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US Government, Contractors See Rise in European Requests for Missiles, Drones
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US Government, Contractors See Rise in European Requests for Missiles, Drones

The U.S. government and defense companies have seen an increase in inquiries from European allies about U.S.-made missiles, drones and other weapons systems in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported Thursday.

Reuters cited sources that say Germany has inquired about platforms that can counter ballistic missiles. The country decided to buy the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 fighter jets to replace its Panavia Tornado fighter aircraft by 2030.

A spokesperson for Poland’s defense ministry said the country intends to buy General Atomics-made MQ-9 Reaper drones through an accelerated process.

Other Eastern European countries have also inquired about Raytheon Technologies-built Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank Javelin missiles jointly produced by Lockheed and Raytheon and other weapons that Ukraine has used against Russia’s military.

“The Department of Defense is exploring options to support Ukraine’s needs, rapidly replenish U.S. inventories and backfill depleted stocks of allies and partners,” said a senior DOD official.

The official added that the department was working with defense companies on ways to speed up production timelines and mitigate supply chain challenges.

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Michael Baker International Elevates Lori Stump-Ganter to Federal Business CFO
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Michael Baker International Elevates Lori Stump-Ganter to Federal Business CFO

Lori Stump-Ganter has been promoted from director of business analytics to chief financial officer for federal programs and services at Michael Baker International.

The newly created position will find Stump-Ganter leading financial transactions in the firm’s public sector-facing division and liaising with military and government branches such as the U.S. Army, the Air Force and the Department of State, the company said Thursday.

Stump-Ganter began her career as an assistant project manager and construction analyst at the National Development Corporation and eventually became a project engineer at Eichleay Engineers and Construction.

She then came aboard Michael Baker, where she spent 17 years as a business manager and eventually rose to the role of assistant vice president. While at Michael Baker, Stump-Ganter has handled a revenue stream of over $500 million, with responsibilities that have included tracking annual operating budgets, profit plans and business strategies.

For almost four years, Stump-Ganter subsequently worked as vice president and manager of business process management for PNC Financial Services before returning to Michael Baker in 2016.

The engineering and consulting services company said that Stump-Ganter’s “deep understanding of Michael Baker’s operations and the company’s processes across the enterprise provide her with a unique perspective of how the firm’s systems work together.”

The executive’s areas of expertise include forecasting, financial analysis, strategic planning and project control, as well as contract administration and earned value analysis.

Her appointment follows the firm’s hire of David Leach as senior vice president and national market lead of federal civilian programs in January. In his position administering civil works projects for the Department of Defense and other government clients, he will likely collaborate with Stump-Ganter.

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Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board Welcomes New Chair in Former DARPA Official Nils Sandell
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Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board Welcomes New Chair in Former DARPA Official Nils Sandell

Nils Sandell, a former director of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Strategic Technology Office, has officially taken over the chairmanship of the Department of the Air Force’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Sandell, a member of the board since 2016, will lead the group providing scientific and leadership advice in support of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force since 1944, the Hill Air Force Base said Wednesday.

Sandell’s swearing-in as the 24th SAB chair came after a 13-month wait to restart board operations, which was suspended following a zero-based review of the board and all other advisory committees within the Department of Defense.

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GSA Set to Transition to Unique Entity ID on April 4
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GSA Set to Transition to Unique Entity ID on April 4

The General Services Administration said all federal government contractors will transition to a new non-proprietary identification system designed to replace the DUNS number beginning on April 4.

All individuals, companies and organizations looking to do business with the federal government will use the new Unique Entity ID generated by the System for Award Management website, GSA said Wednesday.

Contractors registered with SAM.gov have already been assigned a new UEI that can be accessed through the website’s entity registration record. Sub-awardees with a DUNS number but are not registered in SAM.gov can visit the website to request a UEI.

GSA advises contractors to prepare ahead of the implementation date as SAM.gov and other agency systems will be inaccessible to make way for maintenance the weekend of April 1.

“We encourage everybody who will be impacted to become familiar with the changes by using all the resources available on SAM.gov,” said Meredith Whitehead, deputy assistant commissioner of GSA’s Integrated Award Environment, which manages the website.

Whitehead said the transition from the proprietary DUNS numbering system to a new entity validation service is part of a broader effort to support government-wide technology modernization programs.

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DHS Wants Tools to Identify Threats to Public Spaces Through Videos; Melissa Oh Quoted
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DHS Wants Tools to Identify Threats to Public Spaces Through Videos; Melissa Oh Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate has released a solicitation for technologies that can detect and mitigate threats to unprotected public areas.

The Securing Soft Targets topic call eyes capabilities capable of identifying anomalies through a video feed in real-time despite occlusion, lighting and distance-related challenges, S&T said Wednesday.

Ali Fadel, a program manager within the directorate, explained that tools developed under the solicitation would serve as a force multiplier supporting first responders and public safety personnel in the U.S.

“This solicitation expands DHS capabilities to maintain public safety by rapidly detecting threats in real time in places such as sports and entertainment venues, shopping complexes, schools, and transportation systems,” stated Melissa Oh, managing director of S&T’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program.

The directorate is set to hold a virtual industry day on Tuesday to discuss the solicitation ahead of two submission deadlines on April 28 and Aug. 29.

