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Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner: DISA Seeks Industry Support for Network Scalability
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Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner: DISA Seeks Industry Support for Network Scalability

Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said the agency is looking to implement technologies that can support a large-scale network in partnership with the commercial sector.

Skinner presented his vision for the agency at AFCEA’s TechNet Cyber forum using a list of 14 “Wouldn’t it be cool if” questions to drive a conversation with potential industry partners, DISA said Thursday.

Topics on the list include cloud deployment, network transportation, risk management, battlespace visualization and DevSecOps.

“DevSecOps is pretty cool if you have a modern application and leverage a modern language and modern technology,” Skinner said.

“What about the legacy applications? How do we truly bring DevSecOps to a legacy environment?”

The agency encourages companies and academic institutions to propose technical ideas through the DISAWERX collaboration platform or apply to demonstrate technology via its weekly Technical Exchange Meeting event.

Mitre Aims to Help Government, Industry Explore ‘Strategic Competition’ Through New Center
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Mitre Aims to Help Government, Industry Explore ‘Strategic Competition’ Through New Center

Mitre has launched a center to help the country’s U.S. public and private sector leaders gain an insight into military competition below armed conflict and other related areas.

The Center for Strategic Competition seeks to combine the nonprofit corporation’s technical services with analytics and modeling tools to support decision-makers, Mitre said Thursday.

Ashton Carter, who served as the 25th Department of Defense secretary, delivered a speech at the center’s launch event.

“We need to, as ever in our post-World War II history, have a close and constructive relationship between the wider technology sector outside of defense and the needs of the country,” said Carter, who is also a visiting fellow at Mitre.

Beth Meinert, a Mitre vice president, said the opening of the new center culminates a two-year effort to create a framework and an analysis technology suite intended for data-driven strategic competition assessment work.

DOD Announces $2.3B in Efforts to Address Carbon Pollution; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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DOD Announces $2.3B in Efforts to Address Carbon Pollution; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy looks to advance geologic carbon storage initiatives under a $2.25 billion effort funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help lessen carbon dioxide pollution and mitigate climate change impacts.

The Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise Initiative is focused on carbon capture and storage technologies that could accommodate at least 50 million metric tons of CO2 from power plants, industrial facilities and other point sources, DOE said Thursday.

A notice of intent for the Phases III, III.5 and IV of CarbonSAFE program was recently released to kick off the investment distribution process. The initiative will cover CCS project development’s construction stages and other activities.

“The President’s budget commitments coupled with the investments from his Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will enable the U.S. to develop cutting-edge technologies to safely and efficiently capture, remove, and store CO2 while revitalizing communities that have powered this nation for generations,” said Jennifer Granholm, secretary of the DOE.

Aside from the multibillion initiative, the department has also announced $91 million in two new funding opportunities to add more CO2 storage sites and further develop carbon management technologies.

The second phase of the CarbonSAFE program is for storage complex flexibility and is allocated $45 million. Meanwhile, the Carbon Management funding opportunity is worth $46 million and is for the development of technologies for removing, capturing and converting or storing carbon dioxide emissions.

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DOD IG Audits Efforts of VA, Pentagon to Achieve EHR Interoperability
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DOD IG Audits Efforts of VA, Pentagon to Achieve EHR Interoperability

The Department of Defense’s office of inspector general conducted a joint audit of the efforts of DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs to achieve interoperability with regard to their electronic health record systems and found that both agencies took action by acquiring Cerner’s Millennium EHR platform and introducing the Joint Health Information Exchange.

However, VA and DOD did not take all necessary measures to achieve interoperability, such as migrating patient health care data from legacy EHR systems to Cerner Millennium to create a single patient EHR and developing interfaces from all medical devices to the new EHR platform in order for patient health care data to automatically upload to the system from those devices, according to OIG’s report released Thursday.

According to the audit, DOD had deployed Cerner Millennium at its 49 health care facilities and VA fielded the platform at one of its facilities as of December.

