U.S. Space Force Chief Master Sgt. Jacob Simmons will assume the role of command senior enlisted leader for the U.S. Space Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado. He currently serves as CSEL for Space Operations Command. According to a June announcement from the Office of the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the […]
The Technology Modernization Fund plans to provide a total of $50.5 million in loans to enhance digital service delivery at three federal agencies and improve data and application cybersecurity at two others. Raylene Yung, TMF’s executive director, explained that investing in digital modernization and cybersecurity projects facilitates public access to services and grows trust in […]
The Environmental Protection Agency says having limited resources is the reason why thousands of cybersecurity weaknesses have gone unaddressed in the Analytical Radiation Data System, which is used to detect radiological anomalies by processing monitoring data from the air, rain, soil and other materials. According to the agency’s Office of the Inspector General, such vulnerabilities […]
The House of Representatives fiscal year 2024 defense budget seeks to direct the Department of Defense to open an office that would engage academic institutions with the aim of hiring and retaining cyber workers. Patrick Johnson, head of the DOD Chief Information Office‘s Workforce Innovation Directorate, explained during a recent Association of the U.S. Army […]
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the implementation of measures to secure classified information across the Department of Defense. The measures resulted from a department-wide review of security programs and policies that was conducted after sensitive emails and military documents from the DOD were discovered to have leaked online. Austin, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, had […]
Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy head of the U.S. Space Command, said on Thursday that maneuverable platforms are expected to grow more prominent in the next five years of space activities. Speaking at a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies event, he noted that what he calls positional space operations may no longer suffice for certain […]
NASA plans to send four six-unit CubeSats into low-Earth orbit no earlier than July 14 with launch support from Rocket Lab. Certain maneuvers will be tested as part of Starling, a mission aimed at advancing space-based autonomous swarm technologies. The agency explained that autonomy will be needed to ensure continued performance amid potential communications disruptions […]
The Department of Defense has blacklisted select organizations in China, Russia and other countries for allegedly stealing sensitive defense research from U.S. academic institutions. Universities in the United States receive funding from the DOD for various projects, which foreign academic partners can exploit to gain access to key defense information. Heidi Shyu, undersecretary of defense […]
The Office of Special Counsel has directed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to investigate claims of unsafe working conditions that have caused data loss and equipment damage at a research facility near Washington, D.C. Personnel at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center filed whistleblower complaints in May describing dysfunctional safety systems and general facilities such as bathrooms. […]
The Department of Energy is moving to make its federally funded research publicly accessible as part of a Biden administration drive to improve data transparency. Under a revised public access plan, scientific papers sponsored by the agency will become immediately available for free. An August 2022 memo from the White House’s Office of Science and […]
