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SDA Rethinks Satellite Procurement Strategy
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SDA Rethinks Satellite Procurement Strategy

The Space Development Agency has announced it is revising its procurement strategy for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

The agency, which is building a constellation or mesh network of hundreds of military satellites, came upon the decision after the results of the initial deployments and feedback from the Government Accountability Office.

Takeaways from Initial Deployment

After the agency launched 27 satellites in 2024 as part of Tranche 0, government auditors from GAO criticized the deployment of the first batch without fully testing laser communication technologies.

According to Gurpartap Sandhoo, a senior advisor at SDA, the main issue with Tranche 0 was the difficulty of integrating satellites from different vendors while ensuring interoperability. The satellites were manufactured for SDA by L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab, Sierra Space and York Space Systems.

Making Adjustments for Future Tranches

SDA now plans to conduct more tests before proceeding with the next phase of the project, which involves the deployment of around 150 satellites in late summer. The agency will also require manufacturers to conduct on-orbit testing before receiving the satellites. Before this, SDA performed the tests and integration of the satellites. Furthermore, the agency intends to hire a contractor to serve as an external integrator for Tranche 3. This dedicated integrator is tasked with making sure all satellites from different manufacturers are compatible from the start.

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Navy Introduces MOSAICS Cybersecurity Framework for Critical Infrastructure
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Navy Introduces MOSAICS Cybersecurity Framework for Critical Infrastructure

The Naval Information Warfare Center has introduced the More Situational Awareness for Industrial Control Systems, or MOSAICS, a cybersecurity approach to safeguard the nation’s critical industrial control systems. NIWC said Thursday that adopting MOSAICS across the Department of Defense would give engineers detailed requirements for designing and building cyber systems for ICS. 

What MOSAICS Can Do

MOSAICS aims to address vulnerabilities in the critical infrastructure sector, which relies on operational technologies that are being targeted by malicious cyber actors who want to disrupt services necessary to every American’s daily life. 

NIWC’s framework protects OT by providing vendor-agnostic, non-proprietary, commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and software in one automated system. 

According to Aleksandra Scalco, former MOSAICS lead systems engineer and current professor at Defense Acquisition University, the framework integrates cyber-monitoring and response protocols directly to physical devices used in the field such as actuators and sensors. The approach enables critical infrastructure operators to actively monitor their assets against adversarial threats. 

“By enabling passive, safe and active ICS monitoring, the MOSAICS framework supports asset owners and operators in defending their systems against cyberattacks,” Scalco said. 

NIWC wants the MOSAICS framework to be implemented as part of the DOD’s Unified Facilities Criteria 1-200-01, DDD Building Code or General Building Requirements.

“These specifications would be part of a comprehensive set of standards and regulations for the design, construction and maintenance of all military facilities, which could help DOD ensure safety, security, durability and functionality for critical ICS,” according to Richard Scalco, senior cybersecurity engineer at NIWC Atlantic.

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Trump Nominates Aaron Lukas as ODNI Principal Deputy Director
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Trump Nominates Aaron Lukas as ODNI Principal Deputy Director

President Donald Trump has nominated Aaron Lukas, a more than two-decade foreign policy and national security official, to serve as principal deputy director of national intelligence.

The Senate Select Intelligence Committee received Lukas’ nomination for the position at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Monday.

Aaron Lukas’ Career Background

Lukas has been serving as a foreign service officer at the State Department for over 21 years.

During Trump’s first term, he was deputy senior director for Europe and Russia at the White House National Security Council.

Prior to joining the White House, he served as chief speechwriter and strategic adviser at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

He spent six years as a policy analyst at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute and served as director of the Prague Office for Students for Central & Eastern Europe for two years.

The Texas A&M University political science and economics graduate has a master’s degree in international relations and affairs from the George Washington University.

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Trump Nominates Anduril’s Michael Obadal as Army Under Secretary
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Trump Nominates Anduril’s Michael Obadal as Army Under Secretary

President Donald Trump has officially nominated Michael Obadal to serve as the next under secretary of the U.S. Army. The White House said Tuesday that it has submitted Obadal’s nomination to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. 

Who Is Michael Obadal?

Obadal is a retired Army colonel who currently serves as senior director at Anduril Industries, a defense company providing advanced technologies to the U.S. and its allies. In December, Anduril secured a $100 million contract from the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office to develop a tactical data mesh system in support of the Open Data and Applications Government-owned Interoperable Repositories, or Open DAGIR, program. 

