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DOE Taps University of Utah for $140M Geothermal R&D Project; Rick Perry Comments
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DOE Taps University of Utah for $140M Geothermal R&D Project; Rick Perry Comments


DOE Taps University of Utah for $140M Geothermal R&D Project; Rick Perry Comments
Rick Perry

The Energy Department will provide up to $140 million in continued funds for the University of Utah to research and develop geothermal systems over the next five years.

DOE said Thursday it picked an area outside of Milford, Utah, as the location for Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy field laboratory after a three-year process of planning, site characterization and competition.

“Funding efforts toward the next frontier in geothermal energy technologies will help diversify the United States’ domestic energy portfolio, enhance our energy access, and increase our energy security,” said Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

Researchers can use the FORGE facility to create, test and update geothermal systems or engineer manmade  geothermal reservoirs.

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Dean Peters: NAVAIR to Establish Guide for Fleet Readiness Center Modernization Investments
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Dean Peters: NAVAIR to Establish Guide for Fleet Readiness Center Modernization Investments


Dean Peters: NAVAIR to Establish Guide for Fleet Readiness Center Modernization InvestmentsThe Naval Air Systems Command will create guidelines for the allocation of fiscal year 2018 funds for the upgrade of facilities at Fleet Readiness Centers.

Vice Adm. Dean Peters, commander of NAVAIR, told the U.S. Naval Institute the command will initially conduct a baseline assessment of some 800 critical components that average 25 years at three FRC locations, USNI said Thursday.

He noted that the locations are the FRC East at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, FRC Southeast at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and FRC Southwest at Naval Air Station North Island.

FRC East uses a 50-year-old water tower for T-64 engine nozzle qualifications, FRC Southeast has an avionics maintenance facility without air conditioning and FRC Southwest uses an environment control ventilation system that fails once a week.

The command will also baseline 71,000 pieces of equipment across the depots, whose average age is 58 years, for the facilities modernization plan, Peters added.

Augmentation of the FY 2018 funds helped NAVAIR repair the equipment for critical test and support at the three depots and will allow the command to enhance the overhaul operations of the FRCs, Peters said at a hearing of the House Armed Services readiness subcommittee.

In FY 2017, the FRCs completed 485 of 487 aircraft such as F/A-18A-D Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

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Jim Bridenstine Discusses NASA-Related Policies on Commercial Space
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Jim Bridenstine Discusses NASA-Related Policies on Commercial Space


Jim Bridenstine Discusses NASA-Related Policies on Commercial Space
Jim Bridenstine

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine discussed during the recent Space Transportation Association luncheon the space policy directives involving the agency and the Trump administration’s commercial space projects, Space News reported Thursday.

Bridenstine noted that Space Policy Directive 1 is the most relevant directive to NASA as it directs the organization to resume sending humans to the moon as part of a broader effort to conduct missions to Mars.

Space Policy Directive 2, meanwhile,  is critical of NASA as it includes modifications to commercial space regulations such as simplified launch licensing processes and the formation of a single entity within the Commerce Department to oversee regulatory issues.

Bridenstine said NASA adheres to launch licensing reform to manage the emerging role of commercial companies in the agency’s missions, adding, “We are very keen on making sure that regulatory environment is good because it decreases our costs and increases our access.”

The NASA official also disclosed that the next space directive, which will likely be announced on June 18, will be based on Vice President Mike Pence’s speech at the 34th Space Symposium in April.

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NNSA Deploys Counter-UAS System at Los Alamos Facility
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NNSA Deploys Counter-UAS System at Los Alamos Facility


NNSA Deploys Counter-UAS System at Los Alamos FacilityThe National Nuclear Security Administration has collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration to field a technology platform designed to counter unauthorized unmanned aircraft systems near the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

LLNL said Thursday it implemented a government-authorized system using legal authority under the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act to protect the facility against drone threats that may harm laboratory personnel and infrastructure.

“We can detect and track a UAS and if it poses a threat we have the ability to disrupt control of the system, seize or exercise control, confiscate, or use reasonable force to disable, damage or destroy the UAS,” said Michael Lansing, head of security operations at LLNL.

NNSA intends for the laboratory’s counter-UAS program to serve as blueprint for the adoption of similar programs at the Pantex Plant in Texas, National Nuclear Security Site in Nevada and Y-12 facility in Tennessee.

The agency also created signage that warns drone operators regarding airspace boundaries and noted it will coordinate with other government agencies to craft protocols for the operator’s recovery of confiscated UAS.

FAA used a separate authority to establish a “No Drone Zone” for sites that fall under Category I Special Nuclear Materials.

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Army Eyes New Tech Platforms, Industry Partnerships to Manage Installations; Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham Comments
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Army Eyes New Tech Platforms, Industry Partnerships to Manage Installations; Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham Comments


Army Eyes New Tech Platforms, Industry Partnerships to Manage Installations; Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham Comments
Gwen Bingham

Lt. Gen. Gwen Bingham, assistant chief of staff for installation management at the U.S. Army, has said the service branch looks to implement cloud computing, big data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies to help increase operational efficiency at installations.

Bingham oversees policies, resources and resources for the Army’s installation services and infrastructure, the service branch said Wednesday.

She said at the Association of the U.S. Army Institute of Land Warfare’s breakfast event Tuesday the ACSIM office aims to continue investing in construction, restoration and modernization projects that will support force readiness efforts.

“Let’s imagine for a moment the use of artificial intelligence and other smart cities’ technologies such as autonomous vehicles for transportation on a post, camp, station, or installation,” Bingham told audience during her keynote speech.

