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NRO Pushes Innovation to Meet ISR Needs Faster
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Chris Scolese. The NRO director said the agency accelerates space innovation to deliver intelligence at the speed of need.

National Reconnaissance Office Director Chris Scolese, a five-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the agency is focused on accelerating the delivery of space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance through innovation and a growing satellite architecture. Speaking at the Intelligence and National Security Summit, Scolese emphasized that NRO must deliver information “at the speed of need” to maintain America’s information advantage.

NRO Pushes Innovation to Meet ISR Needs Faster

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Expanding a Proliferated Architecture

Over the past 30 months, NRO has launched more than 200 satellites as part of its proliferated architecture. The expanded constellation is designed to shorten revisit times and ensure users receive information when it is most needed.

“This allows us to revisit the target faster, so we’re delivering the information that the user needs within the time span that the user needs it,” Scolese said.

The architecture is also intended to boost agility and resilience. “We are constantly looking at our sensors to make sure they can’t be jammed, that we can deliver the data through all phases of conflict,” the NRO director.

Cybersecurity as Top Priority

Scolese identified cybersecurity as his highest priority, pointing to the challenges of defending systems against low-cost but high-impact cyber threats.

“Cyber is the one area where the cost of admission is cheap,” he said. “We’re investing in it and appreciate ideas from industry on how we can be more effective and protect our systems.”

The director also underscored the importance of workforce empowerment in sustaining innovation. “Our people have great ideas, and we need to let them go off and do those things,” Scolese said.

The summit, co-hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance and AFCEA International, brought together more than 2,000 participants from government, industry and academia.

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GSA & Meta Partner to Launch OneGov AI Initiative
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Handshake. GSA and Meta have partnered to incorporate Llama open source AI models into the OneGov framework.

The General Services Administration has collaborated with Meta to launch a new initiative incorporating Llama open source artificial intelligence models into the OneGov framework.

Accelerating Federal AI Adoption

GSA said Monday the strategic partnership aims to streamline the federal sector’s access to Llama open source AI models by removing the need for individual agencies to negotiate agreements. This is intended to reduce redundant efforts and fast-track federal AI adoption.

The agreement aligns with the government’s AI Action Plan. It supports the Office of Management and Budget’s Memoranda M-25-21 and M-25-22, which aim to drive innovation, good governance and efficient AI adoption in government.

Meta’s Llama gives federal agencies complete control over data processing and storage. The open source nature of these models enables technical teams to develop, implement and expand AI applications while reducing costs and fostering transparency and reproducibility in AI research.

Remarks From FAS Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum

“Thanks to Meta and its commitment to advancing public sector services, our federal partners now have easier access to Llama and open source AI, which offers unique benefits for federal agencies and government use cases. Through these OneGov initiatives, GSA is driving an unprecedented acceleration of AI adoption across the federal government,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, recipient of the 2025 Wash100 Award.

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Naval Undersea Warfare Center Unveils Mastery of the Seas at All Depths 2035 Strategic Vision
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Marie Bussiere, technical director at NUWC Division Newport. Bussiere talked about NUWC's strategic vision for 2035

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center has unveiled Mastery of the Seas at All Depths 2035, a 10-year strategic vision that aims to drive the adoption of new technologies and strengthen industry partnerships to accelerate the delivery of capabilities to warfighters. Marie Bussiere, who has been serving as technical director for the NUWC Division Newport since November 2023, presented the strategic vision during a panel discussion at Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance’s Defense Innovation Days.

“We must become stronger and more agile partners to rapidly respond to fleet demands and identify the capabilities that must be developed to meet those demands,” the official said. “Together, we must define new paths to innovate, deliver and sustain capabilities in our fleet as fast as possible.”

NUWC Capability Focus Areas

During the panel, Bussiere shared new capability focus areas in the strategic vision where Division Newport is involved, such as weapon lethality, undersea sensing, subsea and seabed warfare, assured communications, platform defense and survivability, undersea warfare command and control, undersea robotics and autonomous systems, tactical oceanography, and cybersecurity.

She revealed that the division has developed technology roadmaps that identify key program sponsors and performers within the organization and external partners to execute the mission.

“We encourage you to join us, leveraging your independent research and development as appropriate, as we move forward with opportunities for you to develop capabilities and prototype technologies within these areas,” she stated.

Navy’s SSW Challenges

The panel also covered the subsea and seabed warfare, or SSW, challenges the Navy faces, and areas where industry can offer its assistance.

Mark Vaccaro, SSW director at NUWC Division Newport, explained that the Navy needs to expand its presence in places that manned platforms cannot reach. These remote locations, although they offer potential military advantage, are challenging due to what he called the five Ds: deep, dark, dangerous, difficult and denied.

According to the official, the Navy requires systems with “super autonomy capabilities” and long endurance to swim through straits. The systems must also be able to carry out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in GPS-denied environments.

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Dario Gil, Conner Prochaska Confirmed for Top DOE Posts
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Dario Gil and Conner Prochaska received Senate confirmation for top DOE roles.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dario Gil as the under secretary for science and innovation at the Department of Energy and Conner Prochaska as director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E.