The report offers several recommendations to the director of the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization Program Office.

These include determining the type of health care data that constitutes a complete EHR; developing and implementing a plan for moving legacy patient healthcare data needed for a complete EHR; and executing a plan to modify user roles under Cerner Millennium to ensure that users are given access to patient health care information needed to carry out job responsibilities.

The Pentagon plans to field Cerner Millennium at 490 health facilities by 2023, while VA intends to implement the EHR system at 1,454 health care sites by 2028, according to the report.

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NavalX Partners With DEFENSEWERX to Accelerate Tech Transfer; Capt. Benjamin Van Buskirk Quoted
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NavalX Partners With DEFENSEWERX to Accelerate Tech Transfer; Capt. Benjamin Van Buskirk Quoted

The U.S. Navy’s innovation and agility cell, NavalX, and DEFENSEWERX have signed a partnership intermediary agreement to help speed up technology transfer process within the Department of the Navy, DVIDS reported Tuesday.

“The Navy has been pushing non-FAR [federal acquisition regulation] based contracts and agreements in order to complement traditional government acquisition programs to transition technology to the warfighter,” said Capt. Benjamin “Nut” Van Buskirk, director of NavalX.

“This PIA will allow for more clear communication with our industrial base, accelerating our ability to partner with industry to adapt emerging capabilities into dual-use products that can scale into defense,” added Van Buskirk.

The agreement seeks to expedite tech transfer by engaging industry and academia on behalf of the government. The PIA intends to deliver services to facilitate cooperative research, development, engineering and testing activities among educational institutions and small businesses, including prototyping assistance and tech scanning.

DEFENSEWERX will provide the facilities and personnel to deploy initiatives under the PIA.

DEFENSEWERX is a 501(c)(3) organization that helps link an international network of public agencies, businesses, academia and individuals to enable the development of innovative platforms.

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NIST Revises Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Guidance; Angela Smith Quoted
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NIST Revises Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Guidance; Angela Smith Quoted

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has updated its cybersecurity guidance for supply chain risk management in accordance with a cybersecurity executive order signed in May 2021.

The revised publication provides key practices that can be adopted by organizations as they build up their capability to manage cybersecurity risks across and within supply chains and encourages them to look at the vulnerabilities associated with the finished product and its components, NIST said Thursday.

“Organizations need to have greater assurance that what they are purchasing and using is trustworthy. This new guidance can help you understand what risks to look for and what actions to consider taking in response,” said Angela Smith, an information security specialist at NIST and one of the publication’s authors.

The guidance underscores the importance of risk monitoring and seeks to help organizations build into their acquisition processes requirements and considerations for cyber supply chain risks.

The publication also looks at potential cyber vulnerabilities within the sources of code, for instance, as it recognizes the possible emergence of cyber risks at any point or link in the supply chain.

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LinQuest Assists Air Force with Digital Engineering, Modeling
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LinQuest Assists Air Force with Digital Engineering, Modeling

Defense contractor LinQuest has recently deepened its digital engineering capabilities, shifting the prioritization of various technological approaches to match its U.S. Department of Defense clients’ needs.

Specifically, the LinQuest team has been tasked with duties surrounding the WeaponONE initiative at Eglin Air Force Base and a modeling-focused project to help the Air Force Research Lab modernize strategic development planning procedures, the Los Angeles, California-based company said on April 20.

“[LinQuest’s] outstanding support is critical to realizing our vision of the digital transformation of the weapons digital enterprise,” remarked James Sumpter, WeaponONE program manager at the AFRL.

The company’s role in helping shape WeaponONE has been ongoing for the last two years. W1 is a suite of programs that encompasses the weapons digital enterprise, the weapons Digital Twin Lab and a software factory/innovation center, as well as RogueONE, Data Prime and Digital Prime.

