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Ransomware Attacks Spur Biden Administration to Take Aggressive Approach to Cybersecurity
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Ransomware Attacks Spur Biden Administration to Take Aggressive Approach to Cybersecurity

Companies are expected to face stricter cybersecurity rules in 2022 as ransomware attacks and other cyber hacks against U.S. government agencies, critical infrastructure and private firms pushed the current administration to introduce aggressive cyber policies, WSJ Pro Cybersecurity reported Monday.

“I do think what the Biden administration has done over the past year is disruptive,” said Sujit Raman, a partner at law firm Sidley Austin.

“They have moved quite aggressively away from voluntary standards and have been willing to impose mandatory standards. It’s disruptive in a novel way,” added Raman, a former associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice.

The government has directed companies in some sectors to comply with zero trust principles in designing their networks, designate personnel to communicate with officials and report cyberattacks.

The current administration has also ordered federal agencies to identify and address gaps in software and come up with guidelines for every critical infrastructure sector they manage.

Agencies like the Transportation Security Administration have issued standards directing pipeline operators to improve their cybersecurity and perform audits.

Raman said U.S. officials are likely to introduce more cyber requirements for water supply system operators and other critical infrastructure companies in 2022.

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Daniel Lecce Named DCSA Deputy Director
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Daniel Lecce Named DCSA Deputy Director

Daniel Lecce, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major general, will assume the role of deputy director at the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) on Jan. 18th.

He will serve as principal adviser to the DCSA director and help manage resources, shape policies and oversee operational activities to meet the agency’s mission, DCSA said Monday.

Lecce most recently served as staff judge advocate and senior legal adviser to the commandant of the Marine Corps. In this position, he offered legal advice on cyber law, intelligence oversight, intelligence operations law and other strategic issues.

His military career included time as assistant judge advocate general of the Navy for military justice, senior legal adviser to U.S. Southern Command and general counsel for II Marine Expeditionary Force.

DCSA said Lecce’s appointment was the result of an extensive selection process that included a call for nominations from across the intelligence community, Department of Defense, security enterprise and the defense industrial base.

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Data Foundation Looks Into Federal Implementation of Evidence Act’s Evaluation Provisions
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Data Foundation Looks Into Federal Implementation of Evidence Act’s Evaluation Provisions

A Data Foundation survey has found progress in federal agencies’ implementation of evaluation provisions in the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act.

Data Foundation said 68 percent of surveyed federal evaluation officials said their agencies had published an evaluation policy and 41 percent of respondents said their organizations came up with an annual evaluation plan for fiscal year 2022. 

The respondents reported high levels of collaboration with chief data officers, statistical officials and senior executives in drafting agency learning agendas, according to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank.

The study showed that evaluation officers are experienced and clear on their roles. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they spent more than five years in the federal government with at least half of them serving as an evaluation official for over five years. Seventy-one percent of respondents said they understand their role as an evaluation official.

Seventy-five percent of respondents said they think evaluation officials are “better able to fulfill the evaluation capacity and process issues codified in the Evidence Act at the time of the survey than compared to 2018, before the Evidence Act was passed,” the report reads.

The study also found that the size of budgets and staffing to back evaluation differ greatly across the government and that evaluation officers need additional support and resources to advance implementation of Evidence Act.

The report listed eight recommendations to further advance the evaluation function in the federal government, including the need for the Office of Management and Budget and agencies to request funding flexibility and increased resources in the president’s budget request for evaluation capacity and the call for senior agency executives to empower evaluation officers to carry out training and educational initiatives about evaluation.

The Data Foundation surveyed federal evaluation officials between Oct. 22 and Nov. 15, in partnership with the American Evaluation Association. The complete contact list for the survey included 158 valid contacts. A total of 21 respondents completed the survey, reflecting a response rate of 13 percent. While 32 contacts responded to at least part of the survey, showing a 20 percent response rate.

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DMI Names Tracy Hobiena GM of State and Local Government; CEO Sunny Bajaj Quoted
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DMI Names Tracy Hobiena GM of State and Local Government; CEO Sunny Bajaj Quoted

Tracy Hobiena, a 20-year sales, consulting and management veteran, has been appointed general manager of state and local government at DMI.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based digital transformation services company said Monday that in her new role, effective immediately, Hobiena will be responsible for overseeing all business aspects of DMI’s state, local and education clients.

