Transportation Department, Partners to Boost Small Businesses’ Participation in Infrastructure Projects
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Transportation Department, Partners to Boost Small Businesses’ Participation in Infrastructure Projects

The Department of Transportation has entered into partnerships with the Small Business Administration and Minority Business Development Agency to help small and disadvantaged businesses in the transportation industry pursue work on government infrastructure programs.

Under the partnerships, USDOT aims to provide small and minority-owned businesses with improved access to resources and capital and connect them with large companies and transportation modal representatives from state, federal and municipal agencies.

USDOT signed two memorandums of understanding with SBA to increase the bonding capacity of small transportation businesses and facilitate access to private capital from the Office of Investment and Innovation.

MBDA will work with the department to expand the presence of underrepresented minority business enterprises in national transportation supply chains through data sharing and reporting under a separate MOU.

“These new initiatives with our partners at SBA and MBDA will help more small business owners secure federal contracts to modernize our country’s infrastructure for decades to come,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

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Consultancy Founder Gabe Klein to Head Joint Energy & Transportation Office
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Consultancy Founder Gabe Klein to Head Joint Energy & Transportation Office

Gabe Klein, co-founder of urban change management consulting firm CityFi, has been appointed executive director of a newly formed coordinating organization between the departments of Energy and Transportation, effective Sept. 26.

He will lead efforts at the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation to help the U.S. government deploy a $7.5 billion fund for electric vehicle charging systems nationwide under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DOE said Tuesday.

Under his leadership, the office will aim to help states and localities invest in passenger, heavy-duty and transit vehicles to support the Biden administration’s initiative to ensure underserved communities receive at least 40 percent of gains from climate and clean energy investments by the federal government.

“I will seize the opportunity to steward a critical shift in our transportation economy from fossil fuels to clean, electric energy systems, as there has never been a more important mission in our recent history than solving the climate crisis,” Klein said.

Klein previously served as DOT commissioner in Chicago from 2009 to 2011 and director in Washington, D.C., from May 2011 to December 2013.

He helped the Biden-Harris transition team to develop an all-of-government strategy for fleet electrification.

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Survey: 60% Doubt Federal Cyber Defense Capability
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Survey: 60% Doubt Federal Cyber Defense Capability

Sixty percent of nearly 1,000 Americans from all 50 states who responded to a PC Matic survey do not believe the U.S. government is prepared to defend its assets in the event of a cyber attack.

The 2022 “Americans on Cybersecurity” report showed that public trust in the government’s cybersecurity readiness has eroded by 3 percent compared to last year’s findings, PC Matic said Tuesday.

The number of respondents who believe the federal government should increase measures to protect citizens from internet-based threats increased from 61 percent in 2021 to 66 percent this year.

“In our increasingly reliant cyber world, and especially considering the lack of confidence Americans currently have, preventative cyber technologies must be prioritized and put in place to harden American’s cyber defenses and boost public confidences immediately,” said Rob Cheng, founder and CEO of PC Matic.

PC Matic found public confidence was highest in Washington, D.C., and lowest in Kansas when it comes to state preparedness in information technology security. 

The nationwide survey included IT professionals, 38 percent of whom expressed a lack of confidence in government cyber defense abilities.

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Aerospace Corp. Report: FY23 Budget Request for Space Force Reflects 36% Increase From Enacted FY22 Funding
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Aerospace Corp. Report: FY23 Budget Request for Space Force Reflects 36% Increase From Enacted FY22 Funding

An analysis by The Aerospace Corp.’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy shows that the Biden administration sought a budget of $24.7 billion for the U.S. Space Force for fiscal year 2023, up 36 percent or $6.5 billion from the enacted funding for FY 2022.

The budget request for the upcoming fiscal year highlights the consolidation of defense space activity within the Space Force and growth in missile warning and tracking programs, according to the report.

The center said the transfer of military personnel to the Space Force and the integration of the Space Development Agency with the new service branch represent approximately 53 percent of the requested budget increase for the Space Force.

