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DOE to Distribute Up to $105M Over 3 Years for Biopreparedness Research Projects
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DOE to Distribute Up to $105M Over 3 Years for Biopreparedness Research Projects

The Department of Energy Office of Science earmarked up to $105 million to finance studies that can benefit the Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment initiative.

Funds will be distributed over three years, with individual awards estimated at $2 million to $4 million annually, DOE announced Wednesday.

The BRaVE initiative was created last year to leverage the epidemiological information, health protocols, and supply logistics developed by DOE’s national laboratory researchers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going forward, it is slated to concentrate on real-time deciphering of host-pathogen dynamics, molecular interactions that can be used in designing target interventions, and epidemiological modeling based on multiscale ecosystem complexities. BRaVE also aims to expedite materials design, discovery, and manufacturing, and refine data analytics, experimental techniques and user facility instrumentation.

DOE will source $35 million from its fiscal year 2023 budget as well as Congress-approved outyear funding for the initiative.

“The knowledge and capabilities advanced by this research will have broader impacts in energy, climate change, food security, health, sustainability, and other areas critical to national and economic security,” Office of Science Director Asmeret Asefaw Berhe said.

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Pentagon Unveils Small Business Strategy; Kathleen Hicks, William LaPlante Quoted
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Pentagon Unveils Small Business Strategy; Kathleen Hicks, William LaPlante Quoted

The Department of Defense has unveiled a plan to harness the full potential of the small business industrial base to strengthen the development of innovative systems and capabilities for the warfighter. 

The Small Business Strategy outlines three strategic objectives to expand the Pentagon’s partnerships with small businesses that offer technologies designed to address the most complex challenges facing the U.S. military, the DOD said Thursday.

As part of the first objective, the framework aims to implement a unified approach to managing small business programs and activities distributed across the military services, defense agencies and DOD components.

The second objective states that to address national security concerns, DOD small business activities must align with national security priorities to ensure access to secure products and services.

The strategy’s third objective focuses on strengthening the DOD’s overall engagement and support of small businesses. 

According to the strategy, the Pentagon must also enhance its ability to engage with companies from underserved communities by lowering barriers to entry and increasing set-asides for small business competitions.

“Reducing barriers and creating more opportunities for small businesses will allow us to expand, innovate, and diversify, increasing our warfighter advantage, strengthening our supply chains, increasing competition in our marketplace, and growing our economy here at home,” said Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a 2023 Wash100 Award winner.

“All of American industry, especially our innovative small businesses, has a role in developing, delivering, and sustaining the critical capabilities that are required to further implement the National Defense Strategy,” said William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and a fellow 2023 Wash100 Award recipient.

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White House Seeks Info to Help Determine Digital Asset R&D Priorities
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White House Seeks Info to Help Determine Digital Asset R&D Priorities

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has begun to solicit feedback from the public to help identify research and development priorities related to digital assets and attendant technologies such as blockchain, decentralized finance, smart contracts and distributed ledgers.

OSTP issued the request for information as the federal government develops a national agenda for research and development involving digital assets, according to a Federal Register notice published Thursday.

The office is soliciting information on goals, sectors or applications that could be enhanced with digital assets and associated technologies and where digital assets might introduce risks or harms.

Interested stakeholders could also offer their input on federal research opportunities that could be launched or modified to back efforts to mitigate risks from digital assets; research and development that should be prioritized for digital assets; opportunities to advance responsible innovation in the broader digital assets ecosystem; and other information that should inform the R&D agenda.

Responses to the RFI are due March 3.

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USRA, Partners to Study Emerging Technologies for DHS Use Cases
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USRA, Partners to Study Emerging Technologies for DHS Use Cases

The Universities Space Research Association and the MSI STEM Research and Development Consortium will research the potential applications of emerging technologies in homeland security. 

USRA said Wednesday the Integrative Research in Emerging Technologies for the Department of Homeland Security Use Cases Program will engage minority-serving institutions to assess how artificial intelligence, quantum information science and autonomy can support disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts.

