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US, Allied Cyber Agencies Offer Details on Top 15 Cyber Vulnerabilities; Jen Easterly, Rob Joyce Quoted
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US, Allied Cyber Agencies Offer Details on Top 15 Cyber Vulnerabilities; Jen Easterly, Rob Joyce Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency, the FBI and international partners have released a joint advisory on the top 15 routinely exploited vulnerabilities.

Some of the common vulnerabilities and exposures discussed in the advisory are Log4Shell, ProxyLogon and ProxyShell, NSA said Wednesday.

“CISA and our partners are releasing this advisory to highlight the risk that the most commonly exploited vulnerabilities pose to both public and private sector networks,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly, who is also a 2022 Wash100 Award winner. 

Easterly called on organizations to review their vulnerability management practices and initiate actions to address risks associated with exploited vulnerabilities.

The U.S. federal agencies and cybersecurity partners from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the U.K. suggested several measures organizations should take to mitigate risks.

These include vulnerability and configuration management, identity and access management and positive controls and architecture.

“This report should be a reminder to organizations that bad actors don’t need to develop sophisticated tools when they can just exploit publicly known vulnerabilities,” said Rob Joyce, cybersecurity director at NSA, a fellow 2022 Wash100 Award recipient.

“Get a handle on mitigations or patches as these CVEs are actively exploited,” Joyce added.

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Mike McCord Talks DOD’s FY23 Budget Request, Inflation Before House Panel
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Mike McCord Talks DOD’s FY23 Budget Request, Inflation Before House Panel

Mike McCord, undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer, appeared Wednesday before the House Budget Committee to discuss inflation and its impact on the Department of Defense’s budget request for fiscal year 2023, DOD News reported.

“When we saw prices changing last year, we took all the information that we could gather up to the time we finished the budget late in the calendar year and built that into our FY23 pricing,” he told lawmakers.

McCord, a previous Wash100 Award winner, also talked about the department’s use of a chain-weighted consumer price index to reflect higher inflation and price indices for health care, housing costs, fuel, and other goods.

“Prices have continued to evolve since we finalized our budget. We recognize the impact of global economic conditions on our ability to deliver the capabilities in this budget, and we’re prepared to work with Congress to find the best solutions to address these challenges as we move forward toward the congressional oversight of this budget,” McCord said.

In March, the administration released the president’s FY 2023 proposed budget that includes $773 billion in defense spending, up 4.1 percent from the enacted funding for FY 2022.

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Xcelerate Solutions Elevates COO Danny Olmes to President; CEO Mark Drever Quoted
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Xcelerate Solutions Elevates COO Danny Olmes to President; CEO Mark Drever Quoted

Information technology company Xcelerate Solutions has appointed Danny Olmes, currently its chief operating officer, to the position of president.

A two-decade veteran of the aerospace, defense and commercial sectors, Olmes will continue performing COO duties in addition to overseeing Xcelerate’s routine operations and business aspects, the McLean, Virginia-based company said Wednesday.

Mark Drever, Xcelerate’s CEO, said the move originates from a need for Drever to concentrate on honing the company’s client relationships and leading strategy due to “a period of record growth across an increasingly diverse portfolio.”

“Danny has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to address complex issues and make sound business decisions with the cooperation and engagement of our senior leaders,” Drever emphasized.

Olmes began as an adviser at tax consultancy firm PwC and went on to work as a research fellow at LMI and a senior financial analyst at Freddie Mac. He expanded his interests to the defense and aerospace field with the role of engineering and technical services manager at Harris Corporation and subsequently served as vice president of membership at the Aerospace Industries Association.

During his career, Olmes’ primary focus areas have been business management, financial management and analysis and data analytics, as well as supply chain management and association management.

Before joining Xcelerate in June 2021, Olmes founded and was president of technology and infrastructure start-up Hellen Systems for over three years. The company spearheaded the safeguarding of U.S. critical infrastructure via the establishment of an enhanced GPS back-up system called LORAN.

Drever cited Olmes’ sharp decision-making skills and efficient execution as factors in his promotion and the trust Xcelerate has invested in the executive.

The new Xcelerate president says he will “work every day” to prove the board of directors’ trust was well-placed.

“I’m surrounded by great people and have no doubt we’ll continue to build on our current success,” Olmes added.

The elevation of Olmes follows Xcelerate’s February hire of former IBM executive William Shaw as senior vice president of business development and sales.