According to the analysis, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center established by the Space Force in 2021 recommended the development of a constellation of 136 satellites in low-Earth orbit and 16 spacecraft in medium-Earth orbit for missile warning and tracking operations to help the service prepare for advanced missile threats and defend the architecture from such threats.

“Over the next few years, MW/MT programs, given their size and the number of stakeholders reliant on them, will weigh heavily in debates about the future of U.S. space systems. The MW/MT approach may also be a harbinger for broader emphasis within the Pentagon to develop resilient and defendable architectures for other critical space missions,” the report’s conclusion reads.

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Treasury Requests Comments on Digital Asset-Related Illicit Finance Risks; Brian Nelson Quoted
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Treasury Requests Comments on Digital Asset-Related Illicit Finance Risks; Brian Nelson Quoted

The Department of the Treasury is soliciting public feedback on national security and illicit finance risks posed by digital assets in accordance with a recently released action plan and a March executive order on digital assets. 

The department is asking the public to cite illicit finance risks associated with non-fungible tokens, decentralized finance and peer-to-peer payment technologies and suggest additional steps the U.S. government should do to detect, disrupt and deter the misuse of digital assets, according to a Federal Register notice published Tuesday.

The Treasury is also looking for ways on how it can effectively support the integration of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism controls into a potential U.S. central bank digital currency design.

Other questions pertaining to AML/CFT regulation and supervision, global implementation of AML/CFT standards and private sector engagement are also listed in the notice.

“Without appropriate controls and enforcement of existing laws, digital assets can pose a significant risk to national security by facilitating illicit finance, such as money laundering, cybercrime and terrorist actions,” Brian Nelson, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“As we work to implement the Illicit Finance Action Plan, hold bad actors accountable and identify potential gaps in existing enforcement, we look forward to receiving the public’s input on this urgent work,” added Nelson.

Public comments are due Nov. 3.

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Congress Should Formalize Federal Agency CIO Post, GAO Says
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Congress Should Formalize Federal Agency CIO Post, GAO Says

The Government Accountability Office has urged Congress to codify the authorities and responsibilities of the federal chief information officer to drive consistency in the role’s impact on governmentwide information technology functions such as cybersecurity.

In a 77-page report, GSA noted that CIOs at the agency level and in the private sector are more unrestricted in their ability to exercise authority across key information technology management areas than the federal CIO position.

The government audit agency polled 71 industry people holding the role or its equivalent to compare their duties to their government counterparts’ responsibilities outlined in law and guidance set forth by the Office of Management and Budget.

GAO found that while the agency and private sector CIOs assume responsibility and accountability for cybersecurity and IT investments, the federal CIO can only assist or consult for these types of duties.

Federal CIOs are also not required to report to higher-ups compared to agency and private sector CIOs who report to designated heads to ensure effective implementation of IT management responsibilities.

The watchdog recommended OMB to prioritize the development of federal CIOs through collaborations with agency counterparts and other executives as well as initiatives focused on improving managerial skills.

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Air Force Innovation Unit Posts RFI for Autonomy Prime Program
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Air Force Innovation Unit Posts RFI for Autonomy Prime Program

AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of Air Force, has released a request for information for a new Prime program that seeks to accelerate the development and implementation of commercial autonomy technologies for military applications.

Autonomy Prime proposes a proving ground, which will include digital twins, testbed aircraft and modeling and simulation systems, to remove the barriers hindering the rapid testing of autonomy technologies in aircraft, spacecraft and ground vehicles.

“We recognize that many of the technical functions for autonomy apply across a large number of Air Force missions and commercial applications. Finding those overlaps and casting a wide net for solutions enables us to identify the most promising capabilities,” said Lt. Col. Tom Meagher, chief of the AFWERX Prime division.

The service branch said it is looking for sensors, communication technologies, software algorithms and other autonomy platforms ideal for testing and development.

