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GAO: Pentagon, ODNI Need to Clarify Roles, Responsibilities for Commercial Satellite Imagery Acquisition
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GAO: Pentagon, ODNI Need to Clarify Roles, Responsibilities for Commercial Satellite Imagery Acquisition

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence establish clear roles and responsibilities for the acquisition of commercial satellite imagery and evaluate various approaches to emerging commercial satellite capabilities.

GAO made the recommendation after it found that there is no guidance outlining organizational responsibilities and roles across DOD and the Intelligence Community for procuring commercial satellite imagery, according to a report published Wednesday.

The congressional watchdog also found that the Pentagon and IC have not come up with an approach to integrate emerging commercial satellite imagery capabilities into geospatial-intelligence operations.

“Without doing so, the U.S. may lose ground in space to competitors such as China, and the U.S. commercial industry may be limited in their ability to compete with foreign competitors,” the GAO report reads.

According to the report, DOD and ODNI should ensure that the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency develop performance goals and measures that help support efforts to maximize the use of commercial satellite imagery.

GAO also called on ODNI to create guidance outlining specific responsibilities and roles for analytics services that use remote sensing data.

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Commerce Department’s Rule Seeks to Ensure US Companies’ Involvement in Standards Development Efforts
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Commerce Department’s Rule Seeks to Ensure US Companies’ Involvement in Standards Development Efforts

The Department of Commerce’s bureau of industry and security has introduced an interim final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations to permit the release of software and certain technologies in the context of standards-related activities.

“U.S. stakeholders need to be fully engaged in international standards organizations, particularly where the critical but sometimes invisible standards that they set have important national security as well as commercial implications,” Alan Estevez, undersecretary of Commerce for industry and security, said in a statement published Thursday.

“Today’s rule provides much needed clarification to U.S. industry and other organizations that will allow for continued U.S. leadership in these critical bodies,” added Estevez.

The rule seeks to address concerns of U.S. industry stakeholders about whether a BIS license is required to issue low-level tech platforms to parties on the Entity List for standards development initiatives.

The bureau is soliciting public comments on the rule and will accept feedback through Nov. 8.

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William Burns: Declassifying Intelligence Over Russia’s Actions in Ukraine ‘Effective’
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William Burns: Declassifying Intelligence Over Russia’s Actions in Ukraine ‘Effective’

CIA Director William Burns, a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said the White House’s decision to declassify intelligence to counter Russia’s false narratives has played a key role in the war in Ukraine, Defense One reported Thursday.

“The decisions to declassify intelligence are always very complicated ones, but I think when President [Joe] Biden has decided very carefully and very selectively to make public some of our secrets, it’s played a very effective role over the course of the last six months, and I think it can continue to—again, if we make it the exception, not the rule,” Burns said Thursday during a cybersecurity summit.

He noted that declassification of intelligence has limits when it comes to cybersecurity threats and needs to be carried out “carefully.”

“I think we’re gonna have to be careful looking at other instances, whether it’s in terms of cyber threats or other kinds of challenges that the United States and our allies will face in the future,” Burns said.

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Shelley Sanders Tapped to Oversee Customer Relations as SVP at Intelligent Waves; CEO Tony Crescenzo Quoted
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Shelley Sanders Tapped to Oversee Customer Relations as SVP at Intelligent Waves; CEO Tony Crescenzo Quoted

Shelley Sanders, a former CACI executive, has been named senior vice president of client operations at the fast-growing government contracting firm Intelligent Waves.

In her new role, Sanders will be in charge of overseeing IW’s customer relations through the administration of proactive, outwardly-focused program and project management departments, the Reston, Virginia-headquartered company said Friday.

“We are thrilled to add Shelley Sanders, a high-caliber industry professional with a proven track record and profound understanding of IW’s growth objectives, to our executive management team,” commented Tony Crescenzo, CEO and president of IW.

The newly hired executive’s career began in the U.S. Army, serving in the Special Operations Command. Subsequently, she spent time at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, earning a Top Secret / SCI security clearance and accruing experience that would eventually inform her stint working closely with the U.S. Intelligence Community at CACI.

