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Space Force Environmental Monitoring Satellite Achieves Operational Acceptance
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Space Force’s ML-1A WSF-M environmental monitoring satellite reaching operational acceptance

Space Operations Command, or SpOC, officially accepted on Thursday the ML-1A Weather System Follow-on – Microwave, or WSF-M, satellite, marking an apparent milestone in delivering modernized space-based environmental monitoring, or SBEM, systems.

SpOC said Thursday the Space Force’s ML-1A satellite delivers combat-relevant environmental data to joint warfighters performing mission planning and operations worldwide.

“The operational acceptance of the first WSF-M satellite is a pivotal moment in SSC’s history. It represents the Space Force’s focus on transitioning towards a more affordable, scalable, and resilient weather satellite constellation,” said Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer for space sensing at Space Systems Command.

“WSF-M pinpoints actionable weather data on a global scale 24/7 empowering our joint forces to plan strategically and respond swiftly, no matter the environmental conditions,” added Davis.

The Naval Research Lab at Blossom Point Tracking Facility in Maryland is operating the spacecraft.

What Is ML-1A?

ML-1A is the first WSF-M satellite that launched on April 11 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The space vehicle will augment the key capabilities of the ML-62 Defense Meteorological Satellite Program and is designed to sense, store and transmit microwave raw sensor data to support the Department of Defense’s three high-priority SBEM capabilities by measuring ocean surface vector winds, tropical low-earth orbit energetic charged particle characterization and cyclone intensity. The satellite will also address three more SBEM capabilities: sea ice characterization, snow depth and soil moisture.

The satellite is part of the Space Force’s pivot to hybrid architectures to facilitate weather monitoring to ensure that warfighters maintain critical informational advantage.

Gain valuable insights from experts and speakers at the 2025 Air and Space Summit. Sign up now for this Potomac Officers Club-hosted event on July 31.

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Boeing Halts X-66 Flight Demonstrator Development
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Boeing company logo

Boeing has proposed focusing NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project on long, thin-wing technology, halting the company’s work on the X-66 flight demonstrator, the centerpiece of the project aimed at developing more sustainable commercial airliners.

The current X-66 aircraft adopts a transonic truss-braced wing concept that uses thin-wing technology. Under Boeing’s proposal, the project will prioritize research on the technology, which Boeing identified as having broad applications for potential incorporation into aircraft with and without truss braces, while keeping research into the transonic truss-braced wing concept, NASA said.

The company made the recommendation based on data gathered since the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator research began in 2023 under the Space Act Agreement. 

X-66 as Testbed for Boeing 737 Replacement

Besides supporting NASA’s goal to achieve substantial improvements for next-generation airliner efficiency, Boeing plans to use the X-66 to inform the design of a single-aisle replacement for the 737 in the 2030s, Aviation Week Network reported. According to Boeing, the proposed changes in the project will not substantially affect the development of the new aircraft.

While the new approach is being evaluated and the project is on pause, the company reallocated engineers from the experimental program to the 777X and 737 Max development effort ahead of the 2026 delivery schedules.

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OSC Wants Public Input on Draft Space Traffic Coordination Guide
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OSC Wants Public Input on Draft Space Traffic Coordination Guide

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce is soliciting public comments on the third draft on an international standard for space traffic coordination. The space operations working group of a technical committee under the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, developed the document to promote safety and efficient space use, OSC said Thursday.

It added that the draft standards define the requirements of a system for space traffic coordination, or STC, providing readily available, timely, complete and accurate services. The STC system is critical to the standards on data sharing and coordination in space situational awareness, essential elements in the Traffic Coordination System for Space that it is developing, OSC noted.

Operational Transparency in Space

The standards in the 129-page draft, called ISO/CD3 9490, include procedures for collecting, storing and exchanging data pertinent to space safety. The draft offers guidelines on operational transparency in space as required in the Outer Space Treaty and other related United Nations documents on ensuring safety and sustainability in space. 

The guidance includes direction on sharing and exchange of planned spacecraft launches, as well as maneuvers and potential orbital conjunctions. In addition, the ISO draft provides maneuver recommendations and prioritization of spacecraft at risk of collision. A section in the draft also tackles the responsibilities of participants under the STC system.

Commenting on the draft is via an OSC-provided template that may be sent through e-mail, with May 15 as the submission deadline. 

In a related move, OSC published last June the Space Industry Technical Standards Compendium that addresses space traffic coordination and space situational awareness. The office said it will continuously update the compendium and work to convert the resource into an online database.

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MITRE Publishes Report on Government Use of Public, Commercial Data
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The logo of MITRE, a not-for-profit organization supporting the U.S. government.

MITRE has released the results of its research on the scalable and efficient use of publicly and commercially available information, dubbed P/CAI, in the U.S. government. In a paper published Thursday, MITRE identified the challenges and steps the government can take to more effectively utilize P/CAI. 