Harnessing tools such as agile project management approaches, commercial cloud and modeling, simulation and analysis, LinQuest is assisting to construct an open digital environment for the Air Force base. To do so they are collaborating with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Armament Directorate Weapons Systems Program Office and the weapon test wings within Eglin.

LinQuest’s engineering for the W1 government reference architecture entails implementing a model-based system in order to move away from document-based weapons acquisition, in addition to creating a replicable or reusable format for future digital weapons programs.

Their efforts, which draw heavily on model-based systems engineering strategies, have been honed on similar endeavors over the past several years with the U.S. Space Force.

Since January, LinQuest has been aiding warfighters’ combat effectiveness through the evolution of the AFRL’s strategic development planning processes from document-centered to model-based. To achieve this objective, the company has distinguished process inputs and outputs, fostered rapid analysis of traceability of the organization’s initiatives to Air Force requirements and developed auto-generation for the initiative roadmap.

LinQuest recently highlighted these accomplishments at the inaugural Department of Air Force Modeling and Simulation Summit at Eglin Air Force Base.

The contractor also landed a $48 million award from the AFRL in March, committing them to five years of engineering support for the artificial intelligence-powered aircraft Skyborg Vanguard Program.

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BlueHalo Receives Army Contract for Titan C-UAS; CGO James Batt Quoted
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BlueHalo Receives Army Contract for Titan C-UAS; CGO James Batt Quoted

BlueHalo announced on Thursday that the company and its Titan Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) team have received a four million dollar order from the Department of Defense (DoD) to provide Titan Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) kits.

“It is incredibly exciting to see our Titan C-UAS solution meet and exceed the Army’s expectations in the key performance parameters of efficacy and ease of use,” said BlueHalo Chief Growth Officer James Batt. 

Through the contract award, BlueHalo will provide support to prioritize and defeat enemy drones on the battlefield internationally and in specific locations across the United States. The decision to invest in Titan systems was made after Titan out-performed competing technologies at government evaluations. 

The Titan C-UAS solution is a portable, rapidly deployable system that creates a secure perimeter anywhere, providing automated identification and mitigation of threats for all major commercial and hobbyist control protocols.

“We look forward to seeing these systems utilized on the battlefield to defeat enemy drones and provide a layer of protection to the Army warfighter and our nation in the very near-term,” Batt added. 

About BlueHalo

BlueHalo provides industry-leading capabilities in the domains of Space Superiority, Space Technology, Directed Energy/Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS), Autonomy, Advanced Radio Frequency (RF), Cyber, and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT).  

BlueHalo focuses on inspired engineering to develop, transition, and field next-generation capabilities to solve the most complex challenges of our customers’ critical missions and reestablish our national security posture in the near-peer contested arena.

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Charles Krugh Hired as President of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works; EVP Robert Smith Quoted
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Charles Krugh Hired as President of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works; EVP Robert Smith Quoted

Aerospace manufacturing specialist Charles Krugh has been named president of the bath iron works business at General Dynamics.

In his new role, which marks a return to the GD family, Krugh is expected to oversee and strengthen General Dynamics Bath Iron Works’ high-volume delivery of ship vessels and parts to its U.S. Navy customers, the Bath, Maine-based subsidiary said Thursday.

“Chuck’s leadership, proven track record in manufacturing and expertise in managing complex supply chains will be an enabler to Bath Iron Works,” commented Robert Smith, executive vice president of General Dynamics’ marine systems division.

The executive began his career as a serviceman in the U.S. Army. Subsequently, he worked as director of quality assurance for Corporate Jets Inc. and for just shy of a decade as vice president of production at Dassault Falcon Jet, where Krugh utilized 3D engineering data for part construction and sub-assembly processes. In this position, he also encouraged his production team to actively involve themselves in engineering digital mock-up procedures.

