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Navy Reservists Patch Network Vulnerabilities During Cyber Operation
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Navy Reservists Patch Network Vulnerabilities During Cyber Operation

A team from the U.S. Navy Reserve successfully resolved vulnerabilities within unclassified computer networks of the service branch during an annual U.S. Fleet Cyber Command operation.

This year’s Operation Cyber Dragon, which was held from March to August, demonstrates how Reserve Sailors could be useful in defending Navy assets, the command said Thursday.

The exercise, led by Chief Warrant Officer Scott Bryson, involved more than 100 reservists within and outside the command who were chosen regardless of technical knowledge in information technology. 

“Whether it’s a commercial business, military or government, your attack surface varies all the time from malicious hackers that are trying to poke and prod you. We’re always going to have vulnerabilities,” Bryson said.

He noted the team identified and resolved nearly all gaps that exposed the systems from outside threats.

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FTC Stretches Deadline for Public Comment on Proposed Commercial Surveillance Rulemaking
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FTC Stretches Deadline for Public Comment on Proposed Commercial Surveillance Rulemaking

The Federal Trade Commission voted to extend the deadline for submitting public comments regarding the need for new risk mitigation rules for commercial surveillance and lax data security practices.

Input will be accepted until Nov. 21 for the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the potential harm of collecting and analyzing consumer information for commercial purposes, the FTC said Friday.

The ANPR was initially launched in August in response to research indicating that commercial surveillance practices have adverse social and mental health effects.

Such monitoring activity has also been linked to data breaches, discrimination and manipulation, the commission added.

Four members of the FTC voted in favor of the deadline extension, overruling one opposition and one abstention.

The agency will post responses on Regulations.gov.

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Riverside Research Lands Follow-On Microelectronics R&D Contract With Air Force
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Riverside Research Lands Follow-On Microelectronics R&D Contract With Air Force

Riverside Research has secured a $49.4 million follow-on contract from the U.S. Air Force to continue research and development work aimed at securing microelectronics and embedded architectures in military weapon systems.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, which was announced Friday by the Department of Defense, covers R&D services under the second iteration of the Microelectronics and Embedded System Assurance effort.

The nonprofit company has supported the MESA program since 2015 through its position on a $48 million multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract.

For the follow-on award, the Air Force Research Laboratory is obligating nearly $651,000 in fiscal year 2022 R&D funds.

Work will take place at Riverside Research’s facility in Arlington, Virginia, and at Wright-Patterson AF Base in Ohio. The Pentagon expects contract work to conclude by Jan. 14, 2028.

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Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch on Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-SHORAD System
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Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch on Army’s Directed Energy Maneuver-SHORAD System

Lt. Gen. Robert Rasch, head of the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office, said RCCTO will keep a 50-kilowatt laser weapon version of the service’s Stryker-based Short-Range Air Defense system, dubbed Directed Energy Maneuver-SHORAD, in the development phase longer than planned as the office continues to learn and mature the technology, Defense News reported Friday.

“We want to make sure when we actually transition a program or a capability that we mature not just the prototype from an operational capability but have a good competitive space and good manufacturability processes in place as well to make that PEO successful,” Rasch told the publication in an interview.

He said he expects the Directed Energy Maneuver-SHORAD system to become a program of record in fiscal year 2024 before the program executive office for missiles and space assumes responsibility for the effort in FY 2025.

Rasch noted that the Army intends to launch a competition before transitioning the program to the PEO “but those are still decisions ahead … where we kind of want to leave some decision space for Army senior leaders.”

He said the service intends to deliver the first batch of 50KW laser weapon-equipped Stryker vehicles to a unit of warfighters at Fort Sill in Oklahoma by the end of 2022.

“We’ll be getting those within the next month, month-and-a-half … so we are in final build and final integration … but we’re making sure our industry partners get it right before we give it to the soldiers,” Rasch added.

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Space Force to Use SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy for USSF-44 National Security Mission
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Space Force to Use SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy for USSF-44 National Security Mission

SpaceX and Space Systems Command are preparing to launch later in October the U.S. Space Force-44 mission aboard the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

USSF-44 will lift off from a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deploy multiple satellites into orbit as part of the National Security Space Launch program and for Space Systems Command’s Innovation and Prototyping Delta, SSC said Friday.

In 2019, the first Falcon Heavy rocket took off and fielded 24 experimental satellites as part of the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program.

“This will be our first NSSL Falcon Heavy, and the first Falcon Heavy since STP-2 over three years ago,” said Col. Douglas Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for assured access to space at SSC.

“Our launch and mission assurance team and SpaceX, along with the fantastic crew at Space Launch Delta 45, have done an absolutely superb job preparing this rocket. We put important national capabilities into space to address the threat, and working together we ensure one hundred percent mission success,” added Pentecost.

SpaceX intends to recover and refurbish the side boosters for the upcoming launch with the Space Force later in 2022.

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NTT Data to Acquire Data Analytics Firm Aspirent; Wayne Busch Quoted
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NTT Data to Acquire Data Analytics Firm Aspirent; Wayne Busch Quoted

NTT DATA announced on Thursday that the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atlanta-based Aspirent, a leading data, analytics and advisory firm.

The acquisition supports and enhances NTT DATA’s strategy to be the preferred digital innovation partner for enterprises globally, which will add over 230 data advisors and technologists to the company’s digital transformation services team and bolster its data engineering capabilities.

