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DHS Garnering Public Feedback on Scientific Integrity Directive
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DHS Garnering Public Feedback on Scientific Integrity Directive

The Department of Homeland Security has made a draft version of its Scientific Integrity Directive available to the public for review and comment, according to Daniel Cotter, senior adviser and scientific integrity official at the DHS Science and Technology Directorate.

Cotter said in a column posted on the DHS website that the release of the draft is the third step in a process prescribed by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to help various agencies formulate their own scientific integrity policies in line with the Biden administration’s efforts to restore public trust in government by basing policymaking on the best available science and data.

Cotter explained that work on the directive began in 2021, with an interim draft being submitted just this past March to the OSTP for review. According to Cotter, the current commenting phase is critical because it allows the public to help ensure the accountability of government agencies.

The DHS official went on to say that comments will be accepted through Oct. 20 and that the final version of the directive will be released in fiscal year 2024.

DHS Garnering Public Feedback on Scientific Integrity Directive

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 2023 Homeland Security Summit on Nov. 15. You can view the speaker lineup and agenda by clicking here and register for the event by clicking here.

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DOD to Establish Energy Storage Systems Campus; Laura Taylor-Kale Quoted
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DOD to Establish Energy Storage Systems Campus; Laura Taylor-Kale Quoted

The Department of Defense will establish an energy storage systems campus aimed at accelerating the transition and development of next generation batteries to support an enlarged domestic capacity for critical materials.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization office, selected the University of Texas at Dallas for the three-year, $30 million project, DOD said Monday.

Establishing the campus is among DOD initiatives under the Scaling Capacity and Accelerating Local Enterprises program, which was launched to drive commercial investment and create sustainable technology markets to support national security efforts.

“The SCALE initiative is built on robust research that indicates market pull is needed to transition innovative technologies into new domestic industrial base capability and capacity,” said Laura Taylor-Kale, assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy. “Our approach of aggregating demand across national security and commercial markets will generate that market pull, drastically reducing timelines to transition and scale emerging technologies.”

The energy storage systems campus has three complementary objectives. Aside from the earlier mentioned goal of advancing next-gen battery development and production, it seeks to optimize current lithium ion-based battery performance and ensure the availability of battery’s raw materials.

It is expected to stimulate more than $200 million in private capital and bring together businesses, universities and trade schools to generate jobs and upskill domestic workforce.

Noteworthy Federal Sales Executives Improving Public Services in 2023
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Noteworthy Federal Sales Executives Improving Public Services in 2023

Federal sales require unique qualifications for products and services needed by various government industries, such as defense, healthcare, intelligence, civilian, and homeland security. Through government contracting, agencies work with federal sales executives and contract leaders to purchase solutions that improve public services and boost industry growth.

 

What are the duties and responsibilities of a federal sales executive?

A federal sales executive handles all the sales activities of an organization with the federal government. Their duties and responsibilities encompass setting sales targets, converting sales leads, conducting market research, exploring new growth opportunities, riding on trends and customer demands, and fostering healthy relationships with existing and new clients.

Take a look at the noteworthy federal sales executives who play crucial roles in the government’s purchase of goods and services to improve public services across local, state, and federal sectors.

 

Federal Sales Executives Improving Public Services in 2023

Note: The following list features esteemed industry leaders selected based on a comprehensive evaluation of their accomplishments, including their strategic vision, demonstrated impact on the industry, innovative contributions, and leadership prowess. However, this is in no way an exhaustive list. The industry is filled with talented professionals making significant contributions, warranting close attention for their achievements and potential impact.

 

Aaron Butler, Vice President of Sales at ID Technologies

Aaron Butler, Vice President of Sales at ID Technologies
Image from ID Technologies

Aaron Butler possesses comprehensive sales qualifications with capabilities in Salesforce, outside sales, account management, and other professional services. He brings in over 15 years of experience in the field, taking on the role of Vice President of Sales at ID Technologies, a CACI Company, in April 2022.

Butler holds a long-standing tenure at ID Technologies, initially joining as a Federal Account Executive for the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security in January 2017. Throughout his stay, he has developed specialties in federal civilian sales, law enforcement, government programs, and accounts. 

 

Craig Herman, Chief Revenue Officer at Aware, Inc.

