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Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost Discusses Readiness Priorities as USTRANSCOM Commander
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Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost Discusses Readiness Priorities as USTRANSCOM Commander

Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost, who now leads U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), said she is committed to supporting command and control needs, preserving air mobility and addressing the retirement of naval vessels. 

Ovost spoke at the National Defense Transportation Association’s fall meeting about her priorities as USTRANSCOM’s new leader in her first major keynote address since assuming command, USTRANSCOM said Tuesday. The event took place the same day in National Harbor, Maryland. 

“TRANSCOM’s mission is enduring and my number one priority remains the same – our warfighting readiness,” Ovost said.

She added that the command will pursue its goal through the elements of global posture, mobility capacity, and global command and control and integration.

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GSA, CISA Seek Market Info on Endpoint Detection & Response Tools
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GSA, CISA Seek Market Info on Endpoint Detection & Response Tools

The General Services Administration (GSA) wants to identify market sources of endpoint detection and response (EDR) technologies, which the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) may use to support President Biden’s executive order on cybersecurity. 

CISA will work to expand insight into the Continuous Diagnostic and Mitigation (CDM) program and help the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sustain EDR efforts across the federal government, GSA said Thursday in a SAM.gov notice.

The security agency will take part in efforts to early detect cybersecurity issues on federal networks and augment response capabilities.

OMB and CISA will also jointly design and implement EDR tools with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which granted $650 million to the security agency. Interested parties may send responses through Nov. 8th.

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David McKeown: DISA to Assess Companies Vying for New DOD Enterprise Cloud Contract
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David McKeown: DISA to Assess Companies Vying for New DOD Enterprise Cloud Contract

David McKeown, chief information security officer at the Department of Defense (DOD), said the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will assess companies that will apply for the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. 

The multiple-award JWCC succeeds the now-scrapped Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure or JEDI contract, which was designed to have only one contractor, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

McKeown said the certification process for JWCC will be similar to that of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and other large cloud companies will contribute resources to JWCC. DOD expects to issue JWCC’s awards in April 2022, according to officials.

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Peraton Upgrades Network With Ciena-Supported 800G Technology; Nate White, John Israel Quoted
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Peraton Upgrades Network With Ciena-Supported 800G Technology; Nate White, John Israel Quoted

Peraton has commercially deployed 800G technology-based wavelength services, utilizing Ciena’s Waveserver 5 product, to upgrade the company’s infrastructure, reduce power consumption and latency, improve customer experience and increase network capacity.

The network enhancement allows Peraton to scale its core network capacity to allow for better integration of 5G, edge computing and network slicing technologies while providing faster data transfer and quicker deployment of Internet Protocol and business services to its public and private sector customers, the company said Wednesday.

“By upgrading to 800G technology, Peraton brings government and commercial customers the affordable and high-performance telecommunications services necessary for meeting operational requirements,” said Nate White, vice president and general manager of Peraton’s Communications business.

White also noted that as the only systems integrator with internal commercial telecommunications and satellite communications capabilities, Peraton will be able to leverage the network improvements to continue driving innovation as the company launches its new Nx100G and 400G services in the Washington, D.C. area. 

The new update allows Peraton to deliver high-capacity wavelengths through its optical transmission network and data centers at speeds of 400Gbps and higher, positioning the company to meet increased capacity demands in response to an increasingly remote workforce.

John Israel, regional director of national security for Ciena said the use of the company’s Waveserver 5 product “makes it possible for Peraton to optimize its network in the face of today’s growing bandwidth demands and fast-changing customer needs.”

Peraton recently secured a potential $2.7 billion DHS contract to manage the agency’s hybrid computing environment. The new 800G capabilities will continue to support Peraton’s federal IT services and infrastructure modernization contract work.

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Kenneth Morgan: Air Force Reserve Command Seeks Base Connectivity Improvement via Commercial 5G Service
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Kenneth Morgan: Air Force Reserve Command Seeks Base Connectivity Improvement via Commercial 5G Service

Kenneth Morgan, chief information technology officer of Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), said upcoming 5G infrastructure deployments to AFRC host bases seek to address connectivity challenges at the military facilities, GCN reported Friday.

“The addition of commercial cellular infrastructure consisting of macro towers, small cells and in-building solutions is a game-changer,” Morgan told the publication.

Verizon announced a follow-on contract under the Department of Defense’s Offer to Lease project in September to provide the company’s 5G Ultra Wideband service to seven AFRC installations.

Morgan said two-thirds of the command’s facilities nationwide lack network coverage or mobile communication capacity. He expects connectivity upgrades to help reservists collaborate in real-time to support aircraft engineering and maintenance activities.

The AFRC executive also believes the new wireless technology will drive initiatives to produce augmented and virtual reality systems for military training, high-definition videos for telemedicine and artificial intelligence-based biometric technology.

Morgan estimates that all host installations to be 5G ready by the end of 2023.

