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CISA’s Jen Easterly on 3 Principles Tech Developers Should Consider to Build Safety Into Processes
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CISA’s Jen Easterly on 3 Principles Tech Developers Should Consider to Build Safety Into Processes

Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said technology manufacturers should make strong security a standard element of their tech offerings, particularly those that support U.S. critical infrastructure.

Easterly, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, wrote in a blog post published Friday that there are three core principles tech developers should consider to incorporate product safety into their processes. Firstly: take ownership of security outcomes for customers.

The other two principles are embracing “radical transparency” to help better understand the challenges related to consumer safety and developing a roadmap that outlines the company’s plan for how products will be built and upgraded to be secure-by-default and secure-by-design.

The CISA director also highlighted the role of universities and professors in integrating security into computer science coursework.

“Steps taken today at universities around the country can help spur an industry-wide change towards memory safe languages and add more engineering rigor to software development which in turn, will help protect all technology users,” Easterly wrote.

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Danny Werfel Confirmed as IRS Commissioner
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Danny Werfel Confirmed as IRS Commissioner

The Senate voted 54-42 Thursday to confirm Danny Werfel, most recently managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service within the Department of the Treasury.

President Joe Biden nominated Werfel to lead the IRS as commissioner in November 2022.

Werfel previously served as acting IRS commissioner and controller at the Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration and helped implement the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 under the Bush administration.

He joined BCG in 2014 and helped launch the management consulting firm’s U.S. public sector practice.

Werfel holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University, a master’s degree in public policy from Duke University and Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Marine Corps Launches 3-Year Pilot to Advance Software Development Capability
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Marine Corps Launches 3-Year Pilot to Advance Software Development Capability

The U.S. Marine Corps has launched a software factory to accelerate the development of applications and technologies designed to support modernization efforts across the service branch.

Co-located with the Army Software Factory in Austin, Texas, the three-year pilot program aims to develop and implement software-based warfighting capabilities to maximize the Marines’ resources, the service branch said Friday.

“The Marine Corps Software Factory is about outcomes, creating advantage for Marines at the tactical edge, today,” remarked Lt. Gen. Matthew Glavy, deputy commandant for information and chief information officer of USMC.

According to Glavy, the MCSWF will also harness the “power of information” to deliver capabilities to enhance mission readiness.

Marines selected to participate in the pilot will undergo three phases: a three-month technical accelerator to establish a baseline skillset, one-to-one mentoring with technical experts and a 24-month employment utilization to apply skills to real-world challenges.

Information Warfare Forum

Glavy is set to speak at ExecutiveBiz’s Information Warfare Forum on March 15. Register now to hear more about how the USMC prepares to achieve information warfare readiness.

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Lauren Knausenberger: Air Force Works to Implement Zero Trust in Financial Management Systems
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Lauren Knausenberger: Air Force Works to Implement Zero Trust in Financial Management Systems

Lauren Knausenberger, chief information officer for the Department of the Air Force and a 2023 Wash100 Award recipient, said the service branch is moving closer to implementing a zero trust architecture to build security throughout its infrastructure, including financial management systems, Federal News Network reported Friday.

Knausenberger aims for the Air Force to have a standardized system for endpoint security management and enable “a lot of automation” before she retires from her position in June after a six-year career with the DAF.

The Air Force is also working to utilize identity, credential and access management to align its financial management network with the Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness guidance, Knausenberger said.

“Our ICAM solution for FIAR, we are deploying what I’ll call a pilot, but it’s way more than a pilot. We’re deploying the stack. We’re starting small, we’re scaling fast,” she added.

The official also seeks to establish a program that would streamline the issuance of service equipment and devices to airmen.

“We fragment and we give out equipment in different places, and then we turn it in and you move in two or three years and we give you something new, we have a lot of fragmentation,” Knausenberger said.

3rd Annual AF IT Modernization and Transformation Forum

Learn more about the Air Force’s zero trust implementation plan at GovCon Wire’s 3rd Annual AF IT Modernization and Transformation Forum on March 21. Click here to register and hear from speakers including Knausenberger and Serena Chan, a senior technical adviser at the Defense Information Systems Agency.

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ServiceNow Taps Raj Iyer for Newly Created Global Head of Public Sector Post
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ServiceNow Taps Raj Iyer for Newly Created Global Head of Public Sector Post

Dr. Raj Iyer, former chief information officer at the U.S. Army and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, has joined digital workflow provider ServiceNow as global head of public sector.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said Monday that the executive, who is versed in both commercial and government business, will apply his three decades of experience to help enable digital transformation in an array of international markets.

In a statement, Iyer shared that the cloud-based impact ServiceNow could have on governments is what drew him to the organization.

“I’m thrilled to join a company that is equally as passionate and excited about the potential for change as ServiceNow. It has never been easier to leverage the power of a platform like ServiceNow to truly transform how governments serve their citizens,” Iyer continued.

Prior to his nearly two-and-a-half-year stint as the Army’s first civilian CIO — wherein he steered a $16 million dollar IT budget — Iyer was chief technology officer of the U.S. Army Materiel Command; senior technology advisor for Healthcare.gov at the Department of Health and Human Services; and director of data management for the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command.

Additionally, Iyer has worked in the private sector in roles such as managing director of government and public services at Deloitte and CTO and vice president of product development at Aspire 3D / Imagecom, which he helped expand (and ultimately sell) from its days as a start-up in the 1990s.

His new company’s Now Platform is an end-to-end software that aims to ease digital migration through workflow enhancements. Iyer’s addition to the team and the creation of his position reflects ServiceNow’s recent public sector growth, attaining clients like the Defense Logistics Agency; the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Crown Commercial Service; and Australia’s New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

Iyer is slated to oversee concentrated efforts to bring ServiceNow’s digital transformation offerings to government customers in Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. through a scaled strategy and customized activities. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, he noted that, “the promise of digital transformation in the government has never been more real. Quite frankly, it’s an imperative.”