Sanders rose the ranks from program manager to vice president during her total of six years with CACI. She liaised with customers in the IC as well as the Department of Defense and other national government-level agencies, aiming to enable digital transformation for national security and government processes.

Sanders reportedly brings a deep knowledge of government and acquisition policies and procedures to IW, along with an expertise in program and portfolio management and execution; technology infrastructure management; and capture and business development.

Her cross-functional team partnerships have produced top and bottom line growth, which are slated to complement the growth IW has already seen during the last year. She is skilled in budget management and is known to handle contracts exceeding $100 million in value and direct several programs in a portfolio at once.

The appointment of Sanders follows a couple of key personnel changes within IW’s executive leadership team in 2022. In June, Amy Wood was promoted to chief financial officer and in January, Crescenzo rose to the CEO position in place of the company’s founder Jared Shepard (who is still its current board chair).

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Dynetics Successfully Launches Lonestar Satellite Payload for USASMDC; Group President Steve Cook Quoted
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Dynetics Successfully Launches Lonestar Satellite Payload for USASMDC; Group President Steve Cook Quoted

Dynetics announced on Thursday that the wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos has successfully launched the Lonestar tactical space support vehicle from Mojave Air and Space Port, as a payload aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne, for the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC).

“The successful contact of our satellite in orbit is a substantial milestone for our team and the years of work supporting critical national security missions in space,” said Leidos Dynetics Group President Steve Cook.

Lonestar, a technology demonstrator designed to provide space-based situational awareness directly into the hands of the tactical warfighter, was developed, tested, integrated and delivered the tactical space support vehicle (TSSV) through the Design, Development, Demonstration and Integration (D3I), Domain 1 task order.

The Lonestar team verified the payload mission software through a series of tests that ensured functional operation of the payload flight hardware through Dynetic’s expertise in space systems and high-performance signal processing applications enabled rapid development. As well as its use of hardware-in-the-loop testing and simulation.

“This will enable further development for our growing satellite capabilities and accelerate our customer’s national security mission in space,” Cook added.

Dynetics completed the on-orbit satellite and payload checkouts with the USASMDC payload development laboratory on the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The laboratory provides ground systems for command and telemetry to the satellite. The payload is operational and ready to support the situational awareness mission for the warfighter.

About Dynetics 

Dynetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Leidos, provides responsive, cost-effective engineering, scientific, IT solutions to national security, cybersecurity, space and critical infrastructure sectors. Our portfolio features highly specialized technical services and a range of software and hardware products, including components, subsystems and complex end-to-end systems.

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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Urgency of Cybersecurity for Threats to IoT Devices
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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Urgency of Cybersecurity for Threats to IoT Devices

Chuck Brooks, a highly esteemed cybersecurity leader as well as an influential member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, recently published a feature on Aug. 30th exploring how threat actors are exploiting vulnerabilities in machine learning and artificial intelligence tools as well as software and hardware gaps, especially in IoT devices. 

In his most recent feature article with Security Info Watch, GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks anticipates that more than 30 billion IoT connections will be in our hands by 2025, which includes trillions of sensors connecting and interacting on these devices.

“The growing reality is that hackers are seeking out unsecured ports and systems on companies and especially industrial systems connected to the Internet,” GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks explained. “But there are several immediate potential remedies to those threats.”

During the feature, Brooks provided his insights into the necessary work to protect hardware components of the network as well as separating signals that pose threats to devices, finding the hidden devices in the network, fortifying the platform with threat mitigation and more.

“In the scheme of cybersecurity things, it is all about fortifying vulnerabilities and closing gaps that criminal hackers might exploit,” Chuck Brooks added. 

“Hardware risks cannot afford to be neglected in today’s cyber-threat landscape. Companies need to secure both software and hardware that are the Ying Yang of Cybersecurity.”

About GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks

Chuck Brooks, president of Brooks Consulting International, is a globally recognized thought leader and subject matter expert in Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies. 