Before Anduril, Obadal served at the U.S. Army for over 27 years. According to his profile on the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, he started his military career as an attack helicopter officer and was appointed task force leader for Army Special Operations Command and Joint Special Operations Command.

Obadal holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the Virginia Military Institute and earned his master’s degree in national security policy from the U.S. Naval War College.

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DIU to Kick Off Field Testing of Quantum Sensors Under TQS Program
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DIU to Kick Off Field Testing of Quantum Sensors Under TQS Program

The Defense Innovation Unit will demonstrate in the next few months the military applications of quantum sensors across five critical areas as part of the Transition of Quantum Sensing, or TQS, program.

In a statement published Wednesday, Lt. Col. Nicholas Estep, director of the emerging technologies portfolio at DIU, said DIU worked with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Research and Engineering for Quantum and other partners across the services to introduce the TQS program in the summer of 2024.

5 Lines of Effort

“In less than six months, we went from strategy, to source selection and awards, and are now off and executing unique technical solutions across five lines of effort: inertial sensors, gravimeters, magnetic anomaly detection, magnetic navigation, and technology insertions & component development,” Estep noted.

The quantum inertial sensor line of effort, for instance, is focused on two use cases. One is for dynamic, airborne platforms of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force, while the other is for maritime platforms of the U.S. Navy.

For the quantum sensor-based gravimetry line of effort, the U.S. Navy is interested because of the tech area’s suitability for gravity-aided navigation in the maritime domain.

What Is the TQS Program?

The program is organized into five interrelated lines of effort focused on expanding operational competencies and targeting improvements in existing strategic capabilities.

Under the TQS program’s initial phase, DIU and participating companies will conduct more than 10 field tests of quantum sensing applications across air, ground and maritime domains over the next 12 months.

TQS Program’s Acquisition Approach

DIU conducted a competitive solicitation process and awarded other transaction agreements to several companies, including Alare Technologies, Anduril, AOSense, Beacon Photonics, Freedom Photonics, Frequency Electronics, Honeywell, Leidos, Nexus Photonics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Princeton Innotech, Q-CTRL, QuSpin, SubUAS, Twinleaf, Vector Atomic and White River Technologies.

“DIU took a forward-looking programmatic approach when building the TQS project by encouraging teaming arrangements between atypical collaborators, including a diverse mixture of start-ups, non-traditional DoD solution providers, and also traditional defense contractors,” said Estep. 

“The TQS acquisition approach took a holistic view of the end-solution by bringing sensor, software, and platform makers together for prototyping. Additionally, we are incorporating open data standards like ASPN and informing foundational map data products where applicable. This will enable rapid demonstration of operational utility and broad adoption in the DoD community, on the presumption of successful outcomes from this program,” the DIU official added.

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GSA Transfers Subaward Reporting Functions to SAM.gov
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GSA Transfers Subaward Reporting Functions to SAM.gov

The General Services Administration has completed the move of subaward reporting capabilities to SAM.gov as part of efforts to improve the user experience for individuals who report on subaward information and executive compensation data.

GSA said Wednesday that at least 1,750 records have been created in SAM.gov since the launch of the subaward reporting capabilities in the system on March 8.

In November, GSA announced plans to retire FSRS.gov and transfer subaward reporting functions to SAM.gov as part of efforts to consolidate disparate systems used to navigate the federal awards cycle into one unified system and improve federal funding transparency.

What Are the Available Resources to Help With the Transition?

GSA’s Integrated Award Environment, or IAE, offers various resources to help users with the changes, including recordings of live training sessions, how-to-instructional videos and knowledge articles to help users navigate the subaward reporting functions on SAM.gov.

IAE also offers current information on subaward reporting through SAM.gov and hosts an open office hours series to provide a venue for users to ask questions.

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Cybersecurity Advisory Seeks to Defuse Medusa Ransomware Threat
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Cybersecurity Advisory Seeks to Defuse Medusa Ransomware Threat

A newly released joint advisory of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center offers ways to detect and counter the Medusa ransomware. Phishing attacks and targeting vulnerable unpatched software are the common tactics of Medusa actors, CISA said Wednesday.

The 15-page advisory titled “#StopRansomware: Medusa Ransomware” provides a downloadble list of indicators of compromise enumerating the hashes of malicious files that Medusa actors deploy in targeted systems. 

