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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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NGA Awards G-EGD Contract Renewal to Maxar Technologies for Mission-Ready Satellite Imagery; CEO Dan Jablonsky Quoted
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NGA Awards G-EGD Contract Renewal to Maxar Technologies for Mission-Ready Satellite Imagery; CEO Dan Jablonsky Quoted

Maxar Technologies announced on Tuesday that the company has received an Option Year 3 contract renewal from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for a total value of $176 million, which began on Sept. 1st, 2022.

Under the renewal contract award, Maxar will support the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (G-EGD) program and continue providing over 400,000 government users with unclassified, online and offline, on-demand access to high-resolution commercial imagery.

“As the provider of G-EGD, Maxar is proud to help advance the U.S. government’s long history of providing global security and humanitarian initiatives with geospatial data and imagery,” said Dan Jablonsky, president and CEO of Maxar as well as a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient.

Since 2011, the G-EGD program has enabled warfighters, first responders, intelligence analysts and civil government users to tap into Maxar’s 125-petabyte imagery archive and daily imagery collections for time-sensitive, mission-critical planning and operations.

During G-EGD Option Year 2, NGA developed a roadmap to integrate five commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data providers into the G-EGD platform by the end of 2023.

“G-EGD has been instrumental in enabling NGA to provide unclassified access to satellite imagery for a wide range of U.S. government users and partners,” Jablonsky explained.

Maxar’s G-EGD team also offers monthly training webinars to educate government users on how to access and make the best use of the program. Click here to learn more.

About Maxar Technologies

Maxar Technologies is a provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence. We deliver disruptive value to government and commercial customers to help them monitor, understand and navigate our changing planet; deliver global broadband communications; and explore and advance the use of space.

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DHS Becomes 1st Federal Agency to Adopt EV for Law Enforcement; John Tien Quoted
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DHS Becomes 1st Federal Agency to Adopt EV for Law Enforcement; John Tien Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security has debuted its first battery electric vehicle customized for use in law enforcement missions.

The upfitted Ford Mustang Mach-E will be assigned to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers’ office in Cheltenham, Maryland, the department said Monday.

“DHS is proud to be the first Federal agency to upfit a battery electric vehicle for law enforcement use. As we ramp up EV adoption, we are excited to see how this and other EVs perform for our mission,” said Homeland Security Deputy Secretary John Tien.

The transition to BEVs is part of the department’s climate action plan to reduce carbon footprint through water resilience, fleet electrification and other sustainability initiatives.

DHS completed the EV customization work in accordance with Federal Protective Service standards in April. 

FPS is currently conducting controlled performance benchmarking and cybersecurity assessments of the Mach-E to identify and address potential risks posed by converting the FPS fleet into electric vehicles.

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OSTP Releases Technical Evaluation for Potential Central Bank Digital Currency System
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OSTP Releases Technical Evaluation for Potential Central Bank Digital Currency System

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued a report that outlines the policy objectives for a U.S. central bank digital currency and presents an analysis of technical design choices for a CBDC system in accordance with a March executive order on digital assets.

The report also analyzes how such technical design choices would impact the policy objectives for CBDC platform, the White House said Friday.

Some of the policy objectives listed in the report are providing benefits and mitigating risks for consumers, investors and businesses; promoting economic growth and financial stability and mitigating systemic risks; and improving payment systems.

The document touches on the feasibility of establishing a minimum viable product for the system and discusses how a CBDC may impact federal operations with a focus on privacy and cybersecurity, social safety net programs and customer experience.

OSTP said the report offers recommendations on how to prepare federal agencies for a CBDC implementation.

The document recommends that the Federal Reserve continue research and experimentation work related to CBDC systems and calls on OSTP and the National Science Foundation to come up with a research-and-development agenda for digital assets to further promote innovation in support of the Federal Reserve’s initiatives.

The report also recommends that the federal government scale up technological capacity, infrastructure and expertise to mitigate risks associated with digital assets.