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FCC Needs Information on Border Gateway Protocol Cyber Vulnerabilities
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FCC Needs Information on Border Gateway Protocol Cyber Vulnerabilities

The Federal Communications Commission asks the public for more information on cyber vulnerabilities that are potentially present in the Border Gateway Protocol, a central component of the Internet’s global routing system.

The FCC wants to identify and address BGP’s impacts on data transmissions in e-commerce, emailing, bank transactions, 911 calls and Voice-over Internet Protocol, the agency said Friday in a Federal Register notice.

Interested parties may respond to the FCC’s query up to April 11th, as reply comments are due on May 10. BGP is an exterior gateway protocol that facilitates exchanges of information on the routing and reachability of internet-based autonomous systems.

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New National Science Foundation Directorate to Focus on Tech, Innovation, Partnerships
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New National Science Foundation Directorate to Focus on Tech, Innovation, Partnerships

The National Science Foundation has stood up the Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, which aims toward the advancement of capabilities across the U.S.

Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF director, said at a Texas event Wednesday the new directorate will work on new technologies that would address societal and economic challenges faced by U.S. citizens.

“By pursuing new approaches that engage the nation’s broad and diverse population in shaping research directions and outcomes, TIP will be a game-changer in terms of the pace of technological breakthroughs, future job growth and national competitiveness,” explained Panchanathan.

NSF plans to use TIP in launching initiatives and so-called innovation engines that would help transition research and development efforts into marketable technologies and establish a future technical workforce.

The foundation will also move its existing innovation and translation portfolio such as the NSF Lab-to-Market Platform and NSF Convergence Accelerator to the new directorate.

Erwin Gianchandani, a longtime computer and information science and engineering official at NSF, will lead TIP as the foundation’s assistant TIP director.

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IRS Eyes Workforce Expansion for IT Modernization; CIO Nancy Sieger Quoted
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IRS Eyes Workforce Expansion for IT Modernization; CIO Nancy Sieger Quoted

The Internal Revenue Service intends to grow its technology workforce by 200 people in support of the agency’s modernization efforts.

IRS said Wednesday that it sees modern technology as the means to streamline taxpayer experience, reduce current inventories and respond to as many queries as possible.

The planned workforce expansion is part of a larger hiring effort at the agency, which also recently announced plans to fill over 5,000 processing center positions in Missouri, Utah and Texas.

“This is an excellent opportunity to join the IRS Information Technology team and make a real difference for our tax system and the nation’s taxpayers,” said Nancy Sieger, chief information officer at IRS.

Open IRS jobs include positions for entry-level, experienced and supervisory IT practitioners.

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NIST Report Calls on Developers to Address Human, Systemic Biases in AI
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NIST Report Calls on Developers to Address Human, Systemic Biases in AI

A National Institute of Standards and Technology report suggests that teams working on artificial intelligence platforms and looking to manage the harmful effects of AI bias should not only address data, machine learning processes and other computational factors but also systemic and human biases in AI.

“If we are to develop trustworthy AI systems, we need to consider all the factors that can chip away at the public’s trust in AI,” Reva Schwartz, principal investigator for AI bias and one of the authors of the NIST report, said in a statement published Wednesday.

Authors of the NIST Special Publication 1270 Towards a Standard for Identifying and Managing Bias in Artificial Intelligence discussed how human and systemic biases can harm individuals, including the potential discrimination of people based on their race.

NIST researchers proposed the adoption of a “socio-technical” approach to help address bias in AI.

“Organizations often default to overly technical solutions for AI bias issues,” Schwartz said. “But these approaches do not adequately capture the societal impact of AI systems. The expansion of AI into many aspects of public life requires extending our view to consider AI within the larger social system in which it operates.”

NIST will host a three-day public workshop to seek insights as it works on the AI Risk Management Framework and address issues with regard to harmful bias in AI. The workshop will kick off on March 29.

POC - 4th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 4th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit this spring. Visit the POC Events page to sign up for the upcoming forum and view POC’s full calendar.

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Congressional Defense Panels Name 8 Members to Strategic Posture Commission
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Congressional Defense Panels Name 8 Members to Strategic Posture Commission

Leaders of House and Senate Armed Services Committees have named eight government, industry and academic experts to a 12-member commission that will review the U.S. strategic posture and nuclear weapons policy and assess threats facing the country.

The Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States should submit its final report to the executive branch and Congress by Dec. 31, in accordance with the fiscal year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate panel said Wednesday.

The new members of the commission include Madelyn Creedon, research professor of international affairs and chair of the nuclear security working group at the George Washington University; John Hyten, a retired U.S. Air Force general and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Rose Gottemoeller, Steven C. Hazy lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies; and Leonor Tomero, former deputy assistant secretary for nuclear and missile defense policy at the Department of Defense.

Other appointees to the commission are Jon Kyl, former senator and congressman; Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, director for strategic programs at Westinghouse Government Services; and Hudson Institute Senior Fellows Rebeccah Heinrichs and Marshall Billingslea.

SASC Chairman Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., selected Creedon and Hyten and Ranking Member Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., appointed Kyl and Gordon-Hagerty to the commission. HASC Chairman Adam Smith, D-Calif., selected Gottemoeller and Tomero, while and HASC Ranking Member Mike Rogers, R-Ala., named Billingslea and Heinrichs to the panel.

Rogers and Hyten are previous Wash100 Award recipients.

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