“Imagine being able to use and analyze big data so that you could look at a building and be able to predict when it was going to need repairs.”

She intends to collaborate with Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of for installations, energy and environment at the Army, to implement physical security technology at multiple Army facilities in the next 12 to 18 months as part of a pilot program.

Bigham added her office seeks to partner with the private sector to drive transformation efforts meant to help the service branch modernize its force.

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DISA Org Seeks to Advance Spectrum Sharing Through Algorithms, Analytics, Data Visualization
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DISA Org Seeks to Advance Spectrum Sharing Through Algorithms, Analytics, Data Visualization


DISA Org Seeks to Advance Spectrum Sharing Through Algorithms, Analytics, Data VisualizationA Defense Information Systems Agency organization has begun to explore novel spectrum sharing platforms designed to meet warfighters’ electromagnetic spectrum requirements.

The Defense Spectrum Organization develops and deploys spectrum management technologies that work to facilitate the Defense Department’s access to EMS, DISA said Wednesday.

DISA said algorithms, automation and data visualization play a role in understanding interference needed to advance spectrum sharing.

Stuart Schutta, an electronics engineer at DSO, said the organization has initiated efforts to develop new algorithms and one algorithm works to help “understand interference in the aggregate.”

“This algorithm gives us higher fidelity views into the impacts interference is having on our systems,” Schutta said.

“We are looking at how to expand this beyond …the spectrum sharing scenario … how to apply it in other scenarios for warfighting and EMS maneuvers,” he added.

Schutta noted that the DSO algorithm uses statistics-based principles to merge raw statistical data in order to determine distributions that could be used in making risk-based decisions about spectrum sharing.

DSO also explores the use of spectrum data visualization to help build up EMS-related situational awareness capability and big data analytics to understand interference.

“This is really a ripe area for (the) application of analytics to be able to predict and assess whether interference is intentional or unintentional. … We need to know the time and place that an interference occurs,” said Elizabeth Park, an electronics engineer with DSO.

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IARPA to Launch Competition on Increasing Face Recognition Accuracy
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IARPA to Launch Competition on Increasing Face Recognition Accuracy


IARPA to Launch Competition on Increasing Face Recognition AccuracyThe Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity is launching the Fusion of Face Recognition Algorithms Prize Challenge, where contestants will attempt to increase face recognition accuracy through the use of various algorithm fusion techniques.

IARPA said Wednesday that the contest is open to researchers from local and international industrial and academic organizations.

Chris Boehnen, project manager of IARPA, noted that his agency “is in a unique position” to assist participating researchers develop algorithm fusion methods by providing them with requisite data.

Participants will turn over their solutions to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which will evaluate the submissions, and winners will receive cash prizes from a total purse of $70,000.

IARPA is accepting registrations until August 6 and will announce the winners of the competition in October.

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FedRAMP Recognizes Government Agencies, Employees in 2018 Five Awards
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FedRAMP Recognizes Government Agencies, Employees in 2018 Five Awards


FedRAMP Recognizes Government Agencies, Employees in 2018 Five AwardsThe Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program has announced the recipients of the FedRAMP Five Awards, which recognizes individuals and organizations in the federal government for their cybersecurity and cloud contributions.

FedRAMP said Tuesday it selected the winners based on their participation in the modernization of the program, as well as the services that their organizations have delivered to their stakeholders.

The recipients and their respective awards are:

  • Department of Health and Human Services’ Cloud Security Team – Large Agency Award
  • Federal Communications Commission – Small Agency Award
  • Steven Hunt, information technology governance lead for NASA’s Enterprise Managed Cloud Computing office – Large Agency Tech Lead Award
  • Greg Gray, chief security information officer for the Broadcasting Board of Governors – Small Agency Tech Lead Award
  • Daniel Pane, FedRAMP lead for HHS – Future Leader Award

HHS CST so far has 46 FedRAMP Authorized or In Process products in use, while FCC has 17.

Hunt, Gray and Pane have led cybersecurity initiatives within their respective agencies in partnership with FedRAMP.

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Trump to Nominate Karen Evans as DOE Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity
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Trump to Nominate Karen Evans as DOE Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity


Trump to Nominate Karen Evans as DOE Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity
Karen Evans

President Donald Trump intends to nominate Karen Evans, national director of the U.S. Cyber Challenge, as assistant secretary for cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response at the Energy Department.

She currently leads the public-private program designed to help address a skills gap in the cybersecurity field, the White House said Tuesday.

Evans initially joined the federal government as a General Schedule-2 employee before she was assigned to DOE as the department’s chief information officer.

The cybersecurity veteran previously worked as the administrator for e-government and information technology under the George W. Bush administration.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and an MBA degree from West Virginia University.

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DOE Seeks Information on Regulation Management for Hydrogen Infrastructure
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DOE Seeks Information on Regulation Management for Hydrogen Infrastructure


DOE Seeks Information on Regulation Management for Hydrogen InfrastructureThe Department of Energy has announced a request for information seeking input to lessen regulatory barriers on hydrogen infrastructure development.

The DOE said Wednesday it intends to determine research and development areas vital to decreasing regulatory barriers that hinder the implementation of hydrogen technologies.

The RFI seeks to establish understanding on industry regulations regarding hydrogen infrastructure; identify government laws and related compliance costs; and make recommendations to reduce disadvantages of regulatory requirements.

“DOE will continue to engage with stakeholders on the regulatory reform process, and work to achieve the President’s goals to reduce burdens on American families and businesses,” said Daniel Simmons, principal deputy assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

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