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13 Members Named to CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee; Jen Easterly Quoted
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13 Members Named to CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee; Jen Easterly Quoted

Thirteen new members have joined an advisory committee within the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tasked with advising the CISA director on policies and programs meant to improve the country’s cyber defense.

Jen Easterly, director of CISA and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, said in a statement published Monday the new members bring government and industry experience to the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee.

“Chosen for their deep expertise in critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, and governance, these members will add important new perspectives to the CSAC’s work, particularly given this year’s additional focus on corporate cyber responsibility, technology product safety, and efforts to raise the cyber hygiene baseline of ‘target rich-cyber poor’ entities like hospitals, K-12 school districts, and water utilities,” Easterly added.

The committee is set to hold a virtual meeting on Tuesday, March 21.

The new CSAC members are:

  • Alex Tosheff, senior vice president and chief security officer, VMware
  • Brian Gragnolati, president and CEO, Atlantic Health System
  • Cathy Lanier, SVP and chief security officer, National Football League
  • Chris Inglis, former U.S. National Cyber Director
  • Ciaran Martin, former CEO, National Cyber Security Centre (United Kingdom)
  • Dave DeWalt, CEO and founder, NightDragon
  • Doug Levin, co-founder and national director, K12 Security Information eXchange (SIX)
  • Jim Langevin, former representative for Rhode Island’s 2nd District
  • John Katko, former representative for New York’s 24th District
  • Kevin Tierney, VP and chief cybersecurity officer, General Motors
  • Rahul Jalali, SVP and chief information officer, Union Pacific
  • Robert Scott, commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services
  • Royal Hansen, VP of privacy, safety and security engineering, Google
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CISA Tasked to Evaluate Potential Risks of Using DJI-Manufactured Drones
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CISA Tasked to Evaluate Potential Risks of Using DJI-Manufactured Drones

A bipartisan group of senators has called on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to evaluate potential risks posed by unmanned aerial vehicles manufactured by Chinese drone developer Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology.

In a letter to Jen Easterly, director of CISA and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, the senators requested an analysis of the security risks associated with the widespread use of DJI-manufactured drones to inspect U.S. critical infrastructure, the office of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Thursday.

“This sensitive information on the layout, operation, and maintenance of U.S. critical infrastructure could better enable targeting efforts in the event of conflict,” the senators wrote.

According to the senators, DJI dominated 90 percent of the consumer drone market in North America in 2021 and over 70 percent of the industrial market. Seventy-three percent of public safety organizations reportedly used the Chinese company’s aircraft in 2019.

The Department of Defense officially identified DJI as a “Chinese military company” in 2022 following reports that it provides sensitive information on U.S. infrastructure and law enforcement to the Chinese government.

The letter comes a month after Warner, a three-time Wash100 Award recipient, introduced legislation to prohibit the purchase of drones from China and other countries identified as national security threats.

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Google Enters AI Chatbot Market With Bard
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Google Enters AI Chatbot Market With Bard

Google has introduced Bard, its new artificial intelligence chatbot intended to compete with companies such as OpenAI and Microsoft in the increasingly saturated chatbot market, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Initially, Bard will be available to a select group of users in the U.S. and Britain and will progressively expand access to more users, nations and dialects, according to Google executives.

The release of the chatbot is a step in Google’s efforts to embrace this technology, which may pose a challenge to the continued dominance of its search engine.

OpenAI released ChatGPT in November of last year, and shortly after, Microsoft implemented a chatbot into its Bing search engine. According to the New York Times, the release of ChatGPT prompted Google’s management team to declare a “code red” and push AI to the top of its priority list.

Gartner analyst Chirag Dekate stressed that technology is “at a singular moment.” The release of ChatGPT, he said, generated new startups, intrigued the public and rejuvenated the competition between Google and Microsoft.

“Now that market demand has shifted, Google’s approach has, too,” he said.

Adrian Aoun, who previously served as a director of special projects at Google, said that it is necessary for the company to enter the chatbot realm to go “where the world is headed.” He also noted that shifting to chatbots could damage advertising-based business models.

Bard’s deployment has been a slow process. Despite testing efforts beginning in 2015, Google has been hesitant to fully release the chatbot due to the potential for inaccuracies and bias Bard and other chatbots have demonstrated.

“We are well aware of the issues; we need to bring this to market responsibly. At the same time, we see all the excitement in the industry and the excitement of all the people using generative AI,” Eli Collins, vice president of research at Google, commented.

The enterprise has not identified a way to profit from Bard, said Collins and Sissie Hsiao, a vice president for product at Google.