“This program will drive innovation with an integrated portfolio of use-inspired and foundational research in emerging technologies focused on supporting high priority needs of today while preparing for the future at the same time,” says David Bell, Director of the USRA Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science and principal investigator for the program.

Amanda Smith Hackler, director of education at USRA and co-principal investigator for the program, said findings from the initiative will contribute to the DHS Science and Technology Directorate Office of University Programs’ broader mission and align with its strategic plan.

The initiative will also focus on bridging the current gaps in the homeland security workforce and boosting U.S. competitiveness in the global market, Hackler said.

GSA Launches Pilot Coworking Space to Improve Federal Agencies’ Offices; Robin Carnahan Quoted
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GSA Launches Pilot Coworking Space to Improve Federal Agencies’ Offices; Robin Carnahan Quoted

The General Services Administration has inaugurated its Workplace Innovation Lab as part of the Biden administration’s Management Agenda to modernize the federal workplace.

The facility was built at GSA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., as a hub for government agencies to test innovations that can benefit their on-site operations, GSA said.

It was additionally designed to serve as an experimental federal coworking space where GSA can gather user experience feedback for continuous improvement.

Allsteel, Cisco, Haworth / Price Modern, Miller-Knoll, Kimball International and Swiftspace / VOE were tapped by GSA to furnish the 25,000-square foot facility.

”The future of the office workplace is now. We’re imagining it and building it right here in partnership with both industry innovators and our federal customers,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan remarked. “This is a space where agency decision makers and their teams can experience the latest technologies, equipment, and furniture that’s designed to empower federal employees to deliver even more effectively.”

Senate Bill Proposes U.S.-Wide TikTok Ban; Senator Josh Hawley Quoted
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Senate Bill Proposes U.S.-Wide TikTok Ban; Senator Josh Hawley Quoted

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has introduced a bill that would prohibit Americans from downloading social media app TikTok on their devices and ban U.S. companies from transacting with its parent company ByteDance. 

“TikTok poses a threat to all Americans who have the app on their devices. It opens the door for the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ personal information, keystrokes, and location through aggressive data harvesting,” Hawley said in a statement published Wednesday.

The No TikTok on United States Devices Act comes less than a month after a bill banning the video-sharing platform from federal government devices was signed into law as a provision in a $1.7 trillion government spending bill.

“Banning it on government devices was a step in the right direction, but now is the time to ban it nationwide to protect the American people,” Hawley said.

The new bill would direct the president to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to prohibit commercial transactions with Chinese company ByteDance and require the director of national intelligence to submit a report to Congress on national security threats posed by TikTok.

The legislation has a companion bill in the House introduced by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.

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NASA Advisory Council Chairman Lester Lyles Selected as Visiting Fellow at MITRE; Charles Clancy Quoted
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NASA Advisory Council Chairman Lester Lyles Selected as Visiting Fellow at MITRE; Charles Clancy Quoted

NASA Advisory Council Chairman Lester Lyles has joined MITRE as a visiting fellow, joining eight other experts from the defense, science and technology sectors.

The Visiting Fellows program allows MITRE to receive external guidance on research and development initiatives in areas such as defense, cybersecurity, health and supply chain, the McLean, Virginia-based company said Wednesday.

“Gen. Lyles will be an invaluable part of some of our most important work, including defense and space,” remarked Charles Clancy, MITRE’s chief futurist, senior vice president, and general manager of MITRE Labs. “His remarkable career and expertise in national security engineering and science will make a crucial impact.”

Lyles is a retired U.S. Air Force general and was appointed as commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He has 55 years of experience under his belt, including 35 years of military service.

He is also a fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, chairman of the Department of Defense Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion, and chairman of the National Space Council’s Advisory Group under the Office of the Vice President.

NSF, DOE Extend Collaboration on S&T, Engineering Research
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NSF, DOE Extend Collaboration on S&T, Engineering Research

The National Science Foundation has extended its partnership with the Department of Energy’s Office of Science to increase collaboration on science, technology and engineering research.