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen Pursues Consolidated FBI Headquarters in Senate Bill
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen Pursues Consolidated FBI Headquarters in Senate Bill

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has included a language in a proposed Senate bill that would direct the FBI and the General Services Administration (GSA) to work together and finalize the plan for the establishment of a new FBI consolidated headquarters.

The language would require the GSA administrator to submit to Congress a report that provides an update on the construction of the bureau’s new headquarters in the National Capital Region, Van Hollen’s office said Tuesday. 

The report should be submitted within 180 days of the legislation’s enactment and should “include a summary of the material provisions of the construction and consolidation of the FBI in a new headquarters facility, including all the costs associated with site acquisition, design, management, and inspection, and a description of all buildings and infrastructure needed to complete the project,” the bill language reads.

Van Hollen, chairman of the Senate Appropriations’ financial services and general government subcommittee, has pushed to advance the construction of the new headquarters at one of the two proposed sites in Maryland to help the bureau meet its national security and law enforcement missions.

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Deborah Lee James on Focus Areas of Defense Business Board’s Upcoming Studies
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Deborah Lee James on Focus Areas of Defense Business Board’s Upcoming Studies

Deborah Lee James, chair of the Defense Business Board and a previous Wash100 Award winner, said the board will look into various matters and conduct studies that will fall into three basic categories and those are transformations, business processes and talent, Defense News reported Tuesday.

James, former secretary of the U.S. Air Force, told the publication in an interview about her insights on the possibility of tighter defense budgets.

“In more scarce times, where lots of bills for procurement are coming due when you need to invest more in R&D for some of the new technologies like AI and robotics and hypersonics, and so on, when the cost of people continues to go up. All of these are bills that must be paid,” James said.

“And if [future] budgets are flat, as I think many are predicting, you’re going to have to do some efficiencies, if you’re going to continue to do the things that you want to do,” she added.

When asked about her strategy as chair of the board, James said she intends to leverage the talents and insights of each member and envisions the group to be a “working board.”

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Frank Kendall: Defense Logistics Enterprise Should Adapt, Apply Emerging Tech in Response to Challenges
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Frank Kendall: Defense Logistics Enterprise Should Adapt, Apply Emerging Tech in Response to Challenges

Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a three-time Wash100 Award winner, said he believes the U.S. defense and military logistics enterprise should adapt to meet the challenges posed by strategic competitors and recognize the need for a multidomain and multipronged approach that involves all service branches, partners and allies, the Air Force reported Tuesday.

“All of us involved in national security also need to develop a stronger sense of urgency, and we all must think carefully about the application of new and emerging technology to the operations we may be called upon to conduct in the not too distant future,” Kendall said at an event Monday.

He called on Congress to take actions to replace legacy systems that have become irrelevant when it comes to addressing current challenges and noted that he is willing to work with the legislative branch to find new ways to move forward.

Kendall also conducted a thought exercise for the audience by asking them to envision the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

“My point in leading you through this thought experiment is to emphasize two things: First, how different our current and future challenges to logistics are compared to what we are used to or have ever experienced. And second, how significant a threat we can expect to face from today onward,” he said.

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CISA, NSA, FBI Issue Advisory on BlackMatter Ransomware; Eric Goldstein Quoted
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CISA, NSA, FBI Issue Advisory on BlackMatter Ransomware; Eric Goldstein Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI have jointly published an advisory that features technical details and an analysis of the BlackMatter ransomware.

BlackMatter, a ransomware-as-a-service tool, has been used in attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure including two organizations in the U.S. food and agriculture sector, NSA said Monday.

The cybersecurity advisory also provides recommendations that organizations can follow to mitigate risks related to BlackMatter. Cyber actors have used BlackMatter with compromised credentials to access networks and block data access via encryption.

“This advisory highlights the evolving and persistent nature of criminal cyber actors and the need for a collective public and private approach to reduce the impact and prevalence of ransomware attacks,” said Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director for cybersecurity for CISA.

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NASA Names Selection for New $145M Astrophysics Mission
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NASA Names Selection for New $145M Astrophysics Mission

NASA has selected John Tomsick of the University of California, Berkeley, to lead a $145 million space telescope mission that will study star birth and death, as well as chemical formations in the Milky Way.

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a gamma-ray telescope that will launch in 2025 through NASA’s Astrophysics Explorers Program, the space agency said Tuesday.

COSI will examine the gamma rays of radioactive atoms made from large star explosions. The mission seeks to locate where in the Milky Way chemical elements formed.

NASA also wants the mission to uncover the origin of positrons, subatomic particles whose mass is equal to that of electrons but have a positive charge.

The agency selected COSI out of the Astrophysics Explorers Program’s four finalists, which performed mission concept studies before the final selection. The program, which supports scientific investigations, gathered a total of 18 proposals in 2019.

NASA’s Maryland-based Goddard Space Flight Center performs managerial duties for the program.

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