The upper chamber confirmed the top two DOE leaders, along with dozens of other nominees for federal government positions, through an en bloc vote of 51-47.

Who Is Dario Gil?

Gil most recently served as senior vice president and director of research at IBM. In this capacity, he directed innovation strategies in hybrid cloud, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and exploratory science. He was also responsible for the tech company’s intellectual property strategy and business.

The National Science Board chairman has served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

He co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab and the executive board of the International Science Reserve.

Gil sits on the boards of several organizations, including the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Semiconductor Industry Association and the New York Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering member holds Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.

Who Is Conner Prochaska?

According to his LinkedIn profile, Prochaska has been serving as senior adviser to the DOE secretary since February. He assumed responsibilities as chief AI officer at the department in May.

Before DOE, he was chief of strategic partnerships at Bohr Quantum Technology.

During President Trump’s first term, he was chief commercialization officer and director of the Office of Technology Transitions at DOE. He also served as a senior adviser and chief of staff at ARPA-E.

Prochaska served in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer.

The Texas A&M University holds a Juris Doctorate from the George Washington University Law School.

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Jason Richards Named FBI Assistant Director of IT Applications & Data
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Jason Richards. FBI veteran Jason Richards has been named the agency's assistant director of IT applications and data.

Jason Richards, a 20-year FBI veteran, has been named the agency’s assistant director of the IT applications and data division, or ITADD. Richards shared his appointment on LinkedIn.

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In this capacity, Richards will oversee the development and maintenance of enterprise software systems, data and cloud infrastructure, and cross-domain services supporting national security and law enforcement operations.

He will leverage his extensive experience in developing, mentoring and leading cross-functional teams to achieve mission goals with a focus on innovation, policy constraints, and time, risk and budget management.

Jason Richards’ Work at FBI

Richards previously served as deputy assistant director and was section chief of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. He spearheaded enterprise efforts for cloud strategy and enhanced supply chain risk management.

The new AD was an assistant special agent in charge, assistant section chief of the counterterrorism division and supervisory special agent, and unit chief of the directorate of intelligence. He joined the FBI in 2005 and served as a special agent for nearly nine years.

Pre-FBI Career

Before joining the FBI, Richards was a trial attorney for Hrabcak & Company for nearly five years. He held the same role at Kelley Ferraro and Smearman Marshall.

Jason Richards Named FBI Assistant Director of IT Applications & Data
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FAR Council Issues Model Deviation Text for Simplified Acquisition Procedures
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Government contracting. The FAR Council released model deviation text for FAR Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council has issued new model deviation text for Part 13 – Simplified Acquisition Procedures as part of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, or RFO, initiative.

The FAR Council said Thursday it will accept feedback on the updated FAR Part 13 through Nov. 3.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling to amend FAR to streamline the federal procurement process and eliminate barriers to doing business with the government. 

The latest move came a week after the council released changes to four parts of the FAR, including those concerning special contracting methods and intellectual property rights in government contracts.

Noncommercial Acquisition Procedures

According to a General Services Administration memo, FAR Part 13 has been renamed to “Simplified Procedures for Non-commercial Acquisitions.”

The updated section seeks to implement simplified processes for the procurement of noncommercial products and services valued at or below the simplified acquisition threshold. 

According to the GSA memo, the procedures in the updated document may be used only if there are no commercial products or services that can meet the agency’s needs and if the services or supplies are not available from a required source.

The revised part structure now reflects the acquisition lifecycle: presolicitation; solicitation, evaluation and award; postaward; and micropurchases.

Clauses concerning fast payment procedure, invoices and notice to supplier were deleted.

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NGA Developing AI Standards to Manage Growing Space Data
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Frank Whitworth. The NGA director said the agency is developing AI standards amid increasing space-based sensor data.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is developing artificial intelligence standards to handle an expected surge in space-based sensor data, Federal News Network reported Friday.

NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth, a four-time Wash100 Award recipient, spoke Thursday at the Intelligence and National Security Summit in National Harbor, Maryland, where he described 2025 as “the year of AI” for NGA. He pointed to the rapid increase in data expected from government and commercial satellite systems and emphasized that AI will be needed to keep pace.

“While I won’t detail exactly what the percent increase in terabytes from space will be, it is substantial over the next decade,” Whitworth said. “We don’t want all of that data, all those images, all those files – and they’re very dense files, by the way – we don’t want them falling on a cutting room floor.”

NGA Developing AI Standards to Manage Growing Space Data

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New Roles and Standards for AI

NGA has created new positions to lead its AI work, including directors for AI mission, AI programs and AI standards. Whitworth said the AI standards lead will ensure that AI development aligns with U.S. values and rules of engagement.

The agency also launched the Accreditation of GEOINT AI Models to provide a consistent evaluation and risk management framework for AI systems. “We just need to make sure that there are no hobby shops going on here,” Whitworth said, stressing the need for reliable training data, tested processes and adherence to principles such as the laws of armed conflict.