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GovCon Expert Emily Murphy: Congress Should Reauthorize Small Business Innovation Research Program
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GovCon Expert Emily Murphy: Congress Should Reauthorize Small Business Innovation Research Program

Emily Murphy, senior fellow at the George Mason University School of Business’ Center for Government Contracting and former head of the General Services Administration, said Congress should reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research program to ensure that the Department of Defense and other federal agencies have continued access to critical technologies.

GovCon Expert Emily Murphy, a three-time Wash100 Award winner, wrote in a commentary published Monday on Defense News that Congress should foster collaboration and establish a framework for future research and development by encouraging agencies to share outcomes from previous SBIR awards.

Lawmakers should also advance the use of open topics for early-stage awards under the SBIR program to attract small businesses that have not taken part in government contracting.

She said open topics ask applicants what research work could benefit a specific agency program.

“SBIR awards should be based on merit and promote national security, transparency and innovation,” Murphy said. “A formula attempting to quantify how many times a business may iterate its innovation to achieve success is dangerous because it takes away the ability of an agency to judge whether sufficient progress is being made,” she added.

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Lt. Gen. Scott McKean: Army’s Project Convergence to Feature Joint Combat Tech
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Lt. Gen. Scott McKean: Army’s Project Convergence to Feature Joint Combat Tech

Lt. Gen. Scott McKean, deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Futures Command, said a forthcoming all-service exercise will focus on experimenting joint multinational combat technologies and futuristic defense capabilities.

Project Convergence 2022 will involve not only U.S. special operations forces, but also service members, researchers and industry partners from the U.K. and Australia, the command said Monday.

“Using existing and emerging technologies from space to land and sea, PC22 will experiment with capabilities that protect against air and missile threats as well as those that will allow us to defeat anti-access defenses,” said McKean, who serves as the event’s director this year.

About 300 technology platforms such as unmanned aerial systems, next-generation sensors and autonomous fighting vehicles will be part of the event.

McKean added military participants seek to shine a light on Joint All-Domain Command and Control development efforts by showcasing the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System and the Navy’s Project Overmatch.

The Army plans to introduce the PC22 Technology Gateway, an industry engagement initiative that would enable the service branch to assess new military technologies from the private sector.

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Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey Named Air Force Integrating PEO for C3 and Battle Management
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Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey Named Air Force Integrating PEO for C3 and Battle Management

The Department of the Air Force has announced the appointment of Brig. Gen. Luke Cropsey, director of the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate, as the first integrating program executive officer for command, control, communications and battle management.

Cropsey will directly report to Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s service acquisition executive, and work with Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space integration, as he oversees the Advanced Battle Management System and C3BM integration and modernization efforts, the Air Force said Monday.

“Luke’s charge will be to build the organizational infrastructure to solve the complex systems engineering and integration challenge for C3BM across the DAF and externally, and he will be empowered as the leader to make this happen,” Hunter said.

Cropsey will help DAF coordinate with the office of the secretary of defense and other service branches as it contributes to the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control development and deployment initiatives.

Hunter will also name a new chief of engineering for the integrating PEO for C3BM to lead system engineering efforts.

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L3Harris Partners with Embraer on Aerial Refuel Tanker for USAF; CEO Christopher Kubasik Quoted
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L3Harris Partners with Embraer on Aerial Refuel Tanker for USAF; CEO Christopher Kubasik Quoted

Defense contracting company L3Harris Technologies is working on a new aerial fueling technology in collaboration with aerospace component manufacturer Embraer.

The “Agile Tanker” tool will build on a prior Embraer-made tactical tanker aircraft and is designed to enable the operational imperative objectives of the U.S. Air Force, the Melbourne, Florida-headquartered company said Monday.

“U.S. Air Force strategic planners have stated agile combat employment will require refueling platforms optimized to support a disaggregated approach to air dominance in contested logistics environments,” explained Christopher Kubasik, CEO and chairman of L3Harris.