“As we help our clients navigate critical business challenges through the use of data, this acquisition expands and strengthens NTT DATA’s analytics and advisory capabilities,” said Wayne Busch, Group President of Consulting and Digital Transformation for NTT DATA Services.

“Aspirent continues our targeted focus on becoming a trusted advisor for our clients following our acquisitions of Hashmap and Chainalytics,” he added.

Aspirent CEO Andrew Wells shared his excitement to apply more than a decade of solving complex data-driven business challenges with their customers, the opportunity to join NTT and strengthen the company’s will provide the ability to deliver end-to-end global solutions and bring exciting new opportunities to our colleagues and communities.

Aspirent clients and employees will benefit from access to NTT DATA’s powerhouse of innovation resources and broader digital transformation capabilities including a $3.6 billion average annual R&D investment.

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MDA Awards System High Corporation $150M Contract for Missile, Security Systems Work; Sarah Lord Quoted
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MDA Awards System High Corporation $150M Contract for Missile, Security Systems Work; Sarah Lord Quoted

Defense technology contracting company System High Corporation has landed a $150 million contract from the Missile Defense Agency calling for security-related assistance and other weapons system support.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee level-of-effort award expects System High to aid the MDA’s missile defense systems through counterintelligence activities, testing and maintenance and various evaluations. While it was awarded in August, the Chantilly, Virginia-headquartered organization announced the contract on Friday.

Sarah Lord, chief operating officer of System High, reported that the company was “honored” to continue an ongoing collaboration with the MDA, with which its cross-disciplinary team has worked for a number of years on other projects.

During the fulfillment of their MDA contract, System High personnel will be stationed in several states: Alabama, Colorado, Alaska, New Mexico, Virginia, California and Hawaii.

Work duties within the contract’s allotted timespan will find System High developing and executing as well as performing upkeep on domestic and international security initiatives. They will handle emergency administration needs and attend to special security office demands while proposing new security strategies.

Additionally, System High is slated to offer both advisory and technical services to the MDA aimed to enable multifaceted, consolidated missile defense apparatuses.

In the past, System High has partnered with organizations such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency conducting security and intelligence efforts. Their new MDA contract will draw on this experience.

Notably, Doug Kumbalek, chief strategy officer and executive vice president at System High, engaged in an Executive Spotlight interview at ExecutiveBiz in August, around the time the MDA contract was presented. During the talk, Kumbalek explained that for the last nearly two years, System High has worked as the prime contractor on an MDA enterprise security and program protection project.

“We’re thrilled to build upon our mission partnerships with Government leaders at MDA and our engineers and security professionals’ ability to best protect those missions. We continue to build from a strong base of engagement and collaboration across the enterprise,” Kumbalek stated.

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NATO to Create Review Board for Responsible AI, Data Projects
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NATO to Create Review Board for Responsible AI, Data Projects

NATO defense ministers have agreed to stand up a review board to oversee the responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence and data projects across the intergovernmental alliance.

The AI and data review board will be primarily tasked with developing a certification standard that outlines quality controls, risk mitigation processes and other procedures to ensure that new AI and data efforts comply with NATO’s Principles of Responsible Use, the organization said Thursday.

The board will also serve as a platform for NATO innovators to exchange best practices for implementing AI in various areas such as cyber defense, imagery analysis and climate change.

In addition to the establishment of the board, NATO has approved its first vision to accelerate digital transformation efforts to enable multi-domain operations, interoperability for multidomain operations, improved situational awareness and data-driven decision making by 2030.

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NIST Seeks Industry Input on CHIPS Incentives, Semiconductor Institute Development
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NIST Seeks Industry Input on CHIPS Incentives, Semiconductor Institute Development

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is seeking public feedback on two programs that aim to incentivize local semiconductor manufacturers and create new regional institutes to boost the semiconductor research and development in the U.S.

NIST said Thursday the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Act authorized the implementation of the CHIPS Incentives program and the potential development of up to three new Manufacturing USA institutes focused on semiconductor manufacturing.

For the CHIPS Incentives initiative, NIST solicits public input on how to develop the structure of grants, loans and loan guarantees; design taxpayer protections to ensure appropriate use of CHIPS funds; and identify the most effective types of investments to promote inclusive economic growth.

The agency also wants industry to comment on the potential research focus areas, structure and governance and co-investment strategies of the new semiconductor institutes.

The requests for information on the CHIPS Incentives and Manufacturing USA programs are posted on the Federal Register and responses are due Nov. 14 and 28 respectively.

“It is critically important to our prosperity and national security that we reestablish our leadership role in semiconductor manufacturing,” said Laurie Locascio, undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology and director of NIST.

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Federal IT Leader Chezian Sivagnanam Joins FDIC as Chief Architect
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Federal IT Leader Chezian Sivagnanam Joins FDIC as Chief Architect

Chezian Sivagnanam, a former National Science Foundation executive with more than 20 years of digital transformation experience, has been appointed to serve as chief architect at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

In a LinkedIn post, Sivagnanam shared that he joined the agency after serving as chief enterprise architect at NSF where he advised the chief information officer on the planning and coordination of information technology strategy, vision, management and governance.

Prior to joining the government sector, Sivagnanam spent more than a decade in the private industry, holding various roles at companies including BearingPoint, Blue Canopy, Compuware and Deloitte.

The new FDIC official holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the College of Engineering at Anna University.

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