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Former NASA Talent Director Elizabeth Kolmstetter Becomes CISA’s 1st Chief People Officer
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Former NASA Talent Director Elizabeth Kolmstetter Becomes CISA’s 1st Chief People Officer

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has chosen former NASA executive Elizabeth Kolmstetter as its first-ever chief people officer.

The brand new position was established to help CISA’s executive leadership team coordinate with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility, CISA Director Jen Easterly announced Thursday.

Kolmstetter brings 29 years of public service experience to her new role. She is a 13-year member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service, having worked in leadership positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as well as the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Labor’s National Skill Standards Board.

Her most recent post was director of talent strategy and engagement at NASA’s Human Capital Office, wherein Kolmstetter led the creation of programs for people analytics, employee engagement and culture, and workforce strategy and planning. During her tenure, the space agency was deemed the Best Place to Work in Government among large federal agencies for ten consecutive years.

“[Kolmstetter’s] extensive experience in innovating talent management programs that support employee engagement, development, and collaboration make her an ideal executive to lead our important work to build an enduring ‘People First’ culture at CISA,” Easterly commented.

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NSA, CISA Disclose Customer Supply Chain Guidance
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NSA, CISA Disclose Customer Supply Chain Guidance

The National Security Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency of the Department of Homeland Security have unveiled supply chain best practices for customers. 

The document, titled “Securing the Software Supply Chain: Recommended Practices for Customers,” aims to foster communication between software developers, suppliers, customers and cybersecurity professionals that may facilitate streamlining the software supply chain process, NSA said Thursday. 

NSA said customers should examine threats by conducting supply chain risk management activities and define risk profiles during the security requirements process.

Enduring Security Framework is a public-private partnership that issues suggestions for securing the U.S. critical infrastructure and improving national security. The NSA and CISA guidelines were developed via collaboration with ESF.

The framework is the last segment of ESF’s three-part joint publication series. The partnership released a version of the guidance for software developers in September and will debut an edition for software customers in the future.

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BAE Systems Partners with Purisolve to Launch Promoveo Solutions; Al Whitmore Quoted
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BAE Systems Partners with Purisolve to Launch Promoveo Solutions; Al Whitmore Quoted

BAE Systems, a defense, aerospace and security organization has joined forces with Purisolve, an information technology service provider and historically under-utilized business zones-certified small business, to form Promoveo Solutions.

The joint venture was brought about as a result of a U.S. Small Business Administration-approved mentoring arrangement between BAE Systems and Purisolve, the organizations announced from Atlanta, Georgia on Monday.

“Promoveo means to move forward. As the name suggests, with our experience as a leading systems integrator and Purisolve’s expertise in strategic IT support, this JV is poised to provide forward-thinking IT services to the federal government,” commented Al Whitmore, BAE Systems’ Intelligence & Security sector president and a five-time Wash100 Award winner. 

Promoveo’s first initiative will be competing to aid the Department of Treasury utilizing Purisolve’s long-standing relationship with the agency and BAE’s federal contracting experience. The new organization will be based in Atlanta, Georgia and will provide government agencies with an opportunity to meet their small business contracting objectives.

“We are excited about working with BAE Systems and enjoying many years of shared success,” said Purisolve owner and President Wallace Jones.

Promoveo’s collaborative launch with Purisolve follows BAE’s entry into multiple partnerships within the past few years. In August 2021, the enterprise partnered with Sarcos Robotics to develop sensors to enable collaboration between autonomous platforms for the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Earlier that year, BAE worked with Spirent Communications’ federal sector to Spirent’s CRPA Test System in support of the development M-code and additional positioning, navigation and timing applications as ordered by a Defense Logistics Agency contract.

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OSTP Unveils National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy
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OSTP Unveils National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a new strategy outlining S&T objectives to help ensure U.S. leadership in cislunar space and support sustainable and responsible use and exploration of the region.

The National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy comes with four objectives and the first one is the need to support research and development to enable long-term growth in cislunar space, OSTP said Thursday.

Under this objective, OSTP recommends several actions to carry out, such as developing and demonstrating emerging technologies and capabilities that enable an enduring human presence in cislunar space and establishing programs to train and retain diverse future generations of the space workforce.

The other three objectives of the strategy are expanding international S&T cooperation in cislunar space; extending U.S. space situational awareness capabilities into cislunar space; and implementing cislunar communications and positioning, navigation and timing capabilities with scalable and interoperable approaches.

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IT Industry Council Suggests Limiting Scope of CISA’s Cyber Incident Reporting Policy
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IT Industry Council Suggests Limiting Scope of CISA’s Cyber Incident Reporting Policy

The Information Technology Industry Council has published recommendations to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s rulemaking process for the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022.

In response to CISA’s request for information, ITI urged the security agency to examine the domestic and international incident reporting landscape in order to align with federal agencies and non-U.S. alliances.

CIRCIA was signed into law in March to require “covered entities” to alert CISA of data breaches and ransomware payments so that it can immediately respond, analyze the report and share information to warn other potential targets.

Within the scope of “covered entities,” the council suggested that CISA only include multinational companies’ U.S. subsidiaries, as well as products and services that are considered critical infrastructure. Third-party manufacturers of consumer products should be excluded, according to the recommendations.