Autonomy Prime builds on the framework of Agility Prime an existing program aimed at accelerating the development of the commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft industry.

“We want to follow the philosophy in Agility Prime of forging new partnerships to accelerate development of dual use technologies and apply it to one of the primary focus areas of the department in the near future – autonomy,” Sterling Alley, technology transition lead of the Prime program.

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DARPA Launches Program to Create AI Capable of Environment-Driven Conceptual Learning
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DARPA Launches Program to Create AI Capable of Environment-Driven Conceptual Learning

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is soliciting proposals for a new program to develop artificial intelligence agents capable of improving the ability of computational systems to analyze large amounts of multimedia.

DARPA said Monday that it has released a broad agency announcement for the Environment-driven Conceptual Learning program aimed at teaching AI to form symbolic representations and reasoning using linguistic and visual input.

ECOLE is a three-phase program that will run for four years. The BAA seeks proposals for the first two, 18-month phases that will focus on creating initial prototype implementations of AI agents and scaling their framework to enable interaction with human analysts.

DARPA will release a subsequent BAA for the 12-month phase three that will cover the development of concerns related to geospatial intelligence workflows.

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Caroline Bean Promoted to Senior Executive Service Position at DISA
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Caroline Bean Promoted to Senior Executive Service Position at DISA

Caroline Bean, acting head of the Defense Information Systems Agency’s Joint Enterprise Services Directorate, has been appointed to permanently assume the position as a senior executive.

Bean’s 20-year career at DISA included various program management roles focused on cloud adoption and enterprise services development and sustainment, the agency said Monday.

She previously served as director of the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions Program and lead engineer and program manager of DISA’s milCloud initiative.

Bean joined DISA in 2002 as a student intern at the agency’s System Support Office in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

“She has continually prioritized evolving current capabilities to meet future mission needs of warfighters,” said Jason Martin, director of DISA’s Digital Capabilities and Security Center.

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Cisco Appoints Veteran Executive Jan Niemiec as VP of National Security and Defense Group
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Cisco Appoints Veteran Executive Jan Niemiec as VP of National Security and Defense Group

Longtime Cisco executive Jan Niemiec has ascended to the role of vice president of the company’s National Security and Defense Group.

As VP of the newly-established NSDG, Niemic will be responsible for helping to administer the creation and implementation of various technology strategies for federal and public sector customers, the San Jose, California-based company said Tuesday.

Expressing his gratitude to the company’s senior leadership team for trusting him with his new role, Niemiec also shared his anticipation to help lay down the foundation for the NSDG.

“I know that we have big tasks ahead of us supporting the government in their most important missions while providing world class solutions in Zero Trust, Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Work,” Niemiec continued.

Niemec will draw on experience accrued from positions like his time as a regional manager for Sun Microsystems and his work as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. Niemiec additionally focused on budgetary concerns while serving the U.S. Air Force.

He began at Cisco in 2004 as an account manager for a prominent client in the U.S. Intelligence Community and has been with the company ever since. In this 18-year span, the newly promoted exec has held roles such as director of sales business development, regional sales director and, prior to his promotion, vice president of sales.

During his time with Cisco he has overseen pipeline development, account strategy and bookings for clients such as the director of National Intelligence, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the defense industrial base.

The NSDG at Cisco is looking to utilize Niemiec’s expertise in government security to bolster its goal to enable the Department of Defense and industrial base to stay competitive. Niemiec will lead a team of technologists, solution engineers, veterans and more conducting intelligence-driven cybersecurity and beyond.

In March, Niemiec spoke with ExecutiveBiz for an Executive Spotlight interview, where he touched on how the company is attempting to address the growing needs of the DOD.

“As we look at the Department of Defense and the supporting agencies, there has been a massive acceleration and having to be able to digitize everything there is. As that’s taking place, it’s accelerating the mission and raising expectations across the board on what can be accomplished,” Niemiec stated.

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