Krugh then increased revenue streams at aerospace manufacturing company BOMBARDIER before beginning his first stint at General Dynamics in 2011, this time at the subsidiary Jet Aviation St. Louis. As senior vice president and general manager, he cut down on spending by $20 million over the course of his six years with the organization and bolstered safety policies via a safety transformation plan that reportedly mitigated OSHA events by 71 percent.

In 2018, Krugh transitioned to a position as vice president for supplier operational support at Gulfstream Aerospace, where he effectively revamped a bankrupt program and galvanized its production activities through a newly instated team that he led personally.

Krugh’s specialties lie in business process improvement, profit and loss management and strategic planning. He will combine his over three decades of industry expertise and financial knowledge for his new role at Bath Iron Works.

The new president’s appointment follows Smith’s April statement as the division’s interim president. Smith was temporarily installed after Dirk Lesko, the company’s president of over five years, retired from a 30-year career with General Dynamics.

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Executive Spotlight: Mike Bosco, SVP of Army Mission Solutions for Sev1Tech LLC
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Executive Spotlight: Mike Bosco, SVP of Army Mission Solutions for Sev1Tech LLC

Mike Bosco, senior vice president of Army Mission Solutions for Sev1Tech LLC, recently spoke with ExecutiveGov regarding the company’s recent acquisition of Geocent and how the company has adapted to the advancements in its winning culture as well as new capabilities including DevSecOps, software development, science & engineering and others like data analytics tools.

In addition, Mike Bosco also discussed the influence that IT modernization initiatives are having for the U.S. Army, Navy and other service branches to improve warfighter training and drive the new emerging technology capabilities to project our national security interests during the latest Executive Spotlight interview.

“Training is important. As a nation, we do our best to understand and predict what is coming next, but no one has a crystal ball that can predict the next global crisis. The benefit is that a lot of these capabilities are not new. We’re talking about a Joint Warfare Doctrine. We’ve been doing this for a long time and our competitors are now trying to catch up with us.”

You can read the full interview with Mike Bosco below:

ExecutiveGov: What can you tell us about the company’s recent growth initiatives and how you’re driving value for your customers through contract awards, acquisitions and other aspects across the federal sector?

Mike Bosco: “With some of our recent acquisitions like Geocent last year, we’re really excited about the milestones we’ve surpassed. We’re very excited that we integrated the company into our Sev1Tech culture. They added amazing DevSecOps, software development, and science & engineering capabilities, as well as data analytics tools to our portfolio.

For me, with the Army business unit, the question is how to expand the great Sev1Tech capabilities that have been exercised in programs within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Air Force, U.S. Navy, and Marine Corps.

The challenge is to bring innovation to legacy systems under slow acquisition processes across the Army and other service branches. We are ecstatic about the future in providing new capabilities to our clients.

While there is a lot of excitement, we need to ensure Sev1Tech capitalizes on what we have to offer and there will be a significant impact on our growth strategy moving forward. Before the recent acquisition of Geocent, Sev1Tech was a 600-person company. Now, we’re a workforce of over a thousand people. Obviously, that’s changed how we look at our growth.

We’re no longer that mid-tier small business. Sev1Tech is now competing on the large contractual landscape. We’ve moved up in weight class and we’re working to take on all these capabilities and maintain our momentum and size as well as take some big swings at larger programs within the federal landscape.

From a capability and a process perspective, Sev1Tech will have an advantage over several large integrators because of our agile and people-focused mindset to bring value to our clients and deliver on the changing mission priorities. That’s our approach. We’re homerun hitters now.

Our senior leadership team is quite good about working with people and bringing in the right talent to continue to drive our company’s growth. Last year, Sev1Tech appointed Zhenia Klevitsky as our Chief Growth Officer, and we’ve been working on the process and structure to change our mindset around our growth and redesigned our approach to taking big swings.

To drive success in this sector, Sev1Tech needs to hit on all cylinders and bring all the best talent on board. That’s how we continue to mature and deliver rockstar solutions for our clients. Unfortunately, there’s no secret sauce that you can just buy. We’re sticking to what brought us to the dance, our culture, and that’s been my focus in the Army business unit for Sev1Tech.”