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Leidos Holds Ceremony, Sets Date for Construction of New San Diego Facility; Group President Steve Cook Quoted
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Leidos Holds Ceremony, Sets Date for Construction of New San Diego Facility; Group President Steve Cook Quoted

Plans are underway for the construction of a new research and development center at Leidos’ San Diego, California location.

Formation of the new, modernized facility will begin in May at Leidos’ Campus Point office park, with an estimated completion of mid-year 2024, the company said Wednesday.

“This campus is home to many of our innovative and advanced technologies, and we look forward to the continued development of critical solutions that help us solve customer challenges,” remarked Steve Cook, Dynetics group president for Leidos.

Cook also said the introduction of the new facility, recently commemorated by a groundbreaking ceremony, provides a way for the company to give back to its employees and the city of San Diego.

The undertaking is aimed to generate an environmentally sustainable structure that produces a less impactful carbon footprint for Leidos staff and clients. It will house workspaces for more than 400 employees and will feature multi-tiered floors suited to classified projects and secure missions.

Leidos’ Campus Point center is currently the home of the Leidos Innovations Center, one of the focal points of the company’s research and development activities and a mainstay in technological advancements. The new construction efforts will also redevelop the area in order to update amenities.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Leidos donated $25,000 to the San Diego Salvation Army, Adult Rehabilitation Center as part of their initiative to contribute to the community.

Cook was promoted from deputy group president to group president of the Dynetics subsidiary in March.

That same month, Leidos was awarded a prime position on a seven-year, $545 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to execute biomedical, preclinical and development research services. It is likely that the new San Diego facility will be utilized for such research practices once it is completed.

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GDIT Receives $661M Digital Modernization, MAINES EPA Contract; President Amy Gilliland Quoted
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GDIT Receives $661M Digital Modernization, MAINES EPA Contract; President Amy Gilliland Quoted

General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) announced on Wednesday that the business unit has been awarded a potential seven-year, $661.6 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and operate the EPA’s enterprise IT infrastructure and application platforms. 

“Technology and ingenuity are critical to furthering the government’s environmental mission,” said Amy Gilliland, GDIT president and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient. “GDIT will partner with the EPA to deliver a reliable, secure and technologically advanced IT infrastructure that will support agency initiatives fundamental to protecting human health and the environment.”

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Amy Gilliland as one of your TEN votes before April 30th to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors. 

Under EPA’s Managed Application, Infrastructure, Networking, Enterprise, and Security Services (MAINES) task order, GDIT will provide a full range of services, including cloud computing, application platform management, enterprise network and security operations, enterprise identity access management, and cybersecurity.

“Supporting the EPA’s mission has been a focus of GDIT for more than 40 years,” said Darby Chellis Bade, vice president for EPA programs and executive lead for Climate Change with GDIT. “We are thrilled to continue this partnership and enable the EPA to operate its IT infrastructure more efficiently.”

GDIT will continue to optimize the speed and quality of service delivery, standardize the agency’s IT architecture to incorporate emerging technology, provide scalability to support the future workforce, and enhance the customer experience.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics is a global aerospace and defense company that offers a broad portfolio of products and services in business aviation; ship construction and repair; land combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions; and technology products and services. General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and generated $38.5 billion in revenue in 2021. 

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Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti Nominated as Vice Chief of Naval Operations
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Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti Nominated as Vice Chief of Naval Operations

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, director of strategy, plans and policy (J5) at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has been nominated by President Biden to serve as the next vice chief of naval operations.

She also received the nomination to hold the rank of admiral, the Department of Defense said Tuesday. If confirmed by the Senate, Franchetti will succeed Adm. William Lescher, who has held the vice CNO role since May 2020.

Franchetti is a Rochester, New York, native, who was commissioned in 1985 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program at Northwestern University.

She previously served as the U.S. Navy’s deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development and commanded the U.S. 6th Fleet, U.S. Naval Forces Korea and Carrier Strike Groups 9 and 15.

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Jefferson Lab Establishes Research & Technology Partnerships Office; Director Stuart Henderson Quoted
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Jefferson Lab Establishes Research & Technology Partnerships Office; Director Stuart Henderson Quoted

The Department of Energy has created a new office at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to foster collaboration in support of research and technology innovation.

Jefferson Lab said the new Research and Technology Partnerships Office will drive the acquisition of additional partnership opportunities and promote initiatives aimed at leveraging the specialties and technologies of the Newport News, Virginia-based national laboratory.

