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DOE Funds 6 University-Led Cybersecurity Development Projects for Energy Systems; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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DOE Funds 6 University-Led Cybersecurity Development Projects for Energy Systems; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy has awarded $12 million in funding to six university teams for the research, development and demonstration of cybersecurity technologies that can protect energy delivery systems.

The awardees will work on anomaly detection, artificial intelligence, machine learning and physics-based analytics to embed cybersecurity features in the design of next-generation energy systems, the agency said Thursday.

Technologies developed using the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response’s finances are expected to detect and mitigate cyberattacks targeting the power grid.

“This funding will bolster our commitment to a secure and resilient clean energy future by fortifying American electricity systems and building a stronger grid,” shared Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

The project leads that received funding are:

  • Florida International University
  • Iowa State University
  • New York University
  • Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
  • University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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New $7.3M Air Force Facility to Use Modeling, Simulation in Satellite Technology; Col. Jon Luminati Quoted
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New $7.3M Air Force Facility to Use Modeling, Simulation in Satellite Technology; Col. Jon Luminati Quoted

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate has opened a new $7.33 million facility that will house the development of satellite technologies using advanced modeling and simulation.

The Rapid Architecture Prototyping and Integration Development laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico will help speed up the delivery of space systems to warfighters, the AFRL said Thursday.

The RAPID lab features collaborative modeling and simulation workspaces for up to 50 scientists in which experts from the government, industry and academia can work together on projects addressing the U.S. military’s space requirements.

“Through modeling and simulation, we’ll be able to rapidly test out programs without the time-consuming and more expensive process of building a satellite prototype,” explained Col. Jon Luminati, head of SVD’s Integrated Experiments and Evaluation Division, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kirtland.

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DIU Taps Into Chicago Tech Industry With New Innovation Office; Michael Brown Quoted
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DIU Taps Into Chicago Tech Industry With New Innovation Office; Michael Brown Quoted

The Defense Innovation Unit will open a new facility in Chicago in an attempt to gain access to the state’s commercial technology ecosystem to support military and national security innovation.

The technology accelerator said Thursday the new DIU office will be located at the Discovery Partners Institute and serve as a bridge between the Pentagon and commercial companies working on technology areas such as artificial intelligence, energy, space and cybersecurity.

“DIU is excited to add Chicago to deepen the DOD’s reach to identify new solutions, companies, and talent to solve our national security challenges,” said Michael Brown, director of DIU and an inductee to the 2022 Wash100 Award.

Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a fellow 2022 Wash100 awardee, said the new office will allow DOD to tap into the diverse talent and technology offered by the region to enhance military innovation and modernization capabilities.

Chicago will be the fifth location for DIU, which also has offices in Mountain View, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Austin, Texas; and Washington, DC.

DIU, through its Commercial Solutions Opening program, has awarded contracts to more than 263 domestic and international companies for prototype projects. The technology accelerator has fielded 43 commercial technologies for DOD partners.

GSA Builds Measurement Systems Lab at NASA’s Langley Research Center
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GSA Builds Measurement Systems Lab at NASA’s Langley Research Center

A new research and development facility was constructed at Langley Research Center campus in Hampton, Virginia, to support space exploration, science and aeronautics missions of NASA.

The General Services Administration said Thursday its Mid-Atlantic Region built the Measurement Systems Laboratory to help ensure that Langley continues its critical R&D support for NASA in the 21st century.

The lab is a 5-story, 175,000-gross-square-foot facility designed to be sustainable while providing cutting-edge capabilities.

“The research that will take place in this new facility will help Langley deliver on its core mission to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and develop technology for space exploration,” said Joanna Rosato, acting regional administrator for GSA’s Mid-Atlantic Region.

The NASA center and the GSA unit have been on a two-decade revitalization program to make sure that Langley is capable of adapting to changing mission and societal requirements.

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Army Vet Terry Wolff Named US Coordinator for Ukraine Security Assistance
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Army Vet Terry Wolff Named US Coordinator for Ukraine Security Assistance

The White House has chosen Terry Wolff, a 34-year U.S. Army veteran, to coordinate the U.S. government’s security assistance to Ukraine.

His appointment comes one week after a bipartisan group of senators urged President Biden in a letter to establish the coordinator position to manage response time for the transfer of defense articles to the Ukrainian armed forces defending their country amid Russia’s invasion.

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., were among the signatories of the April 14 letter and they both lauded the designation in a joint statement Thursday.

Wolff retired from the Army in February 2014 with the rank of lieutenant general. He served as director of strategic plans and policy at the Joint Chiefs of Staff for more than two years prior to his retirement.

His military service also included time as commander of the U.S. Army Europe’s 1st Armored Division, Coalition Military Assistance Training Team and 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

He also held a nearly two-year stint as senior director at the National Security Council for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wolff has served as director of the Department of Defense’s Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies since June 2014 and held a 39-month stint at the State Department as deputy special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS from November 2015 to February 2019.

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House Bill Aims to Tackle Potential Quantum Security Risk
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House Bill Aims to Tackle Potential Quantum Security Risk

A bipartisan bill introduced by three House lawmakers calls for the federal government to develop a strategy to incorporate quantum-resistant algorithms and encryption tools into agency information technology systems.

The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act would mandate the Office of Management and Budget to work with the Chief Information Officers Council to help agencies adopt a cryptography approach to protect IT assets from future computer security risks, the office of Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said Monday.