Sunny Bajaj, CEO and founder of DMI said of Hobiena, “Her leadership and experience running state and local programs will help us grow and expand our next-gen technology partnerships while focusing on the digital challenges our government and education clients are facing.”

Hobiena will leverage her experience in the information technology industry serving state and local government customers to help expand DMI’s position in the state and local government market.

She joins DMI from Smartronix, where she served most recently as director of state, local and education cloud program delivery. Her previous experience at Smartronix includes holding positions within the company’s client executive team and quality assurance division.

Prior to her time at Smartronix, Hobiena founded and served as principal consultant for Intrepid Performance Partners. Previously, Hobiena also held multiple senior level positions at Sun Microsystems. 

Hobiena’s philanthropic efforts include serving as a founding member of the volunteer group Coalition Against Childhood Cancer.

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Fleet Readiness Center East & Partners Achieve Laser Shock Peening Verification of F-35B Jet
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Fleet Readiness Center East & Partners Achieve Laser Shock Peening Verification of F-35B Jet

Fleet Readiness Center East, the F-35 Joint Program Office and industry partners have concluded verification of the F-35B Lightning II aircraft’s laser shock peening process.

This process is designed to strengthen an aircraft’s frame without modifications that require additional material, Naval Air Systems Command said Thursday.

FRCE built a $6 million facility dedicated to laser shock peening in August 2019, then subjected an F-35 jet to the procedure for the first time in June 2020.

“The laser shock peening modification is essential to extending the life of the F-35B STOVL variant, and the ability to complete this procedure successfully allows FRC East to support this critical workload,” said Col. Thomas Atkinson, FRCE commanding officer.

Lockheed Martin, Curtiss-Wright Surface Technologies and Northrop Grumman served as the military’s industry partners to achieve this milestone.

FRCE serves as the primary site for the F-35B’s depot-level maintenance activities. F-35B is the Lightning II’s variant built for short takeoff-vertical landing.

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Space Force Partners With Universities to Support Workforce Training, Research Efforts
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Space Force Partners With Universities to Support Workforce Training, Research Efforts

The U.S. Space Force is collaborating with academia under its University Partnership Program to achieve dominance in the space domain, protect U.S. space assets from adversarial threats, and ensure the stability of the outer space environment.

The University of Texas at Austin is the latest addition to the set of universities that established strategic partnerships with the Space Force under the UPP initiative to support the recruitment and training of a diverse workforce, Alcalde reported Saturday.

The university will help the Space Force train the next generation of recruits and support the military branch with research and innovation, according to Seth Wilk, the director of defense research advancement in UT’s Office of Vice President of Research.

Wilk said that UT would also help address workforce shortages by familiarizing students in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program with emerging research topics that will be beneficial to landing jobs at the Department of Defense.

The Space Force is more interested in developing a technology-focused workforce to counter hacking and jamming attacks on satellite communications, secure communications between satellites and build enhanced surveillance tools.

The UPP effort also includes the University of North Dakota, the University of Southern California, Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, the University of Colorado Boulder and Colorado Springs, UT El Paso, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and the University of Texas system.

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Moe Khaleel to Oversee National Security Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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Moe Khaleel to Oversee National Security Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Moe Khaleel, formerly deputy for projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will lead ORNL’s National Security Sciences Directorate as an associate laboratory director.

He will provide oversight across projects in areas including cybersecurity, grid security, autonomy, manufacturing, biosecurity, nuclear security and nonproliferation, ORNL said Thursday.

Khaleel oversaw the largest portfolio within DOE’s Office of Science in his most recent role as deputy for projects. He also helped ORNL meet department-imposed requirements as interim deputy for science and technology.

His former leadership for DOE’s Energy and Environmental Sciences helped the directorate expand its workforce and impact across additive manufacturing, cyber-physical security and biosecurity.

“I am excited about working with the NSSD staff at the forefront of addressing national security challenges, and I look forward to the accomplishments we are going to make,” Khaleel said.