From Disconnected Efforts to Centralized Acquisitions

P/CAI, also known as open source intelligence, strengthens national security and supports the missions of various agencies. MITRE noted in the report that the assistant secretary of the bureau of intelligence and research at the Department of State sees the “explosion of OSINT” as transformative to how governments process information about global issues and society as a whole. 

However, MITRE found that P/CAI efforts in the U.S. government are disconnected, leading to challenges such as duplicate purchases. There is also a lack of privacy and civil liberties frameworks to address sensitive information. 

MITRE recommends that the government adopt a centralized approach to P/CAI across the government. According to the not-for-profit organization, agencies must leverage the collective buying power of the government. 

Agencies must also use contracting strategies that support efficient procurement through an enterprise model or a modular approach that combines the strengths of different contracting tools. 

In addition, to address concerns over sensitive data in P/CAI, MITRE called for a central library of authorities to track and ensure strict compliance with privacy laws. 

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Ha Nguyen McNeill Named Acting TSA Administrator
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Ha Nguyen McNeill, Acting TSA Administrator

Ha Nguyen McNeill, has been appointed acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, former Arizona Sen. Chris Cummiskey shared on LinkedIn Wednesday.

Who Is Ha Nguyen McNeill?

The seasoned national and homeland security professional rejoins TSA from BigBear.ai, where she most recently served as vice president of digital identity growth and acting president of commercial. She spearheaded the company’s efforts to boost revenue and develop new artificial intelligence capabilities tailored for the aviation industry.

The TSA leader worked at Pangiam for nearly three years before it was acquired by BigBear.ai in 2024. She served as executive VP of commercial and CEO and senior VP of strategic consulting. From 2019 to 2021, she was the chief operating officer of Business Software Alliance, where she was instrumental in BSA’s strategic direction and revenue-generating functions. She served as chief of staff and VP of operations during her first stop at BSA from 2014 to 2017.

In between her BSA stints, Ha was the TSA chief of staff. In this capacity, she served as an adviser to the TSA administrator while overseeing several offices, including Legislative Affairs and Policy Coordination and Innovation. She held other leadership roles at TSA, including chief of staff of the Office of Global Strategies and team lead of the Global Strategic and Multilateral Engagement.

The executive also held director positions at the White House, particularly at the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. She had a brief stint at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate between her two White House tours.

Ha started her career at the DHS, serving as a policy advisor for both the Office of Policy and the Office of International Affairs.

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Army Begins Unified Directory Service Implementation
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NETCOM kicks off transition to Army Unified Directory Service to provide immediate connectivity for soldiers

The U.S. Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command, or NETCOM, has started implementing a cloud-based directory and device management platform to deliver enhanced security and capabilities to warfighters worldwide.

The Army said Wednesday it will transition all unclassified end-user computers to the Army Unified Directory Service, or AUDS, by the end of September.

What Is AUDS?

AUDS seeks to merge all unclassified Army directories into a single, unified network to help streamline user and device management.

The platform is leveraging artificial intelligence to facilitate integration with a threat intelligence network and facilitate proactive response to emerging threats. It also applies threat detection and endpoint protection measures to improve security.

Improving User Experience

With AUDS, warfighters can access Teams, Outlook and other Army 365 applications from compliant devices without the need for a VPN. 

The device management platform also offers single sign-on features and provides standardized network access controls to ensure seamless connectivity.

Facilitating AUDS Transition

NETCOM has been conducting weekly administrator training and leader orientation sessions to facilitate the transition to AUDS. The command will also configure new systems to meet the AUDS standard.

The military branch is directing commands to submit required software to the AUDS approved product list through the Army Enterprise Service Management Portal.

Gain insights into modernization imperatives, force structure optimization, national security missions and more at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Army Summit on June 18. Register here.

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Google Urges Some Remote Staff to Return to Office
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Google is requiring a return-to-office policy for some remote workers

Google has asked some remote employees to show up at the nearest office at least three days a week if they want to keep their jobs, CNBC reported Wednesday.

Courtenay Mencini, a spokesperson for Google, said the decisions concerning return-to-office arrangements for remote staff are not companywide but are based on individual teams.

“As we’ve said before, in-person collaboration is an important part of how we innovate and solve complex problems,” Mencini said in a statement to CNBC. “To support this, some teams have asked remote employees that live near an office to return to in-person work three days a week.” 

Prioritizing Investments in AI

The technology company has been downsizing various business units in an effort to cut costs, streamline operations and prioritize investments in artificial intelligence and related infrastructure.

Voluntary Exit Packages

At the start of the year, several units within Google started offering voluntary exit plans to some full-time employees.

According to the report, Google Technical Services has required employees to return to the office for a hybrid work schedule or take a voluntary exit plan. The unit also offers a one-time relocation package to remote workers who want to move closer to a Google office.

Remote staff at Google’s human resources unit, called People Operations, who live within 50 miles of an office have been told to either opt for a hybrid work arrangement or prepare to leave the company by June.