Kubasik, who is a multiple-time recipient of the Wash100 Award, also said that partnering with Embraer will produce a financially viable product with a fast turnaround.

Together, L3Harris and Embraer plan to optimize and evolve the latter company’s KC-390 Millennium tanker model with new boom operations and mission systems that can assist with agile basing and preservation in difficult-to-navigate environments. The new tanker will additionally be built to connect with Joint All Domain Command and Control apparatuses, which are a focus in the aforementioned Air and Space Forces’ operational imperatives.

The KC-390 Millennium is crafted to function in a range of mission types. The latest edition will harness the L3Harris team’s status as an aircraft missionization prime alongside Embraer’s jet-powered hardware to attempt to best serve the needs of the Department of Defense and the USAF.

The aerial vessel is already, pre-update, able to intake fuel, refuel aircrafts with a variable speed drogue, as well as take off and descend onto small and unconventional runways, so that its application can be as widespread and versatile as possible.

Production of the new model will be finalized in the U.S., with post-production modernization and missionization conducted at the L3Harris aircraft modification facility in Waco, Texas.

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Maximus Brings on DHS Expert Jennifer Ferreira to Oversee National Security Expansion; Scott Barr Quoted
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Maximus Brings on DHS Expert Jennifer Ferreira to Oversee National Security Expansion; Scott Barr Quoted

Jennifer Ferreira, an executive formerly with General Dynamics Information Technology, has been appointed vice president of business development at Maximus, with an emphasis on working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

In her new role, Ferreira will be part of a push advocating for the usage of technologies like cybersecurity, machine learning and artificial intelligence while concentrating on growing and further fleshing out Maximus’ national security business, the McLean, Virginia-based company said Monday.

Scott Barr, senior vice president for technology and consulting services at Maximus, described that Ferreira’s hire is part of an effort to expand the market reach of the company into the national security sector, informed by the Maximus team’s grasp of the business operations and technology that DHS and other similar agencies are seeking.

Barr also said he thinks Ferreira “will be a huge asset,” while John Mandell, managing director of national security at Maximus, praised Ferreira’s career history, which includes numerous experiences working with DHS and her specific knowledge of “how to implement digital transformation to deliver better services, improving the ability to secure the homeland.”

In past jobs, Ferreira has conducted consulting services to DHS entities like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and Intelligence & Analysis, as well as Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

During her over a decade of work in the government contracting field, the newly instated executive has worked as a lead associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, a senior manager at Deloitte and a program manager at SRA, a CSRA company. She is reportedly particularly skilled in analytical and strategic planning and team-building.

Most recently, Ferreira was a program director and, subsequently, a business development director at GDIT, where she led all related DHS, CBP and ICE activities.

Her appointment follows an influx of new additions to Maximus’ team this year. Among others, Marie Russell came aboard as VP of federal alliances in August; Robert Knapp joined as SVP of digital government solutions in June; and Barr came to the company in March.

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Senate Confirms Nathaniel Fick as Head of State Department’s Cyberspace, Digital Policy Bureau
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Senate Confirms Nathaniel Fick as Head of State Department’s Cyberspace, Digital Policy Bureau

The Senate has unanimously confirmed Nathaniel Fick to serve as ambassador at large for cyberspace and digital policy at the State Department.

Fick will head the newly established Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy and coordinate the nation’s response to international cyberthreats, Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said in a statement published Thursday.

“Our country has lagged behind in shaping policies beyond our shores to defend us in this war without borders. I hope that ends today. This unanimous confirmation is a testament to the importance of the role and to Nate’s impressive qualifications,” King said.

Fick most recently led the information security business of technology company Elastic as a general manager and served as CEO of cybersecurity software developer Endgame. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantry and reconnaissance officer.

The Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy became operational in April as recommended by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to coordinate the State Department’s cyber-related diplomacy and policy initiatives.

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