At the same time, Whitworth cautioned against turning the standards work into a slow, centralized approval process. “We do not want to move in the direction of an [authority-to-operate] process, where everyone sits and waits,” he said. Instead, NGA wants to enable a self-governing approach in which combatant commands and services are trained to accredit models themselves.

Expanding AI Use Across NGA

NGA has been using AI for years through programs such as Project Maven, which applies machine learning to imagery and data to identify military targets. Whitworth said the agency is expanding Maven’s role to other mission areas.

“We want to ensure that it brings goodness to the rest of what we do, like warning, like safety of navigation,” he said.

NGA has also stood up a program executive office for advanced analytics, which Whitworth said is beginning to deliver results.

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DASH 2 Demonstrates AI’s Role in Battlefield Decision Advantage in Recent Experiment
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Col. John Ohlund, ABMS CFT director. Ohlund said the DASH 2 experiment demonstrates AI capability to support commanders

The U.S. Air Force and its partners demonstrated the capability to solve complex battlefield challenges and provide commanders with options to deliver effects during the second Decision Advantage Sprint for Human-Machine Teaming, or DASH 2. The event, held at the Shadow Operations Center-Nellis in downtown Las Vegas, explored the potential use of AI to achieve decision advantage.

Human-Machine Teaming on the Battlefield

During DASH 2, AI from two Air Force partners provided over 6,000 solutions to about 20 problems within an hour. The Air Force reported accuracy on par with human performance. In one case, a single algorithm adjustment would have raised recommendation validity from 70 percent to 90 percent.

According to Col. John Ohlund, director of the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System Cross-Functional Team, or ABMS CFT, the level of machine output demonstrated during the recent experiment ensures that commanders will have options to simultaneously execute multiple kill chains.

Col. Jonathan Zall, capability integration chief for ABMS CFT, added that DASH 2 is proof that “human-machine teaming is no longer theoretical.”

The 805th Combat Training Squadron, or ShOC-N, and six unnamed companies participated in the series of experiments.

The Air Force Research Lab’s 711th Human Performance Wing was also present at the event to collect and analyze data.

“Collaboration with AFRL, the ABMS program office and industry allowed us to rapidly experiment, refine requirements and accelerate the path from concept to capability delivery,” shared Ohlund.

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DHS Details Implementation of Gold Standard Science EO Tenets for R&D in New Report
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The Department of Homeland Security's logo. DHS issued a new report in response to a recent executive order

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a report on current agency efforts to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order on ensuring research and evidence used in government decision-making meet the highest standards of rigor and integrity. The agency said that the report, published Friday, demonstrates how research and development efforts within the organization align with the nine tenets identified in EO 14303, or Restoring Gold Standard Science.

DHS Details Implementation of Gold Standard Science EO Tenets for R&D in New Report

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Trump’s Gold Standard Science EO

The executive order, issued in May, aims to drive innovation and ensure that federally funded research and development programs are impactful. It identifies the “gold standard of science” as reproducible; transparent; communicative of error and uncertainty; collaborative and interdisciplinary; skeptical of its findings and assumptions; structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; subject to unbiased peer review; accepting of negative results as positive outcomes; and free from conflicts of interest.

DHS’ Gold Standard Science Implementation Plan

DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate surveyed its own components and headquarters units to identify current and planned R&D activities and how they reflect the nine Gold Standard Science tenets.

For instance, DHS said it regularly collaborates with the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and international partners for research relevant to its mission, such as countering transnational criminal organizations and cybersecurity. Its partnerships, DHS pointed out, comply with the collaborative and interdisciplinary tenet.

S&T also said that it works with third-party experts to assess complex, multi-institutional reviews of applications to be used within the DHS Centers of Excellence, a process that complies with the tenet of seeking unbiased peer review.

DHS also committed to implementing additional actions to uphold the administration’s gold standard science. The department plans to centralize its internal requirements for unbiased peer review, identify mechanisms for expanding conflict of interest disclosures, harmonize current policies and procedures across laboratories to address reproducibility, transparency, and communication of error and uncertainty. 

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DIU Creates Recognized Assessors Group to Evaluate Drones for Military Use
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DIU logo. DIU has created the Recognized Assessors group to boost drone evaluation for military applications.

The Defense Innovation Unit has established the Recognized Assesors group to evaluate unmanned aerial systems and associated components for compliance with the National Defense Authorization Act.

Accelerating Military Use of Drone Platforms

The DIU said Friday the new group, which expands the Blue UAS program, aims to fast-track the adoption of secure UAS for military applications. It is intended to optimize the drones’ certification process while also streamlining their procurement for the Department of Defense. The group is composed of the following third-party organizations:

These assessors are tasked with evaluating commercial drones to determine whether they will be included in the Blue List. After a proposal is submitted through the Blue UAS program, the assessors estimate the expenses and timeline needed to complete the evaluation. The submitter can then decide on their best option.

The group will also conduct NDAA compliance assessments on significant components, verify ownership and interest stakes, and review supply chain provenance and technical artifacts to ensure adherence to laws and policies. They produce standardized reports submitted to the government via DIU for certification, while maintaining independence, integrity and technical rigor throughout the process.

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