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USMC Lt. Gen. Michael Langley Gets Nominated as USAFRICOM Commander
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USMC Lt. Gen. Michael Langley Gets Nominated as USAFRICOM Commander

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Langley, commander of USMC Forces Command, was nominated to take the helm of U.S. Africa Command as a four-star general.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd  Austin, a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, made public President Joe Biden’s nomination of Langley as USAFRICOM commander via a general officer announcement on Defense.gov.

He would become the first four-star African-American general of USMC if confirmed.

Langley also serves as commander of Marine Corps Forces North and commanding general of Fleet Marine Force Atlantic. His military career includes time working as deputy commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force, commander of Marine Forces Europe and Africa as well as deputy commander of Marine Forces Command and Marine Forces Northern Command.

The USMC lieutenant general also joined the Expeditionary Warfare Division and Joint Integration Officer in the Surface Warfare Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; as well as the U.S. Central Command, among his other posts.

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NASA-FEMA Partnership Offers Climate Adaptation Resources; Bill Nelson Quoted
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NASA-FEMA Partnership Offers Climate Adaptation Resources; Bill Nelson Quoted

NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have published an action guide meant to help communities make informed decisions on how to manage the risks of climate change.

The “Building Alliances for Climate Action” publication is an offshoot of a four-week online series the two federal agencies organized in October 2021 to discuss strategies for stronger collective climate action, NASA said Thursday.

The contents of the document include many of the perspectives tackled at the event and other insights and resources that are targeted to increase understanding of the growing threat of climate change and how to address the problem.

“NASA is working hand in hand with FEMA to ensure communities across the U.S. and around the world have the resources they need to adapt in the face of extreme weather – which is increasing due to climate change,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

The two agencies have also worked on other collaborative initiatives related to climate change adaptation, such as providing near real-time, disaster-specific data for public information and earth-observing data for local governments and response agencies to leverage during catastrophic events.

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White House Outlines Proposed National EV Charging Infrastructure Standards
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White House Outlines Proposed National EV Charging Infrastructure Standards

The Biden administration has proposed new standards for its program to create a national network of 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles by 2030.

The White House said Thursday the Department of Transportation teamed up with the Department of Energy to propose minimum standards and requirements to ensure that the national charging network for EVs is accessible to all U.S. citizens, interoperable between charging companies and with common payment schemes, among others.

DOT said the standards will also set workforce requirements for maintenance, operation and installation to ensure the reliability and safety of charging stations as well as support and generate highly skilled jobs across the country.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorizes $7.5 billion to build charging infrastructure for EVs through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program and competitive grant initiative.

Under the NEVI program, states will get $5 billion in formula funding to construct vehicle charging stations across highway corridors.

The law includes $2.5 billion for a competitive grant program to improve EV charging access in underserved communities, support corridor and community charging and enhance local air quality. DOT will begin accepting applications for the grant program later in 2022.

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OSTP Issues RFI to Inform National Strategy on Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
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OSTP Issues RFI to Inform National Strategy on Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is soliciting public feedback and insights as it works on a national strategy for advancing the use of privacy-preserving data sharing and analytics tools.

OSTP issued the request for information to determine how to pursue the development and use of privacy-enhancing technologies in a way that “maximizes the benefit to individuals and society, including increasing equity for underserved or marginalized groups and promoting trust in data processing and information technologies,” according to a Federal Register notice published Thursday.

The office is seeking information on federal research opportunities that could be launched to accelerate the development and adoption of PETs; technical specifics of PETs that have implications for their development or use; and information on applications, types of analysis or specific sectors that have high potential for the adoption of such technologies.

Interested stakeholders could provide information on federal regulations or authorities that could be launched, modified or used to speed up PET development and adoption; risks related to PET adoption; and best practices that could help facilitate responsible adoption of PETs.

Responses to the RFI are due July 8th.

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NGA Transitions Homeland Security Infrastructure Program Oversight to DHS
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NGA Transitions Homeland Security Infrastructure Program Oversight to DHS

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has handed over to the Department of Homeland Security responsibility over a program composed of more than 455 data layers that cover critical infrastructure for the U.S. and its territories in support of homeland security and defense missions.

The Homeland Security Infrastructure Program, also known as the Homeland Infrastructure Foundational Level Data, provides data layers to support incident response, preparedness and readiness efforts and recovery decision-making at the national, state and local levels, NGA said Thursday.

“This transition shall ensure program efficiencies are gained by centralizing HIFLD data procurement, creation, and dissemination; eliminate potential competing and disconnected NGA and DHS program planning cycles and allow for more successful coordination and collaboration with State and local HS/HD mission partners,” said Rexford Tugwell of NGA’s office of geography.

Since 2002, NGA has been overseeing HIFLD by procuring, reviewing and delivering data layers to support national security and defense missions. The agency’s mission partners on the program include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Transportation, National Interagency Fire Center and North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command.

With the transition, NGA will eliminate legacy HIFLD services across its domains and cease providing HIFLD data services and content via its digital platforms.

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Intel Selects April Miller Boise to Lead Legal, Trade, Government Affairs as EVP, CLO
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Intel Selects April Miller Boise to Lead Legal, Trade, Government Affairs as EVP, CLO

April Miller Boise, former Eaton Corp. executive, has joined Intel as executive vice president and chief legal officer.

In her new position, Miller Boise will manage Intel’s global legal, trade and government affairs function, effective July 6, the Santa Clara, California-headquartered company said Thursday. She will report to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

“Our ambitious goals for Intel are set against an increasingly complex legal and policy environment, and April’s breadth of skills and experience make her a critical addition to our leadership team as we pursue the largest transformation in the company’s history,” remarked Gelsinger.