ExecutiveGov: What are the core values that are important to your company’s culture? How has your team developed its workflow and ability to drive success in such a competitive market?

Mike Bosco: “As we integrated our recent rebranding, we wanted to bring the great team of Sev1Tech together and bring everyone on board following Geocent’s acquisition. It was important that everyone in our employee base felt like a part of our company. Our focus is employee-centric, and we’ve done more than update our logo. We’ve rebranded our model with the teams in place.

I believe that any great company has a culture surrounded by talent and like-minded people. It’s what supports your organization on a day-to-day basis and that passion flows from our CEO Bob Lohfeld all the way through our executive leadership team to every employee.

We’re the type of company that cares deeply about our people. If we have happy employees and a team atmosphere every day, Sev1Tech is going to benefit and that’s going to include the missions of our customers and the support we provide. At the end of the day, positivity breeds positivity and builds on how we address our clients’ missions and ensure they’re satisfied with the results.

In my first integration meeting with Geocent, one of the things I was most excited about was the innovative technologies that they brought to the table. I was impressed from the beginning with the capabilities and technical talent that Sev1Tech would be able to offer our customers.

Geocent brings some amazing capabilities in space-based technology. Our talent has worked on NASA’s Artemis next-generation Space Launched System (SLS). We have a presence in Huntsville that’s going to prove to be very important down the line. From the first meeting with their super-talented technical team, I felt great about what we can accomplish.

In addition, we didn’t find many cultural differences or barriers either. I thought the integration of our cultures went extremely well and Sev1Tech has come out of that firing on all cylinders. I give credit to everyone on our executive leadership team and our entire workforce for the successful integration. It’s worked out well and these recent milestones are just the beginning.”

ExecutiveGov: As warfare continues to be influenced by IT modernization and other initiatives, what do you believe are the most significant capabilities that are being developed for the Army, Navy, etc. to ensure our warfighters have received proper training with the latest emerging technologies to protect themselves and our nation’s national security interests?

Mike Bosco: “I’m a retired Sergeant Major with the Army. I was a Special Ops / Intelligence guy and training is something that’s been near and dear to my heart for a long time. When I came into the Army, I was training in Vietnam tactics on the ground, but these were the times of Desert Storm and the first Gulf War, which were totally different environments than we were being trained to handle.

Training is important. As a nation, we do our best to understand and predict what is coming next, but no one has a crystal ball that can predict the next global crisis. The benefit is that a lot of these capabilities are not new. We’re talking about a Joint Warfare Doctrine. We’ve been doing this for a long time and our competitors are now trying to catch up with us.

While our near-peer adversaries have watched us these past 20 years, we’re fighting in a Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) environment (Air, Ground, Sea, Space, Cyber). I’m a firm believer that the technology revolution is moving so quickly that one of the biggest challenges is to understand and identify those technologies that can meet the mission now for our troops in harm’s way.

Another significant driver of technology is about bettering our joint warfare doctrine and how to better apply it to the new Multi-Domain Operations perspective through technology and really capitalize on creating the advantage to the tactical edge. Service members we are supporting today are users of technology in their everyday lives. They’re growing up and learning to use all this new technology and expect the best to provide the advantage and win on the next generation battlefield.

Times have changed. During my military service, we were putting people in planes to support missions. Now, we’re seeing someone in Nevada flying a remote unmanned aircraft across the world. We’ll always have a need to have boots on the ground, but the challenge is about enabling our warfighters to have the proper tools and keep them from issues like data overload.

I also believe in the unified network approach that the U.S. Army has been taking. I’m still an old-school guy. Back in the day, I had six desktops and various classification levels. How can you transfer data between six desktops? In the modern-day, it’s more about changing policy and mindset to unify our networks and share data. We’re all working to get there so to better leverage technology.”

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