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BT Federal’s Mike Barthlow Talks Mission Goals, Leadership Tenets With Potomac Officers Club
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BT Federal’s Mike Barthlow Talks Mission Goals, Leadership Tenets With Potomac Officers Club

Mike Barthlow, president and CEO of BT Federal, was featured recently in an exclusive Executive Spotlight interview with the Potomac Officers Club, in which he discussed his public and private sector career milestones, the tenets that guide his leadership methods and what he hopes to accomplish across the government contracting landscape in the future. 

Barthlow assumed his current post at BT Federal in January 2021. Previously, he served as senior vice president and general manager of the mission communications and computing business at Cubic Corporation.

In this excerpt from the interview, Barthlow speaks on how a national tragedy strengthened his commitment and reinvigorated his mission focus on delivering support to critical government systems:

“I began my journey in the federal landscape as a Marine Corps communications and information systems officer. I had the opportunity to serve in an artillery battalion with the 11th Marines as an S-6 (staff communication officer) as my first assignment, and it truly challenged my skills and leadership having to bring together data and voice communications in a very fluid operational environment. I left active duty after my assignment at 11th Marines and went onto AT&T’s signature client group to help turn around the service delivery performance of the Sun Microsystem Lifecycle Management team. 

After having some great success in the assignment for almost 18 months, the attack on September 11th happened. As a result, I was gladly mobilized to serve in the global War on Terror at U.S. Central Command. Fortunately, I was deployed into a role as the chief of joint theater data networks, utilizing some of my recent experience in the commercial world to help build the largest warfighting network in modern history. That experience truly shaped my career, and I feel like I have been on a mission ever since to improve, modernize and deliver the most secure, capable enterprise communications and information systems possible to my federal customers.”

Click here to read the full Executive Spotlight interview with BT Federal’s Mike Barthlow. 

Are you a GovCon executive who’s interested in being featured in an Executive Spotlight? Visit PotomacOfficersClub.com to learn more about the platform’s membership options and benefits.

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IRS to End Use of Facial Recognition Tech to Verify Online Accounts; Sen. Ron Wyden Quoted
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IRS to End Use of Facial Recognition Tech to Verify Online Accounts; Sen. Ron Wyden Quoted

The Department of the Treasury has informed the office of Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that the Internal Revenue Service is in the process of ending the use of facial recognition software for taxpayers to access their tax information online.

The Treasury’s move was in response to Wyden’s request for IRS to stop using the facial recognition service offered by company ID.me in verifying accounts of taxpayers and accessing tax records amid civil liberties and privacy concerns, the senator’s office said Monday.

In a Monday letter addressed to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, the senator asked the agency to transition to Login.gov, the government’s existing identity verification service that has been used by 40 million U.S. citizens to access 200 websites operated by 28 federal agencies.

“I understand the transition process may take time, but I appreciate that the administration recognizes that privacy and security are not mutually exclusive and no one should be forced to submit to facial recognition to access critical government services,” Wyden said in response to the Treasury’s action.

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David McKeown on 10 Cybersecurity Practices Defense Contractors Should Implement
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David McKeown on 10 Cybersecurity Practices Defense Contractors Should Implement

David McKeown, deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity at the Department of Defense, said safeguarding the defense industrial base from cyberthreats has become a priority for DOD and that there are 10 cybersecurity practices defense companies should adopt to make their organizations cyber resilient, DOD News reported Monday.

These cyber practices include keeping updated architecture diagrams with inventories of software and hardware to speed up cyberthreat response; patching and configuring security settings on all software and devices; implementing multifactor authentication; employing malware protection on networks; and encrypting data in transit and at rest.

“No two companies are alike or operate in the same way. However, these essential cybersecurity practices are a great start for any company to strengthen its cybersecurity posture,” said McKeown, who also serves as DOD’s chief information security officer. 

He called on companies in the defense industrial base to be vigilant and prepare to defend and recover from cyber incidents.

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Report: Frank Kendall Offers Commercial Space Suggestions to VP Harris
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Report: Frank Kendall Offers Commercial Space Suggestions to VP Harris

Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a three-time Wash100 Award winner, presented to Vice President Kamala Harris, who also chairs the National Space Council, a list of commercial space ideas through a six-page memo, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

Kendall’s memo “was a proactive effort by the department to support the Vice President, and ensure the Department of Defense can support Biden Administration efforts to foster a broader role for the commercial space sector in supporting a more resilient space capabilities,” an official with the Department of the Air Force told the publication in an email.

According to the report, the document appears to be Kendall’s effort to suggest ideas that fit into the United Space Priorities Framework, which seeks to maintain a robust and responsible U.S. space enterprise and preserve space for current and future generations and comes before the completion of another reorganization of Space Systems Command, the U.S. Space Force’s acquisition unit.

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Air Force Acquisition Head Andrew Hunter Assumes DOD Acquisition Undersecretary Duties
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Air Force Acquisition Head Andrew Hunter Assumes DOD Acquisition Undersecretary Duties

The Department of Defense has assigned Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s new acquisition chief, to concurrently perform the duties of DOD undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment.

Hunter was sworn in as the Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics at a ceremony held Monday morning at the Pentagon, five days after he received Senate confirmation, the service branch said.

In a separate announcement, DOD said Hunter assumed the additional role of acting USD(A&S) and his responsibilities include departmentwide acquisition, contract administration and defense industrial base oversight functions.

“With his extensive background in defense matters, Andrew is ideally prepared for both the responsibilities of the office and to deliver meaningful military capabilities into the hands of our service members,” said Frank Kendall, secretary of the Air Force and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient.

Hunter most recently served as director of the Center for Strategic International Studies’ defense-industrial initiatives group and previously worked as director of the DOD’s Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell.

Air Force Acquisition Head Andrew Hunter Assumes DOD Acquisition Undersecretary Duties

ExecutiveGov’s sister site GovCon Wire is scheduled to host the Second Annual Air Force: IT Plans and Priorities Forum on March 9. Visit the GCW Events page to learn more about this upcoming virtual forum.

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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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