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Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth Confirmed to Lead NGA
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Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth Confirmed to Lead NGA

Navy Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth III, director of intelligence at the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient, received Senate approval Wednesday to serve as director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

He will succeed Vice Adm. Robert Sharp, who has led NGA over the past three years and will retire after a 33-year military career, the agency said Friday.

Sharp, a two-time Wash100 winner, charted the agency’s plan to view and use data as a strategic asset in the GEOINT area.

The Senate confirmed Whitworth by voice vote less than four weeks after President Biden nominated the Joint Staff J2 head for assignment to the NGA leadership post.

Whitworth previously served as director of intelligence for the U.S. Africa Command, Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

He also commanded the Joint Intelligence Center Central, the Navy Element of U.S. Central Command and the Kennedy Irregular Warfare Center.

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Technica Lands Spot on Test and Evaluation BPA from JAIC to Support AI Programs; CEO Miguel Collado Quoted
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Technica Lands Spot on Test and Evaluation BPA from JAIC to Support AI Programs; CEO Miguel Collado Quoted

Cybersecurity network engineering provider Technica Corporation has secured a spot on a five-year test and evaluation blanket purchase agreement from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

Under the BPA, Technica is expected to aid the JAIC through test and evaluation procedures for artificial intelligence, automation and autonomy programs, including those related to machine learning, deep learning and neural networks, the company said Monday.

Miguel Collado, president and CEO of Technica, commented that the company’s research and development lab is looking forward to bringing its engineering skill set to a collaboration with the JAIC.

Collado continued, saying the BPA will yield work that will make strides in “the development of new AI tools and services that can enable the DoD to rapidly test and validate AI capabilities developed for DoD operations and missions.”

Together, Technica and the JAIC intend to develop voice to text functions for conversational interface applications, as well as other speech-enacted products for government applications.

They will also be examining image analysis, with a focus on deep learning-based visual search and image classifier, as well as natural language processing-powered products.

Finally, their work will involve human-machine interfaces and build on ways to compute cognitive and physical warfighter workloads. This will entail augmented reality and virtual reality testing.

In July 2021, Technica won a $43 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to assist in maintaining the Blue Sensitive Compartmentalized Information network.

Under this contract, the company will create a system to centralize the network’s command and control capabilities.

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AI Vet Mark Latonero Joins NIST to Advise on AI Policy
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AI Vet Mark Latonero Joins NIST to Advise on AI Policy

Mark Latonero, a research professor at Georgetown University, revealed on LinkedIn that he will serve as a senior policy adviser for artificial intelligence at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

In his new role, Latonero will coordinate with international standardization entities and policymakers to provide advisory on AI risks and effects, FedScoop reported Friday.

Latonero said his work at NIST will centrally involve working with social and technical experts, as well as diverse stakeholders.

His career also includes advisory and consulting work with the Partnership on AI, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the United Nations, where he served as a senior consultant to the executive office of the secretary-general.

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CMS Eyes Demographic Data Repository for Health Equity; Mark Plaugher Quoted
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CMS Eyes Demographic Data Repository for Health Equity; Mark Plaugher Quoted

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wants to establish a central repository for demographic data in support of health equity efforts, FedScoop reported Thursday.

CMS intends for this repository to serve as a standardized, government-wide source of demographic data that helps users address gaps in health care systems.

Mark Plaugher, deputy director of the information systems group within CMS’s Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, said his team feels they need to ask another agency for help to gather more demographic information.

“I hate to pick on the Social Security Administration but everybody has a Social Security Number,” he said at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s Bethesda Health IT Event.

For now, Plaugher’s center is working to bolster cross-program analytics so that existing health data systems can contribute to other programs.

FAA Issues Millionth Airspace Authorization to Drone Pilots Under LAANC Program
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FAA Issues Millionth Airspace Authorization to Drone Pilots Under LAANC Program

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued its millionth airspace authorization for unmanned aerial vehicle pilots less than four years after it launched an automated system for providing drone operators permission to fly in restricted airspaces.

The Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability system automates the process for commercial and recreational drone pilots to request and secure approval from the FAA to operate in any controlled airspace as required by Part 107 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, the agency said Friday.

In 2017, FAA launched LAANC as a prototype for automating the authorization process after it acknowledged that the manual system delayed the agency’s goal to support routine UAV operations.

The system became an official program in 2018 to enable drone pilots to request airspace authorizations through any of the FAA-approved LAANC service suppliers up to 90 days before they plan to fly in restricted airspace at or below 400 ft.