Currently, Bard is a separate webpage rather than a feature of Google’s search engine. The page includes a “Google it” button following each answer, which directs users to the typical search results page.

“We think of Bard as complementary to Google Search. We want to be bold in how we innovate with this technology as well as be responsible,” said Hsiao.

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Vice Adm. Jon Hill: US, Japan Eye Partnership on Glide Phase Interceptor Program
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Vice Adm. Jon Hill: US, Japan Eye Partnership on Glide Phase Interceptor Program

Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said MDA is considering a partnership with Japan to work on a program that seeks to develop an interceptor that can counter a hypersonic weapon during the glide phase of flight, Defense News reported Monday.

“Right now we’re exploring the opportunity to just identify what those cooperative development areas would be,” Hill said of the Glide Phase Interceptor program.

He stated that the U.S. and Japan are looking for common parts as the East Asian country seeks to explore the interceptor’s front end containing the warhead.

MDA is requesting $209 million in fiscal 2024 budget for the GPI competition. In June 2022, the agency awarded contract modifications to Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman to continue development work on their GPI designs.

“The challenge is when you’ve got two [companies] in play, that means Japan has to sign up to do two different designs, knowing that one of them may be a throwaway,” the vice admiral said.

Vice Adm. Hill will be delivering the mid-day keynote address at the upcoming Industrial Space Defense Summit, from the Potomac Officers Club. It will be held at the Hilton-McLean in Virginia on April 27 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Don’t miss this highly informative symposium — complete with complementary breakfast and lunch. Register here.

Vice Adm. Jon Hill: US, Japan Eye Partnership on Glide Phase Interceptor Program
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Redhorse’s John Zangardi & DHA’s Lt. Gen Telita Crosland Applauded for 2023 Wash100 Wins
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Redhorse’s John Zangardi & DHA’s Lt. Gen Telita Crosland Applauded for 2023 Wash100 Wins

Redhorse Corporation CEO John Zangardi and Defense Health Agency Director Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland – two powerful advocates for federal technology modernization – have been highlighted by Executive Mosaic with commemorative profiles in honor of their 2023 Wash100 Award wins.

This year marks the historic 10th iteration of the acclaimed Wash100 Award, the government contracting industry’s highest honor. In a continuation of its annual tradition, contenders were put through a scrutinizing selection process which carefully weighed their past contributions and expected future impacts, during which Zangardi and Crosland emerged as top performers.

Don’t miss your chance to select John Zangardi and Telita Crosland as your favorite 2023 Wash100 winners! To cast your 10 votes in the award’s annual popular vote contest, please visit Wash100.com.

Zangardi joined the private sector in 2019 following a distinguished military and government career. His understanding of the relationship between technology and the public sector has served as a guiding light for his work on the industry side.

Last year, Zangardi’s efforts to provide emerging technologies to the federal government centered artificial intelligence. Under his leadership, Redhorse secured two contracts from the U.S. Air Force for its AI/ML capabilities. Click here to read his full profile.

Crosland, a first-time Wash100 awardee, was selected for her commitment to incorporating emerging technologies into DHA operations. Since her appointment ceremony in January, when she became the first African American to assume the agency’s director position, Crosland has been outspoken about her vision to bolster DHA capabilities.

Shortly after taking up the post, Crosland spoke at the 2023 AMSUS Annual Meeting in Maryland, were she discussed her vision to ensure that physicians, nurses and medics and corpsmen are “liberated by technology rather than burdened by it.” To read her full profile, click here.

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NSWC Crane Requests Solutions for Hypersonics PNT Weapon System Improvements
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NSWC Crane Requests Solutions for Hypersonics PNT Weapon System Improvements

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division is requesting industry sources to submit solutions to enhance positioning, navigation and timing capabilities for hypersonic missile systems.

A notice posted Friday on SAM.gov said the NSWC Crane seeks to award multiple project orders under the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems other transition agreement to conduct rapid demonstrations of submitted PNT technologies.

NSWC Crane is attempting to assess optical terrain correlation as an alternate PNT source and use machine learning algorithms to improve IMU drift correlation improvements.

Program participants will demonstrate their technologies for potential inclusion in the Navy’s Conventional Prompt Strike initiative.

S2MARTS consortium members have until March 31 to respond to the request for solutions.

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SAFECOM, NCSWIC Issue Document to Improve IT Professionals’ Understanding of Land Mobile Radio Networks
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SAFECOM, NCSWIC Issue Document to Improve IT Professionals’ Understanding of Land Mobile Radio Networks

SAFECOM and the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators, in collaboration with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, have developed a document meant to help information technology professionals plan, implement and manage land mobile radio networks.