During her over 25 years of work in a variety of industries, Miller Boise has held senior-level positions such as general counsel, head of global mergers and acquisitions and corporate secretary. She spent over a decade at Cleveland, Ohio-based business law firm Thompson Hine LLP, occupied the role of senior vice president, CLO and corporate secretary for Meritor Inc and was most recently EVP and CLO at Eaton Corp.

At Intel, Miller Boise will be added to and strategically advise the executive leadership team as well as serve on the board of directors. Gelsinger said that Miller Boise’s amalgamation of business acumen and law experience made her a particularly strong candidate for her new job.

Miller Boise described Intel as “a world-class legal, trade and government affairs organization” and expressed anticipation to partner with the Intel leadership team at a “pivotal time” in the company’s history.

The newly hired Intel CLO is succeeding the retiring, longtime company stalwart Steven Rodgers. Miller Boise previously served on the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati and is currently a board member at Trane Technologies.

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Former HHS Exec Mike Peckham Transitions to Private Sector with KPMG Appointment
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Former HHS Exec Mike Peckham Transitions to Private Sector with KPMG Appointment

Seasoned financial executive Mike Peckham has been appointed managing director on the advisory team at KPMG’s federal government unit.

Transitioning from a decade-plus spent with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Peckham is expected to channel his insights on finance and technology into his new role at KPMG U.S. Government and Public Sector, the company said Thursday.

Peckham will bring experience in program management, systems implementation and grants management to KPMG. Over the course of his time with HHS, Peckham held a number of positions, including director of payment management services, chief of the general accounting branch, HHS ReInvent grants management lead and executive director of the HHS DATA Act Program Management Office.

Before retiring from HHS in December 2021, Peckham was acting chief financial officer and director of the financial management portfolio for the Program Support Center. His passion lies in affecting positive change by locating new solutions to time-tested dilemmas. Some of the strategies Peckham has rallied behind include human-centered design, agile methodologies, microservices architecture and using new technologies to inform data-centric business maneuvers.

In 2020, Peckham received the HHS Deputy Secretary’s Coin to commemorate his strategizing for forward-thinking reforms. He was a proponent of automating manual workflows and developed new approaches to service delivery. His work with artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotic process automation and blockchain technologies will prove useful in his new advisory job at KPMG.

“When you spend a lifetime thinking ‘there has to be a better way to do this’ and then you get the opportunity to not only influence, but lead positive change – how can anyone possibly say no,” Peckham wrote in a LinkedIn post reflecting on the transformation initiatives he participated in late in his career at HHS.

In a reversal of Peckham’s trajectory, former managing director of KPMG’s federal advisory division Kristyn Jones was nominated by President Biden in December to assume the role of comptroller and assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management. Jones was subsequently confirmed and sworn in at a ceremony in May.

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NNSA Completes Exascale Computing Facility Modernization Project at LLNL
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NNSA Completes Exascale Computing Facility Modernization Project at LLNL

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has formally completed a facility modernization project that marks the beginning of the transition of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to a new supercomputing platform.

DOE said Wednesday the Exascale Computing Facility Modernization project upgraded the laboratory’s existing cooling capacity and electrical system and added new transmission lines, switches and substations to power NNSA’s first exascale computer.

The supercomputing platform, dubbed El Capitan, will perform at a capacity of at least 1 quintillion calculations a second to provide exascale-class computing service to LLNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.

“We are pleased that this project has received approval for CD-4. It plays a vital role in supporting NNSA’s goal of bringing a more advanced computing capability to the complex.” said Mike Lang, federal program manager for the Advanced Simulation and Computing program.

Cray, a division within Hewlett Packard Enterprise, built the El Capitan exascale computer under a $600M contract NNSA awarded in 2019 to support the agency’s nuclear weapons stockpile maintenance initiatives.

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CISA Introduces Cyber Innovation Fellowship Initiative; Jen Easterly Quoted
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CISA Introduces Cyber Innovation Fellowship Initiative; Jen Easterly Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency plans to enlist up to eight industry professionals for a four-month stint as inaugural members of the Cyber Innovation Fellows program.

CISA said Tuesday it will accept nominations for the fellowship until July 8 and expects the first cohort to start their part-time, company-sponsored work at the agency this fall.

Fellows will offer technical perspectives to agency teams on vulnerability management, threat hunting and incident response during the program.

“This new effort will allow us to partner even more closely with top talent from the private sector as they become part of our team for a few days each month to help us tackle some of the most complex cybersecurity challenges we face as a nation,” said Jen Easterly, director of CISA and a 2022 Wash100 winner.

Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton Nominated as Next Chief of Strategic Command
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Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton Nominated as Next Chief of Strategic Command

U.S. Air Force Gen. Anthony Cotton has received nomination from President Biden to serve as commander of the U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

In a general officer announcement the Department of Defense posted Wednesday, Lloyd Austin, DOD secretary and two-time Wash100 Award recipient, said Cotton is also tapped for appointment to the grade of general.

Cotton is the current commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. He leads AFGSC as it delivers strategic deterrence, global strike capability and combat support to USSTRATCOM and other geographic combatant commands.

His Air Force career includes experience in commanding at the squadron, group and wing levels as well as serving as deputy director of the secretary and chief of staff of the Air Force Executive Action Group and vice commander and commander of the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom AFB in Montana.

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