“This system has allowed drone pilots to gain timely access to busy airspace without sacrificing safety,” said Teri Bristol, the chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization.

The FAA expanded the program in 2021 to authorize night flying in controlled zones.

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Biden Administration Seeks 4.6 Percent Pay Raise for Federal Employees; Shalanda Young Quoted
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Biden Administration Seeks 4.6 Percent Pay Raise for Federal Employees; Shalanda Young Quoted

The Biden administration plans to include a 4.6 percent raise for federal employees in the budget request for fiscal year 2023, Federal News Network reported Friday.

The Office of Management and Budget has told agencies to prepare for the potential pay raise in the recent passback budget guidance. The report noted that the potential pay raise would be the largest one in 15 years.

Shalanda Young, who is nominated for the role of OMB’s director, told the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday that Congress will receive the budget request after the State of the Union Address.

President Biden is scheduled to deliver this year’s State of the Union Address on March 1st.

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New USS Savannah Littoral Combat Ship Enters Active Navy Service
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New USS Savannah Littoral Combat Ship Enters Active Navy Service

The U.S. Navy has placed its 14th and newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship into active service during a commissioning ceremony in Brunswick, Georgia.

The Austal USA-built USS Savannah joins the Navy fleet of agile surface vessels operating in near-shore environments and the open ocean for forward presence, maritime security, sea control, deterrence and other missions, the service branch said Saturday.

“The ship and her crew will carry on the legacy of the five other ships that had the honor to bear the name Savannah since 1798,” shared Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, commander of Naval Air Systems Command, during the ceremony.

Following the commissioning, LCS 28 is expected to head for its homeport in San Diego, California.

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Steven McAndrews Named NNSA Deputy CIO
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Steven McAndrews Named NNSA Deputy CIO

Steven McAndrews, formerly director of federal cybersecurity at the Office of Management and Budget, has joined the National Nuclear Security Administration as deputy chief information officer, MeriTalk reported Friday.

According to his LinkedIn post, McAndrews kicked off his new job at the Department of Energy’s NNSA on Feb. 1. He will work with NNSA CIO James Wolff, formerly IT policy director at OMB. McAndrews joined OMB in 2020 as a senior policy adviser.

He previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security as an information technology security specialist. He also served as a vulnerability management lead and IT security specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau.

He spent a decade at the U.S. Army Reserve, where he served as a cybersecurity noncommissioned officer and military intelligence systems maintainer and integrator.

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DOD, Service CIOs Commit to Delivering Secure Computing Capabilities to Soldiers, Employees
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DOD, Service CIOs Commit to Delivering Secure Computing Capabilities to Soldiers, Employees

John Sherman, chief information officer of the Department of Defense, and military department CIOs have highlighted the need to address problems facing DOD’s computers as part of efforts to improve user experience, enable analytical capabilities and strengthen the department’s cybersecurity.

Some of the actions taken across the enterprise are enabling telework capabilities using government equipment, reducing network latency through the implementation of commercial best practices and elimination of redundant cyber scans and providing DOD users with higher performing laptops, according to a note from the CIOs posted on the LinkedIn account of the DOD CIO’s office.

“We’re partnered across the enterprise to ensure that every DoD service member, civilian, and contractor has useable, secure computing capabilities,” the post reads.

Sherman co-wrote the post with Kelly Fletcher, principal director to the deputy CIO for resources and analysis; Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger; Army CIO Raj Iyer; and Aaron Weis, CIO of the Department of the Navy.

Sherman, Knausenberger, Iyer and Weis are 2022 Wash100 Award winners.

POC - 3rd Annual CIO Summit

Sherman will keynote the Potomac Officers Club’s 3rd Annual CIO Summit, scheduled for April 26. Visit the Potomac Officers Club site to learn more about this event and view POC’s full calendar.

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House OKs America COMPETES Act
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House OKs America COMPETES Act

The House on Friday voted 222-210 to pass a bill that seeks to advance scientific research and strengthen the country’s supply chains to help the U.S. become more competitive with countries like China, The Hill reported.

The America COMPETES Act includes provisions meant to address the global shortage of semiconductors and pressures facing the U.S. supply chain.

The legislation includes $52 billion in incentives to support domestic chip production and $45 billion in loans and grants through the Department of Commerce to help strengthen domestic supply chains by supporting manufacturing facilities.

The bill would further raise funding for science research at the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and would make investments to encourage more individuals to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.

The Senate approved its version of the bill in June 2021. With the legislation’s passage in the House, both chambers of Congress will now have to reconcile and reach a deal on the measure.

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