Khanna co-sponsored the legislation with Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C.

Under the bill, OMB would also assess critical federal systems one year following the release of National Institute of Standards and Technology standards on post-quantum cryptography.

IBM, Google and Quantinuum are among the technology companies that support the proposed bill.

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DHS Releases iOS-Based Geospatial Mapping Tool
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DHS Releases iOS-Based Geospatial Mapping Tool

The Department of Homeland Security has released a mobile application built to help emergency response, law enforcement and military personnel view location data and communicate with each other when they perform public safety missions.

DHS’ science and technology directorate said Wednesday it funded the development of the Team Awareness Kit for iOS devices through a contract with Pennsylvania-based technology company Syzygy Integration.

The Air Force Research Laboratory originally developed the digital tool to support coordination and collaboration among first responders in the event of a critical situation.

DHS S&T deployed the Android version of the geospatial mapping technology in November 2017. Users of the initial app has performed missions such as hurricane relief, firefighting and national security operations, the directorate added.

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Navy Researchers Conduct Wireless Electricity Transfer Through Microwaves; Christopher Rodenbeck Quoted
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Navy Researchers Conduct Wireless Electricity Transfer Through Microwaves; Christopher Rodenbeck Quoted

U.S. Navy researchers recently transmitted 1.6 kilowatts of electrical power over a kilometer using a 10 gigahertz microwave beam during a showcase of terrestrial microwave power beaming in Maryland.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory said Wednesday the event is the second demonstration under the Safe and COntinuous Power bEaming – Microwave (SCOPE-M) program, which is aimed at proving the feasibility of point-to-point wireless electricity transfer through microwaves.

At U.S. Army Research Field in Blossom Point, Maryland, SCOPE-M used thousands of X band antennas connected with a rectifier diode to receive and convert microwave beams packing 1.6 kW in energy, the highest amount in nearly 50 years, into direct current electricity.

While the project focuses on terrestrial transfer, Brian Tierney, SCOPE-M electronics engineer, pointed out that the Department of Defense could use the same approach to beam electricity from space to power ground troops.

“From the standpoint of technology readiness level, I feel we are very close to demonstrating a system we can truly deploy and use in a DOD application,” shared Christopher Rodenbeck, NRL’s Advanced Concepts Group head and the program’s principal investigator.

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Palo Alto Networks Achieves FedRAMP Authorization for IoT Security Solution; GovCon Expert Dana Barnes Quoted
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Palo Alto Networks Achieves FedRAMP Authorization for IoT Security Solution; GovCon Expert Dana Barnes Quoted

Palo Alto Networks announced on Thursday that the company’s IoT Security solution has achieved Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate Authorization.

“As cyberattacks become more frequent and sophisticated, the IoT Security solution helps automate Zero Trust security with quick, accurate discovery and best-in-class protection,” said Dana Barnes, senior vice president of Public Sector of Palo Alto Networks and a key member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program.

With the recent FedRAMP authorization, Palo Alto Networks can now offer its customers protection the unmanaged IoT devices in use with government agencies to provide them with machine learning powered visibility,  threat prevention and Zero Trust enforcement within a single platform.

During a recent Executive Spotlight interview with ExecutiveBiz, Dana Barnes discussed the impact that emerging technologies continue to have on the federal workforce as well as the necessary changes that government agencies need to make to our national security efforts.

“We are committed to protecting the U.S. government and its federal agencies from all security threats with reliable solutions,” Barnes added, who is also a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient.

“It is time for the federal government to invest in and build integrated cyber defenses that unify endpoint, network, cloud, and analytic platforms,” GovCon Expert Dana Barnes explained. “At that point, the government can have hunt teams governmentwide to detect threats and vulnerabilities.

Then, it ties together with information sharing. If agencies have an integrated endpoint detection and response capability and are sharing information captured across the government, they can be a lot more secure,” Barnes explained.

Before April 30, you have TEN votes to cast in this year’s Wash100 Vote Standings!

Voice your support as a member of the GovCon community for the most important executives you believe deserve to be recognized amongst your peers. Every vote counts and you have ten!

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Vinod Brahmapuram Joins Lumen Technologies as Head of Security Business Development
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Vinod Brahmapuram Joins Lumen Technologies as Head of Security Business Development

Lumen Technologies announced on Thursday that Vinod Brahmapuram, former chief information security officer for the State of Washington, has been appointed the head of Security Business Development for the company’s state and local government and education markets.

“Vinod is a recognized cybersecurity thought leader with a passion to foster and transform security in the public sector,” said Sonia Ramsey, regional vice president of Lumen’s state and local government and education markets, who Brahmapuram will be reporting following his appointment.

Prior to his previous role in Washington, Brahmapuram served as the deputy chief information security officer for the State of South Carolina. In addition, he was also the CISO of Strategic Planning as well as Enterprise Governance, Risk and Compliance with the Department of Health and Human Services for New Hampshire.

Vinod Brahmapuram joined the DHHS in 2005 as a Business Analyst for a small program and progressed through a broad range of business functions to CISO for the $2 billion Department, providing health and human services to the citizens of New Hampshire.

“He has more than 25 years of information technology experience with deep expertise in leading cross-functional teams of internal and external stakeholders in completion of large-scale innovative programs,” Ramsey emphasized. “Vinod has advised governors and legislators on key cyber issues and held leadership positions in cybersecurity in three states.”

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