The LMR for IT Professionals document offers an overview on the requirements and differences between LMR and IT networks when it comes to construction and execution, system integration and operations and maintenance, CISA said Friday.

The document provides a description of an LMR system and its components, including a network, repeaters, base station radios and mobile radios.

The paper tackles how public safety organizations utilize LMR systems, offers best practices for launching and integrating LMR systems and discusses possible disconnects between LMR engineers and IT professionals.

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White House Publishes National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities
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White House Publishes National Aeronautics Science & Technology Priorities

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has released a document outlining the current administration’s strategic priorities to foster public-private partnerships and enable governmentwide collaboration as part of efforts to broaden U.S. leadership in aeronautics.

The National Aeronautics Science and Technology Priorities document details the U.S. government’s three strategic priorities: achieving sustainable aviation, transforming the national airspace system and promoting connectivity and speed.

To advance the first strategy, the current administration will back the development of new aircraft and engine technologies and domestic production and usage of sustainable aviation fuels.

The U.S. government will pursue NAS modernization by prioritizing the efforts of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Next Generation Air Transportation System or NextGen Program and pushing the integration of new aeronautics platforms such as small drones and advanced air mobility vehicles.

The government will also support research and development work on hypersonic flight systems to promote connectivity and speed.

The document also enumerates the seven principles the U.S. government will adopt to enact the three priorities. These principles are promoting safety; protecting the environment; advancing global economic competitiveness; accelerating innovation; strengthening national security, developing the workforce; and prioritizing equitable access to air transportation.

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DOE Renews Bioenergy Research Funding to Advance Clean Energy Goals; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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DOE Renews Bioenergy Research Funding to Advance Clean Energy Goals; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy will award $590 million in funding to continue clean energy research and development projects at four existing Bioenergy Research Centers led by national laboratories and universities.

DOE said Friday the renewed BRC funding will support its efforts to develop a sustainable domestic bioenergy and bioproducts industry, effectively reducing carbon emissions, enhancing energy security and creating economic opportunities in rural communities.

The centers to receive funding are:

  • Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation, led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Center for Bioenergy Innovation, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison in partnership with Michigan State University
  • Joint BioEnergy Institute, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

CABBI grows fuels in plant stems and uses an automated foundry to convert biomass into economically sustainable chemicals while CBI aims to advance the domestication of bioenergy-relevant microbes and plants.

GLBRC develops cost-effective processes for converting plant materials into biofuels and JBEI develops biosystem design tools and robotics technologies designed to transform biomass into carbon-efficient products.

“Continuing to fund the important scientific work conducted at our Bioenergy Research Centers is critical to ensuring these sustainable resources can be an efficient and affordable part of our clean energy future,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

The four centers will receive a total of $110 million in fiscal year 2023 and up to $480 million over the next four years.

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US-Ireland R&D Partnership Invests in 27 Institutions to Innovate in Various Scientific Fields
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US-Ireland R&D Partnership Invests in 27 Institutions to Innovate in Various Scientific Fields

Twenty-seven research institutions are slated to receive a total of $21 million in funding through the U.S.-Ireland Research and Development Partnership, a scientific collaboration involving the United States, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The landmark investment is expected to fund 12 awards for studies ranging from robotics, to 5G communication, quantum computing and wearable health diagnostics, the U.S. National Science Foundation announced Friday.

The partnership was formed in 2020 as a trilateral effort to address challenges in potentially pivotal research fields, such as nanoscale science and engineering, telecommunications, sensors, cybersecurity and sustainability.

From Northern Ireland, the participating institutions are Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University. From the Republic of Ireland, the collaborators include Dublin City University, Maynooth University, South East Technological University, Trinity College Dublin, Tyndall National Institute, University College Dublin, and University of Galway.

Representing the U.S. are:

  • Georgia Institute of Technology
  • Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital
  • James Madison University
  • Kent State University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • New York University
  • Texas A&M University
  • University of Arizona
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • University of South Florida
  • University of Texas at Austin
  • University of Texas at Dallas
  • University of Texas at San Antonio
  • University of Utah
  • University of Virginia
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

“This unique research partnership model aims to generate, at speed and scale, valuable discoveries and innovations which are transferable to the marketplace or will lead to enhancements in health, climate resilience and telecommunications to improve our world,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said. “I congratulate the awardees and look forward to seeing how their outcomes contribute to successfully addressing global challenges.”

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