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Bob Busey Joins i-Link Solutions as VP of Operations and Federal Services
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Bob Busey Joins i-Link Solutions as VP of Operations and Federal Services

Bob Busey, Jr., formerly a 25 year veteran with Raytheon Technologies, has been named the vice president of Operations and Federal Services for i-Link Solutions, Busey recently announced via LinkedIn.

Previously, Bob Busey served for the last 25 years in multiple senior leadership roles with Raytheon Technologies. Most recently, Busey was the director of Program Management for the company’s Intelligence and Space (I&S) business. 

In addition, Busey also held a long tenure as the director of Unmanned and Mission Management Solutions between July 2015 and earlier this year when he joined the company’s I&S business unit. Busey first joined Raytheon as the manager of Subcontracts and Purchasing in April 1997. 

Over his more than thirty year career in the federal sector, Busey has extensive experience as a business executive in operations, program management and supply chain management with a broad range of skills including civil and federal government contracting, procurement, R&O management, capture management, program and supplier risk analysis and a lot more.

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L3Harris Streamlining Four Business Segments Into Three; CEO Christopher Kubasik Quoted
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L3Harris Streamlining Four Business Segments Into Three; CEO Christopher Kubasik Quoted

L3Harris Technologies announced on Monday that the company is realigning the organization of its core businesses into the following three focused segments: Integrated Mission Systems, Space and Airborne Systems and Communication Systems.

“Our business segments will continue to lead market innovation in their focus areas, fueling advanced solutions for the toughest operational challenges,” said Christopher Kubasik, vice chair and CEO of L3Harris as well as a three-time Wash100 Award winner. “Our customers and partners know L3Harris brings to bear cutting-edge capabilities to tackle some of our most complex national security problems,” he added.

L3Harris began a portfolio shaping process in 2019 with an emphasis on high-growth, technology differentiated businesses that enabled the new, streamlined structure. In the last 30 months, the company has established itself as a trusted prime defense contractor for top-tier U.S. and international missions, including space solutions, autonomous operations, and resilient communications.

“Our intent remains clear: Be THE trusted disruptor for U.S., allied, and partner national security endeavors,” Kubasik explained. “This lean approach will deliver resilient, innovative, end-to-end solutions that propel timely mission success for our customers.”

About L3Harris Technologies

L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers’ mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across space, air, land, sea, and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 47,000 employees, with customers in more than 100 countries.

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Redhorse Receives Investment From Blue Delta; John Zangardi Named CEO
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Redhorse Receives Investment From Blue Delta; John Zangardi Named CEO

Blue Delta Capital Partners, a McLean, Virginia-based venture capital firm, has made a minority investment in Redhorse to enable the technology services contractor to accelerate growth initiatives.

John Zangardi, who assumed the role of president at Redhorse in June 2020, has been named CEO of the company, Redhorse said Monday.

“I am excited for this tremendous opportunity to collaborate across the portfolio of Blue Delta companies. This investment will accelerate our mission to deliver data analytics and AI based solutions to our national security and federal customers,” Zangardi told GovConDaily.

Prior to Redhorse, Zangardi worked at Leidos as senior vice president of business initiatives and strategic partnerships for the company’s civil group.

His government career included time as chief information officer at the Department of Homeland Security, acting CIO at the Department of Defense and deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, information operations and space. He also served in the U.S. Navy and retired as a naval flight officer.

Redhorse also announced other leadership changes and appointment of members to the newly created board of directors:

Bryan Pruden, vice president of finance and accounting at Redhorse, will transition to the role of chief financial officer.

David Inmon, founder and formerly CEO of Redhorse, has been appointed chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Renny DiPentima, a member of Blue Delta’s advisory board and former president and CEO of SRA International; Chris Torti, a general partner at Blue Delta; and Zangardi will also sit on Redhorse’s board as members.

“We are excited to play a part in helping Redhorse Corporation realize its full potential not only through Blue Delta’s investment, but through direct strategy and leadership input on the Board of Directors,” said DiPentima.

Redhorse has been providing data science, mission enablement and digital transformation support to federal government clients since 2008.

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