday.

“I am extremely excited about the future of the company as we continue to innovate at the pace of need for our customers,” she added.

Milton joined LMI in 2019 as the strategic communications lead for the organization’s defense business, a position in which she managed strategic communications both internally and externally while developing content for numerous channels such as magazines, newsletters and advertisements.

She later took on a senior management role within the company before rising to her previous post as director of strategic communications and marketing. Prior to joining the firm, she was an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she conducted strategic communications for the U.S. Air Force’s Invisible Wounds Initiative. 

Earlier, Milton was a program manager at Magellan Federal, where she supervised the Army’s SHARP Marketing Communications and Outreach Program.

Before Magellan, Milton worked as a national outreach and community relations representative for the Army Reserve, where she designed the overarching strategic national outreach and communications plan for the organization’s chief. She also managed the organization’s Executive Visibility Program, which aims to connect Army leadership with notable business executives.

Milton has held marketing positions at numerous other companies, including Warschawski, RedPeg Marketing, Sabre Hospitality Solutions and Hilton Worldwide.

LMI has recently made multiple other executive leadership changes. In January, the enterprise announced the selection of new chief technology officers for its defense, space and intelligence business units.

Alongside these shifts, Joseph Norton, who formerly served as LMI’s vice president and CTO, was promoted to the senior vice president role.

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Army Develops Implementation Plan to Achieve Full Zero Trust Adoption
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Army Develops Implementation Plan to Achieve Full Zero Trust Adoption

Maj. Gen. Jan Norris, chief information security officer and deputy chief information officer of the U.S. Army, said the service branch is working on a strategy to complete zero trust adoption by 2027, Federal News Network reported Monday.

Norris said the Knights Watch zero trust cybersecurity plan requires “a lot of work” and has to include various cybersecurity elements to be finalized before the Department of Defense’s October deadline for submission of zero trust implementation plans.

“We’ve got to migrate our existing infrastructure, and the capabilities and tools we invested in this thing we’re calling Knights Watch, zero trust,” the Army official said.

The service branch is also preparing a trained workforce to help implement the zero trust framework across the enterprise, according to Norris.

“We’ve got to have the skills in some of these specialty areas. And if we can’t get them, what we typically do is go out and contract it, you find an industry partner who can do it for you until you can build train personnel, whether they’re in uniform, or civilian clothes,” he added.

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Key Technology Leaders Pat Mungovan and Cameron Chehreh Spotlighted in Recognition of 2023 Wash100 Award Wins
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Key Technology Leaders Pat Mungovan and Cameron Chehreh Spotlighted in Recognition of 2023 Wash100 Award Wins

On Tuesday, Executive Mosaic showcased the accomplishments of two exceptional technology innovators – Oracle’s Pat Mungovan and Intel’s Cameron Chehreh – in honor of their 2023 Wash100 Award wins.

This year, the esteemed Wash100 Award continued its history of annually recognizing the most notable executives in the government contracting industry with its remarkable 10th run. Mungovan, who secured his second award this year, and newcomer Cameron Chehreh both proved their leadership strength during the rigorous selection process and earned their spots in the 2023 Wash100 class.

Don’t miss your chance to participate in GovCon’s most compelling competition — the Wash100 popular vote contest! As Executive Mosaic continues to spotlight each 2023 Wash100 inductee, you have the opportunity to cast a vote for your favorite winner. To join, please visit Wash100.com.

Mungovan, who currently serves as senior vice president of Oracle’s North America government and education arm, propelled the company to new heights of cloud innovation last year. Under his guidance, Oracle received a momentous number of federal certifications for its cloud technologies and secured a spot on the potential $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract in December.

According to Mungovan, the organization’s success is a representation of its unique approach to cloud, which avoids a one size fits all mentality to properly tailor its technology to each federal customer. To read his full profile, click here.

Since assuming his role as public sector vice president and general manager at Intel in February 2022, Chehreh has worked to drive Intel’s semiconductor chip-related initiatives forward. His successful efforts launched the construction of the first of two Ohio-based, modernized semiconductor chip manufacturing facilities in September.

With Chehreh at the helm of government business, Intel also created a training and knowledge-sharing program for semiconductor manufacturers under a partnership with the National Science Foundation. Click here to read his full profile.

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Biden Seeks to Strengthen Hypersonics Industrial Base With DPA Title III; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted
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Biden Seeks to Strengthen Hypersonics Industrial Base With DPA Title III; Anthony Di Stasio Quoted

President Joe Biden has initiated efforts to broaden the U.S. hypersonics industrial base by authorizing the Defense Production Act Title III authorities through a presidential determination.

The DPA Title III authority will enable the Department of Defense to advance the transition of advanced manufacturing technologies and operational prototypes in the field of air-breathing engines and avionics position, navigation and timing platforms, DOD said Friday.

The Pentagon said the presidential determination will also enable the Office of Defense Production Act Investments within the Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office to back the modernization of the hypersonics industrial base using DPA Title III purchases.

“We are pleased and excited that the President is allowing us the opportunity to act on behalf of the nation to accelerate the advancement of hypersonics capabilities in the United States,” said Anthony Di Stasio, director of the MCEIP office within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

“These investments will lead to new training and job opportunities for American citizens in facilities across the country,” added Di Stasio.

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