The office will also be responsible for ensuring that the technology transfer process is observed by inventors.

“The establishment of the Research and Technology Partnerships Office is an important step to ensure the unique ideas and technologies that are developed here go on to benefit society, our nation and our region,” said Stuart Henderson, director of Jefferson Lab.

Marla Schuchman, a business strategist and marketing professional, was tapped to lead the office. She is tasked to oversee partnership development and industry engagement initiatives as well as to connect with Hampton Roads and the mid-Atlantic partners to support the lab’s regional priorities.

One of her plans for the office is to revamp the current processes to transform them into more agile, responsive and tailored steps for investors.

“The application of a particular technology may be in the commercial sector, incorporated into a novel or existing product or service. Or it may have so much potential that it can form the core offering of an entirely new business entity,” noted Schuchman.

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Vice Adm. Robert Sharp: NGA to Call on Industry for ‘GEOINT AI’ Program Support
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Vice Adm. Robert Sharp: NGA to Call on Industry for ‘GEOINT AI’ Program Support

Vice Adm. Robert Sharp, director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, said in his keynote speech at the GEOINT 2022 Symposium the agency plans to collaborate with industry to advance artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.

Sharp told the event audience that NGA will take over operations of GEOINT AI algorithms, platforms, test and evaluation processes under the Department of Defense’s Project Maven.

“In the months to come, we’ll be calling on industry, as we progress with this great responsibility. We want to move forward together, so we can deliver GEOINT at the pace that our warfighters and decision-makers need,” the NGA director said during his keynote address Monday.

DOD introduced the project, also known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Function Team, in April 2017 to drive partnership opportunities across the business and academic sectors in efforts to develop AI-based technology, such as computer vision algorithms, for agency users to manage huge volumes of mission-critical data.

At the symposium, Sharp also gave an overview of three projects under NGA’s Foundation GEOINT initiative. He said one of these is the Source Maritime Automated Processing System, a navigation warning system slated to enter the operational phase by the end of April.

The other two Foundation GEOINT efforts center on the development of a backup to GPS and a gravity data collection instrument.

Vice Adm. Robert Sharp: NGA to Call on Industry for 'GEOINT AI' Program Support

Several Intelligence Community leaders will participate in GovCon Wire’s 2nd Annual IC Acquisition and Technology Innovation Summit on May 4. Sign up for this event to gain insights into how the business sector can help intelligence agencies integrate modern technology into their mission.

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NIST Releases Draft 5G Cybersecurity Publication; Jeff Cichonski Quoted
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NIST Releases Draft 5G Cybersecurity Publication; Jeff Cichonski Quoted

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is soliciting feedback on a draft publication designed to help network operators implement secure 5G networks.

The draft document titled 5G Cybersecurity Volume B: Approach, Architecture and Security Characteristics offers information on a 5G network that the NIST’s National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is developing to demonstrate 5G cybersecurity capabilities, NIST said Tuesday.

NIST expects the network to enable researchers to come up with guidance that could be used by the wireless security community. The publication also includes a risk analysis of security capabilities that the standalone 5G network will demonstrate. 

“The information contained in the document highlights security features that 5G offers,” said Jeff Cichonski, an information technology specialist at NIST and one of the publication’s authors. “Understanding what’s available can be critical to help operators and users of 5G understand and manage their cybersecurity risk when it comes to 5G.”

Cichonski added that the document also intends to shed light on how cloud-focused security capabilities could help safeguard a 5G network. Comments on the draft publication are due June 27th.

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GSA Introduces Online Platform to Help Federal Agencies Plan Acquisition Journey
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GSA Introduces Online Platform to Help Federal Agencies Plan Acquisition Journey

The General Services Administration has unveiled a website designed to simplify the federal acquisition planning process for agencies and enable industry to facilitate the delivery of services and supplies to the federal marketplace.

The buy.gsa.gov website was developed using human-centered design and through usability testing and user research efforts involving GSA’s acquisition professionals, vendors and federal agencies, Sonny Hashmi, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service and a previous Wash100 Award winner, wrote in a blog post published Tuesday.

The online platform features pricing resources, documents and templates that could be used in acquisition planning; an interactive checklist and self-help modules for developing an acquisition package; and a tool that could enable users to carry out market research and find vendors and contract vehicles.

The Digital Innovation Division within GSA’s FAS oversees the development of the website.

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