Patching and Other Mitigation Steps

The advisory offers several mitigation measures for immediate deterrence of the ransomware’s activity, such as patching prioritization of internet-facing systems. It also recommends network segmentation to limit lateral movement of breaches from initially infected devices to other units in an organization. Additional protection can be achieved by filtering network traffic to prevent data request access from unknown or untrusted origins, according to the advisory.

Medusa was first tracked in 2021 as a double extortion model encrypting victims with compromising data and threatening to publicize the exfiltrated confidential information if no ransom is paid. CISA noted that the ransomware has perpetrated 300 attacks as of January, with target victims in critical industries, such medical, education, insurance and manufacturing.

In February, CISA and its partners also issued a joint alert and defense measures against the Ghost ransomware targeting internet-facing services operating on outdated software or firmware. 

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Senators Want to Advance US Leadership in Space Exploration
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Senators Want to Advance US Leadership in Space Exploration

Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation have introduced the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2025, which aims to prioritize the space agency’s programs and advance U.S. leadership in deep space exploration.

Sponsored by Democratic and Republican senators, the bill intends to support NASA’s science and exploration missions that would lead to new space discoveries, the Senate panel said Tuesday. The proposal also seeks to prevent a gap in low Earth orbit leadership and uphold scientific ingenuity in the United States.

Refocusing NASA’s Core Priorities

According to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the committee chairman, the bipartisan bill will allow the space industry to flourish, establish a U.S.-led LEO economy and ensure the country will return to the Moon and land first on Mars. “I am committed to refocusing NASA’s efforts on its core priorities—championing space exploration and ensuring American leadership in the final frontier,” he stressed.

The measure would provide programmatic continuity to NASA, protect its independence and deliver the needed funding to ensure the space agency’s mission success, according to Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. “The brilliant minds at NASA deserve our continued, bipartisan support as they work to maintain America’s global leadership in space exploration,” she added.

Strengthening Human Space Exploration

If enacted into law, the Act would advance the development of the next generation of spacesuits, promote private partnerships to strengthen human space exploration, fund physical science research to ensure that humans can safely explore deep space and protect Earth from asteroids and other near-Earth objects through NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

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Gen. Michael Guetlein Appeals for More Space Force Resources
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Gen. Michael Guetlein Appeals for More Space Force Resources

U.S. Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein appeared on March 12 before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support to discuss the challenges the military service is facing as it works to fulfill its mission of protecting U.S. interests in space.

Table of Contents

More Resources Needed

Guetlein told lawmakers during the hearing that though guardians are performing well and the Space Force is striving to transform into a warfighting service, more resources are needed in order to address the increasingly complex strategic situation in space, which demands capability innovations and faster adaptions, according to a news article posted Wednesday on the U.S. Air Force website.

“I have observed our adversaries’ actions, and they are employing new capabilities to counter our advantage. Our competitors are jamming GPS signals, spoofing and disrupting satellite communications, and developing advanced anti-satellite weapons. Unfortunately, these behaviors have become the norm rather than the exception, creating an increasingly hostile environment and putting at risk our continued freedom in the space domain,” Guetlein said.

Budget Extension

The 2025 Wash100 Award winner also said that having to operate under an extension of the previous fiscal year’s budget would be detrimental to the Space Force’s efforts, noting that his organization is “the smallest force with the smallest budget” and so “any churn in our budget is a huge hit to us.”

A continuing resolution, like the one passed by the House of Representatives on March 11 to keep the government open through Sept. 30, would also prohibit the funding of new capability acquisitions, which, according to Guetlein, makes it difficult to counter emerging threats.

“We need budget flexibility for new start authority, (and) the ability to move money between programs would be hugely beneficial,” the Space Force official said.

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Cybersecurity Exec Sean Plankey Nominated to Lead CISA
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Cybersecurity Exec Sean Plankey Nominated to Lead CISA

President Donald Trump has nominated Sean Plankey, former director for cyber policy at the National Security Council, to serve as director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The White House announced Plankey’s nomination in a post published Tuesday.

Sean Plankey’s Career Background

According to his LinkedIn profile, Plankey most recently served as general manager of Indigo Vault and global head of cybersecurity software at WTW.

The former U.S. Coast Guard officer served as head of cyber policy at NSC during Trump’s first term.

His government career included time as principal deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response at the Department of Energy and weapons and tactics branch chief within U.S. Cyber Command.

The U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduate previously served as public sector chief technology officer at DataRobot and chief architect for critical infrastructure at BedRock Systems.

Plankey also worked as a global cyber intelligence adviser at BP and as a strategic adviser at Option3 and CLASS zero3.

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