Chuck is also Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown University’s Graduate Cybersecurity Risk Management Program where he teaches courses on risk management, homeland security technologies, and cybersecurity. 

He is also IEEE Cyber Security for Next Generation Connectivity Systems for Quantum IOT Vice-Chair and serves as the Quantum Security Alliance Chair for IoT. LinkedIn named Chuck one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn.”

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CENTCOM Plans Development of New Military Testing Facility in Saudi Arabia
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CENTCOM Plans Development of New Military Testing Facility in Saudi Arabia

U.S. Central Command is planning to establish a new facility in Saudi Arabia that will test new military technologies designed to counter threats posed by unmanned aerial vehicles, NBC reported Wednesday.

The military testing facility, which is still in the early planning stage, will be called Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center and is envisioned to support the development and testing of air and missile defense capabilities.

Defense officials familiar with the matter said the exact location of the facility has not been finalized but acknowledged that Saudi Arabia has the space needed to test signal-jamming, directed energy and other electronic warfare capabilities without interfering with the civilian population.

CENTCOM’s area of responsibility covers the Middle East and Iran, whose ballistic missile arsenal and drone fleet have grown in recent years.

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NSF Selects 16 Teams to Advance 5G Communications for US Military
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NSF Selects 16 Teams to Advance 5G Communications for US Military

The National Science Foundation has selected 16 multidisciplinary teams to develop secure 5G platforms designed to facilitate communication between the U.S. government and critical infrastructure operators as part of an accelerator program.

NSF said Wednesday it collaborated with the Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to invest $12 million in the Convergence Accelerator program’s innovation curriculum titled “Track G: Securely Operating Through 5G Infrastructure.”

The selected teams will work to turn their research ideas into a proof of concept over the next nine months and present formal proposals to be selected for the solution and sustainability development phase of the program that will run for two years.

The awardees are:

  • AT&T 
  • Blackberry 
  • Florida International University 
  • George Mason University 
  • IBM 
  • Novowi 
  • Peraton Labs 
  • Red Balloon Security 
  • SRI International 
  • Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station 
  • University of California San Diego 
  • University of Kansas 
  • University of Michigan 
  • University of Utah

“5G wireless networks are crucial components of the modern communication system and a key aspect of how we operate,” said Amanda Toman, acting principal director for 5G at DOD OUSD(R&E).

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Doc McConnell Named Director of CISA’s Federal Enterprise Improvement Team
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Doc McConnell Named Director of CISA’s Federal Enterprise Improvement Team

Doc McConnell, a cybersecurity professional with combined experience in the federal government and private sector, has been named director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Federal Enterprise Improvement Team (FEIT).

In a LinkedIn post, McConnel said he took on the role in August almost a year after he initially joined the team of advisers tasked with helping individual agencies boost their network defenses.

Prior to joining CISA, McConnell served as a senior adviser for cybersecurity policy at the Office of Management and Budget where he specialized in information technology and cybersecurity workforce development, supply chain risk management and policymaking.

He also worked at the Office of Personnel Management as special assistant to the chief information officer. His industry career included consultant roles at Deloitte and Boyd Caton Group. 

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Air Force Global Strike Command Tests Minuteman III Missile Equipped With Reentry Vehicles
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Air Force Global Strike Command Tests Minuteman III Missile Equipped With Reentry Vehicles

Air Force Global Strike Command held a test launch for an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile carrying reentry vehicles to showcase U.S. nuclear forces preparedness and nuclear deterrent lethality and effectiveness.

AFGSC said Tuesday command airmen fired the ICBM equipped with three test vehicles from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the nuclear deterrent-focused routine and periodic activities of the military.

“These tests show the reliability of our deterrence weapons systems, showcase the continued reliability of the Minuteman III, and the incredible people who make it work,” said Maj. Natalie Quinn, Task Force Commander. “All of these components comprise a system that stands on continuous alert, defending the United States and our allies 24/7.”

The reentry vehicles made it to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a travel distance of approximately 4,200 miles.

Airmen from the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, and 91st Missile Wing at Minot AFB, North Dakota, supported the test launch.

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