NSF said Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with DOE to continue to work together on large physics experiments, quantum information sciences and technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning and other research areas to address current and future scientific challenges.

As part of the partnership, the agencies will also prioritize building a diverse, inclusive and skilled STEM workforce to solve some of the pressing challenges facing the scientific community.

Asmeret Asefaw Berhe, director of the Office of Science, commented that the MOU will enable both agencies to expand their capabilities and grow and maintain the U.S. dominance in science and technology.

“As sister agencies, the DOE Office of Science and NSF share the same goals of advancing the nation’s science and technology ecosystem,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of NSF.

NSF supports basic research at colleges and universities in areas such as mathematics, computer science and social sciences while the Office of Science funds research at DOE’s national laboratories, universities and higher education institutions.

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Agencies Issue Joint Cyber Advisory on Threat Actors’ Use of Remote Monitoring & Management Software
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Agencies Issue Joint Cyber Advisory on Threat Actors’ Use of Remote Monitoring & Management Software

The National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center have released a joint advisory urging network defenders to safeguard systems against the malicious use of remote monitoring and management software by cyberthreat actors.

Help desks and managed service providers employ RMM software to provide technical and security support and malicious use of these platforms could enable cybercriminals to bypass common software controls, NSA said Wednesday.

In October 2022, CISA discovered a cyber campaign related to the use of RMM software and found that threat actors sent phishing emails that resulted in the download of legitimate software, which the criminals abused to steal money from bank accounts of victims as part of a refund scam.

According to the agencies, threat actors could exploit legitimate RMM software to target Department of Defense and industrial base networks and national security systems.

The advisory recommends several measures network administrators should take to mitigate cyberthreats, including auditing installed remote access tools to identify RMM software and implementing application controls to prevent unauthorized software execution.

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AT&T Debuts Network-Connected Robotic Dogs for Public & Private Sectors
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AT&T Debuts Network-Connected Robotic Dogs for Public & Private Sectors

AT&T has widened its collection of technology offerings with the addition of network-connected robotic dogs built for use in public safety and defense initiatives.

Developed in collaboration with Ghost Robotics, the dogs are built to be utilized by federal and state agencies, local police and fire departments and private sector clients, Lance Spencer, client executive vice president for defense at AT&T, wrote in a blog post published Tuesday.

With their capacity for network connection, these robotic dogs are able to apply 5G and Internet of Things benefits to a variety of scenarios, a number of which have required putting personnel in risky situations, including search and rescue in dangerous environments.

The dogs are able to access FirstNet, the sole U.S. network for first responders, allowing them to leverage its always-on prioritized network connectivity to enable communications throughout disaster response and recovery, facilities surveillance and security operations.

They can also be used to help execute hazmat initiatives, inspect mines and high-voltage equipment and detect explosive devices, such as improvised explosive devices.

Built to traverse difficult terrains, the robotic dogs can withstand environments that contain sand, rocks, hills, rubble, man-made obstacles such as stairs and bodies of water. They support the use of drones that can launch and return to the dogs’ backs even while they are in motion.

Using AT&T’s Geocast technology, operators have the ability to locate and control the dogs from any location. They are also compatible with sensors that enable autonomous operation.

The U.S. military has already begun adopting these robotic dogs. Currently, dogs equipped with cameras that provide real-time video are being used by the Air Force to patrol the flight line and base perimeter at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida. 

Spencer wrote that AT&T has spoken with the Navy about using robotic dogs with sound cannons installed to ward off dangerous animals that may disrupt crews maintaining telecommunications infrastructure in remote areas of a base.

Long Range Acoustic Devices, which produce noise at high decibels and various frequencies, have already been successfully incorporated with the dogs.

Within the commercial sector, the robotic dogs have been used for facility inspections and to deliver network connectivity into areas beyond its normal reach or mechanical arms.

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