Iyer indicated he would be stepping down from his historic Army post in early January.

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Craig Abod & Andrew Hunter Highlighted as 2023 Wash100 Winners
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Craig Abod & Andrew Hunter Highlighted as 2023 Wash100 Winners

Carahsoft President Craig Abod and Andrew Hunter, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, were highlighted today for their selection to Executive Mosaic’s 2023 Wash100 Award.

100 of the government contracting ecosystem’s most influential and impactful executives are chosen to receive the prestigious Wash100 Award every year, and this year’s list represents Executive Mosaic’s 10th unique roster of recipients. 

Abod received his ninth Wash100 Award this year for spearheading Carahsoft’s expansion efforts through partnerships with software vendors, system integrators and other consulting partners. The Carahsoft president has also made waves in this year’s Wash100 popular vote competition — Abod has received over 1,000 votes and has held his place at number one for the last few weeks. Read Craig Abod’s full Wash100 profile here. 

This year marks Hunter’s first year of recognition on the elite Wash100 list, his place on which he earned for demonstrating leadership in advancing the research, development and acquisition efforts within the Air Force. In his first year in the position, Hunter has made notable strides in advancing the service’s technological programs, software initiatives and weapons systems. Read more about Hunter’s accomplishments in this Wash100 profile. 

The exciting and heated Wash100 popular vote competition is halfway through! Will Craig Abod retain his spot at number one? Could Andrew Hunter rise the ranks to earn a spot in the top 10? Only you can decide! Cast your votes for your favorite 2023 Wash100 winners at Wash100.com to have a say in who takes the crown. Voting ends in April. 

SBA Releases Preview of Updated HUBZone Maps Ahead of July Implementation
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SBA Releases Preview of Updated HUBZone Maps Ahead of July Implementation

The Small Business Administration has released a preview of the updated Historically Underutilized Business Zone maps showing the locations that will become eligible for HUBZone certification.

The new HUBZone maps will take effect on July 1, 2023, highlighting employment and growth opportunities reserved for small businesses in disadvantaged communities, SBA said Friday.

According to the agency, the updated maps reflect updates to population and economic data from the 2020 census and cover more than 20,000 HUBZone areas, including 3,732 newly designated communities.

“By channeling a record $14 billion in federal purchases to HUBZone-certified small firms last year, the Biden-Harris Administration gave a critical financial boost to hundreds of entrepreneurs in economically disadvantaged rural and urban areas,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.

HUBZone-certified companies are eligible to compete for federal contracts set aside for small businesses in urban and rural communities.

“For small businesses in new HUBZone areas, SBA’s certification provides a gateway to billions of dollars in federal contracting opportunities, contributing to the economic growth and strengthening of underserved communities while also ensuring that employment opportunities benefit the people living in communities that most need positive economic impact,” explained Lori Gillen, director of the Office of the HUBZone Program.

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FEBC Agencies Get Access to CISA’s Beta Mobile App Vetting Service
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FEBC Agencies Get Access to CISA’s Beta Mobile App Vetting Service

Jim Sheire, branch chief for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Cybersecurity Shared Services Office, said CISA provided federal civilian executive branch agencies with free access to its beta Mobile App Vetting service to help counter risks posed by mobile applications.

The MAV service achieved authorization to operate on Feb. 8 and is now used by 18 FCEB agencies to identify mobile app vulnerabilities and create a risk-based approach to selecting secure government-developed or third-party apps, Sheire wrote in a blog post published Thursday.

In early 2022, Customs and Border Protection employed MAV as part of its efforts to enhance app-vetting capability across the agency.

CBP uses the vetting service to test mobile apps for security concerns before installing them on personnel’s smartphones and tablets.

“A standout example of this is when CBP undertook vetting efforts for a third-party COVID-19 contact-tracing app. Here, MAV was able to detect several issues inherent to software’s iOS version. This discovery prompted CBP to cancel the app’s deployment, which consequently protected the security and integrity its mobile devices,” Sheire said.

According to Sheire, more federal agencies will gain access to MAV’s capabilities in the coming months.

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GSA Issues Update on Errant Emails, Outage Involving SAM.gov
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GSA Issues Update on Errant Emails, Outage Involving SAM.gov

The General Services Administration disclosed that the System for Award Management website experienced two separate issues on Wednesday. The first involved an errant email message from SAM.gov to some entity administrators informing them that their entity registration had been updated.

GSA said Thursday the emails were accidentally generated by the website and appeared to be related to a software issue.

The agency advised entity administrators to ignore the messages and said that it is working to investigate and address the issue, which they said does not appear to be a phishing attempt, malicious behavior, hack, security breach or a scam.

The other issue the SAM website experienced is an outage, which GSA said is not linked to the errant emails.

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SSC, NASA Prepare to Launch 8 Space Experiments to ISS
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SSC, NASA Prepare to Launch 8 Space Experiments to ISS

Space Systems Command and NASA are preparing to launch eight experimental payloads to the International Space Station for the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.

STP-Houston 9 will launch into space as part of SpaceX’s 27th commercial resupply mission to ISS, which will host the eight experiments for one year, SSC said Thursday.

The payload will launch aboard SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft and liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 14.

Upon docking to the ISS, the STP-H9 payload will be robotically transferred to its external hosting site, the Japanese External Facility, where it will gather data to support the DOD experiments.

“This mission marks another milestone in the valuable partnership between SSC and DOD’s Space Test Program and NASA and continues the STP’s 58-year history of providing access to space for emerging DOD technologies,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Shea, SSC director of the DOD STP.

The space mission is developed in partnership with the Naval Research Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

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