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Rick Muller: IARPA Eying LLMs for Next AI Cyber Research
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IARPA Director Rick Muller talking about large language models

Rick Muller, director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, said IARPA considers large language models a major focus area for its next artificial intelligence cybersecurity research program, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

“What we want to be able to do is understand in the next round, what kind of training skews are brought into a large language model that might give unintended consequences? What type of hallucinations are going on?” Muller said Tuesday at an Intelligence and National Security Alliance-hosted event.

“And then how can we make sure that those models can be trained on classified data and not spew out that data if you ask them nicely?” he continued. “If you read the literature in jailbreaking large language models, sometimes it really just takes asking them in the right way.”

IARPA is now considering the next round of AI research as its current program, TrojAI, is set to conclude this year.

What Is TrojAI?

Launched in 2019, TrojAI is an IARPA program that seeks to defend AI systems from malicious attacks, known as Trojans, by conducting research and developing technology to detect such attacks in a completed AI system.

The program aims to deliver software that can quickly and accurately detect Trojans in AI tools before deployment. It has focused research on various AI domains, including image classification, reinforcement learning and natural language processing.

In September 2023, IARPA hosted a challenge with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to prevent malicious actors from manipulating data used to train AI systems.

Register now for the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Cyber Summit on May 15. Listen to experts as they discuss new cyber policies, modernization strategies and other trends shaping the cyber domain.

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CISA, Partners Defend CI Systems Against Simulated Cyberthreat
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The power grid and other critical infrastructures are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency hosted an exercise that aims to prepare different organizations to secure and protect critical infrastructure systems. At its Control Environment Laboratory Resource, CISA said representatives from the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, the Idaho National Laboratory, Louisiana State University and critical infrastructure operators respond to a simulated cyberattack. 

Strengthening Critical Infrastructure Resilience

During the two-day event, attendees had to fend off attacks by a technical team posing as sophisticated adversaries in a live environment with IT and OT traffic. The exercise utilized the CELR chemical processing platform, which is located in Idaho and operated by INL for CISA. 

The goal was to detect and respond to kinetic cyberattacks on industrial control system elements such as human-machine interfaces, supervisory control and data acquisition, and programmable logic controllers.

“Collaborating with LSU and industry partners is extremely beneficial in strengthening the nation’s cybersecurity knowledge and ability to respond to threats,” commented Matt Hartman, deputy executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA. “This training is another step in our shared vision to expand the opportunity for critical infrastructure entities to strengthen their cybersecurity using CELR.”

What Is CELR?

The laboratory provides a space for government and industry to test technologies and practices related to securing critical infrastructure systems and build new capabilities to defend against emerging threats. 

According to Tim Huddleston, cybersecurity program manager for the INL, the CELR offers an immersive environment where partners can experience realistic cyberattacks. He added that the Idaho-based laboratory hosts five ICS testbeds sponsored by CISA.

“We were proud to host industry partners and academia in this exercise, helping them improve their skills in cyber hunting and incident response, which reduces the risk from malicious cyber actors,” Huddleston said.

Learn more about the cyberthreats the nation and international partners face at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Cyber Summit on May 15. Register for the in-person event now!

CISA, Partners Defend CI Systems Against Simulated Cyberthreat
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NSA Issues Smart Controller Cybersecurity Protocols for OT Environments
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NSA Issues Smart Controller Cybersecurity Protocols for OT Environments

The National Security Agency has recommended security policies and technical requirements for smart controller devices installed for operational technology in national security systems, or NSS. The recommendations address new risks from the rising combination of IT and OT systems, as well as growing adversarial cyberthreats, NSA said Wednesday. 

Vulnerable Cyberattack Targets

Smart controllers typically integrated within IT network systems are high-value cyberattack targets vulnerable to adversaries, the agency noted in its cybersecurity technical report titled “Operational Technology Assurance Partnership: Smart Controller Security within National Security Systems.” 

Threats on OT systems and devices can simulate IT network vulnerabilities, the agency explained. It pointed out that vulnerability is higher on legacy OT systems, as they lack security by default, and there are vulnerabilities as well in the IT infrastructure integrated into them. 

Testing and Updates as Shields

The recommendations in the 57-page report include regular administrator testing and updating of all NSS OT firmware and software, including host, embedded and network devices. The NSA report also urges controls on system components or devices with wireless capabilities to ensure that a switch or a default mode can disable the wireless interface. 

As a further guidance, the report provides analytical comparison of National Institute of Standards and Technology security controls and current International Society of Automation technical requirements for OT devices.

Parallel Cyber Guardrails

According to NSA, the study was also conducted to help develop the Operational Technology Assurance Partnership, a pilot for the cybersecurity testing process of NSS OT components. Additionally, the study’s findings will be submitted to the U.S. Army’s Intelligence Support Activity standards committee for consideration on future cybersecurity technical requirement updates for the components in industrial automations and control systems. 

In February, NSA also released three cybersecurity information sheets outlining critical mitigation strategies to safeguard organizations’ edge device systems, including firewalls, routers and virtual private network gateways.

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