“Covered cyber incident” should be limited to severe and significant attacks resulting in actual loss or disruption of U.S.-based networks, ITI said. The definition should concentrate on an incident’s cybersecurity consequences or impacts on frequently used platforms or cross-sector dependencies, the council commented.

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DHS Works on ECLIPS Cloud Services Procurement Program
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DHS Works on ECLIPS Cloud Services Procurement Program

Beth Cappello, deputy chief information officer of the Department of Homeland Security, said DHS is working on a new contract vehicle that will enable its component agencies to procure cloud capabilities, FCW reported Thursday.

Cappello issued the Enterprise CLoud Infrastructure Provider Suite program will provide the 22 DHS components with a streamlined process for ordering cloud infrastructure services.

DHS plans to award up to eight cloud service providers or resellers spots on the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which will have a five-year base period of performance along with both a three-year and two-year option.

ECLIPS will include infrastructure as a service, software as a service and platform as a service. It will also cover other services such as cloud migration and key management as well as data encryption and multi-cloud environment management. 

AFRL Reopens Renovated Additive Manufacturing Lab
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AFRL Reopens Renovated Additive Manufacturing Lab

The Air Force Research Laboratory welcomed the addition of a novel 3D printing system in its newly-renovated Additive Manufacturing Laboratory, which reopened Nov. 9. 

AFRL allocated around $6 million in funding to cover the costs of the modernization. The renovation aims to cut down expenses, reduce research lead times and enhance the safety of its workers, as well as heighten efficiency and ensure the integrity of manufactured materials, the laboratory said Thursday.

The new 3D printing system was modified with a “fully open software control system” that enables users to implement more control over how feedstock is manipulated by laser beams within the printer so as to produce specific 3D-printed objects.

Among the facility’s new additions is also a computed tomography machine and suite system. The apparatus can be utilized for non-destructive testing of materials produced by additive manufacturing to detect and quantify internal geometry, defects, manufacturing errors and failure modes.

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US-UK Agreement to Advance Fully Networked Command, Control, Communications
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US-UK Agreement to Advance Fully Networked Command, Control, Communications

The U.S. Department of Defense and the U.K. defense ministry have signed an agreement to collaborate on efforts to enhance command and control capabilities.

A statement of intent between DOD and the British defense ministry will advance the development of Fully Networked Command, Control and Communications, a “pathfinder” capability that seeks to achieve collaborative C2 between the two countries through common data, principles, capabilities and interface standards, the Pentagon said Thursday.

FNC3 seeks to advance interoperability to help U.S. and U.K. forces, other allies and mission partners facilitate information sharing for faster decision-making.

Lt. Gen. Mary O’Brien, director of the Joint Staff J6, and Lt. Gen. Tom Copinger-Symes, deputy commander of the U.K. Strategic Command, signed the FNC3 SOI on Nov. 4.

According to DOD, the Joint All-Domain Command and Control initiative of the U.S. and Multi-Domain Integration Change Program of the U.K. play a key role in advancing collaborative C2.

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Treasury Recommends Additional Oversight for Bank-Fintech Relationships to Address Market Risks
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Treasury Recommends Additional Oversight for Bank-Fintech Relationships to Address Market Risks

The Department of the Treasury has released a new report on the impact of new entrant non-bank firms on competition in consumer finance markets and provided recommendations on how to address risks associated with the emergence of new financial technology companies.

In the report, Treasury found that fintech firms are creating new risks to market integrity and recommended that regulators develop “a clear and consistently applied supervisory framework” to oversee relationships between banks and fintech companies.

The report also recommended that a bank-fintech relationship that offers consumer financial services provided by an insured depository institution comply with the regulatory requirements applicable to the IDI.

Treasury also noted that fintech firms are presenting risks to consumer protection and data privacy and suggested that regulators provide robust supervision of bank-fintech lending relationships.

Janet Yellen, secretary of Treasury, said that the entrance of non-bank companies has boosted competition and innovation in the consumer finance markets but it does not “come without additional risks to consumer protection and market integrity.”

“This report lays out actions that would maintain fair, transparent, and competitive markets while encouraging responsible innovation that benefits consumers,” Yellen continued.

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DARPA Triage Challenge to Promote Tech Use in Medical Response to Mass Casualty Incidents
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DARPA Triage Challenge to Promote Tech Use in Medical Response to Mass Casualty Incidents

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a three-year competition focused on improving emergency medical response in military and civilian mass casualty incidents.

The DARPA Triage Challenge aims to drive innovation that can aid medical personnel in the prioritization and acceleration of care in the case of MCI, the agency said Wednesday.

The $7 million challenge will be divided into primary triage-real world, primary triage-virtual, and secondary triage segments, each with a duration of 12 months. Some of the participants will be self-funded, others will be financed by DARPA and all teams can join one or multiple competitions.

The agency expects to see the use of technologies that can help identify casualties requiring the most urgent treatment and subsequently predict whether immediate lifesaving interventions are necessary. The competitors may use sensors, unmanned aircraft vehicles, algorithms and real-time data analytics.

“The DARPA Triage Challenge will gather communities with expertise in triage and emergency medical response, tactical combat casualty care, trauma physiology and a diverse array of physiological signatures and sensor and algorithm technologies that will continue to deliver innovative technologies that support medical responders beyond the Challenge,” explained U.S. Navy Commander and DTC Program Manager Jean-Paul Chretien.

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