Craig Herman, Chief Revenue Officer at Aware, Inc.
Image from from www.citybiz.co

Craig Herman has been serving as the Chief Revenue Officer at Aware, Inc. since August 2022. He supervises the revenue generation efforts of the enterprise’s flagship biometrics solutions development across the public and private sectors. One of Herman’s significant contributions was leading Aware’s software subscription growth, boosting the company’s year-to-year revenue by 6%.

Boasting over two decades of sales experience, Herman assumed various sales positions for leading companies, such as Four51.com, ExactTarget, Localytics, 360insights.com, and 3Play Media. His exhaustive industry expertise earned him valuable executive membership at Pavilion, where he actively contributed his skills in marketing, SaaS, and lead generation. 

 

Steve Jacyna, Director at Carahsoft Technology

Steve Jacyna, Director at Carahsoft Technology
Image from LinkedIn

Steve Jacyna has been a critical sales member of Carahsoft Technology since July 2007. He started as an Account Executive, where he gained insights in market potential development, lead generation qualification, and close sales for two years. Jacyna’s initial experience in accounts propelled him in his career, taking on roles such as Account Manager and Team Lead.

As the Director at Carahsoft Technology since January 2014, Jacyna holds a range of sales responsibilities, specializing in the development, expansion, and facilitation of targeted sales and marketing activities. He utilizes his wide range of expertise in government proposal writing, go-to-market strategy creation, and product development. Hence, providing public and commercial customers with the hardware and software required by organizations.

 

Thomas Stamos, Regional Vice President of Federal Sales at Zscaler

Thomas Stamos, Regional Vice President of Federal Sales at Zscaler
Image from LinkedIn

Since January 2020, Thomas Stamos has held the position of Regional Vice President of Federal Sales at Zscaler. He has been an influential figure in the federal market, having over 25 years of service in solving the toughest problems of various government agencies concerning modernization and transformation.

Stamos’ earlier experience in federal sales includes serving as the Named Account Manager and National Account Manager at EMC and Veritas Software, respectively. He focuses on the federal sector which expanded his sales capabilities, serving in senior leadership positions at FBR Capital Markets, Symantec, and Cisco Systems.

 

Matt Parsons, Vice President of Civilian Sales at RavenTek

Matt Parsons, Vice President of Civilian Sales at RavenTek
Image from LinkedIn

Matt Parsons currently serves as the Vice President of Civilian Sales at RavenTek, assuming the position in January 2021. Previously, he was the company’s Director of Federal Civilian Sales for more than a year. It was there where he actively shared his industry knowledge in enterprise storage, cloud computing, and virtualization.

Before joining RavenTek, Parsons undertook various duties in marketing, accounts, and data architecture for companies. These included the Corporate Executive Board, Appian, IronBrick, Packet360, Presidio, and Oracle. More recently, he managed federal and commercial accounts as the Major Account Executive and Major Account Manager at Riverbed Technology and Dell, respectively.

NIST Publishes Guidance on De-Identifying Government Datasets
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NIST Publishes Guidance on De-Identifying Government Datasets

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released guidance on removing identifiers from government datasets to limit disclosure risks to specific individuals.

NIST Special Publication 800-188 aims to guide government agencies in using de-identification tools, techniques and processes to reduce privacy risks associated with collecting and publishing government data, the agency said Thursday.

Authored by experts from NIST and the U.S. Census Bureau, the guidance outlines practices for traditional de-identification approaches and formal privacy methods. The guidance also addresses other methods for making government datasets with sensitive information available to researchers and the public.

NIST recommends that agencies evaluate their goals and assess the potential privacy risks posed by releasing de-identified data before using de-identification techniques.

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Jennifer Fain Nominated for FDIC Inspector General Post
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Jennifer Fain Nominated for FDIC Inspector General Post

President Joe Biden has nominated Jennifer Fain, most recently deputy inspector general at the Export-Import Bank of the U.S., to serve as IG of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Fain provided oversight of EXIM’s operations, programs and team of auditors and analysts for nearly three years as acting IG, the White House said Friday.

The certified internal auditor previously served as assistant IG for audits and evaluations and deputy assistant IG for inspections and evaluations within the export credit agency’s office of the inspector general.

Fain, who has been serving in the IG community for more than two decades, held leadership roles in inspection, audit and evaluation offices at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

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CISA Issues Reference Architecture for Enterprise Implementation of ICAM Capabilities
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CISA Issues Reference Architecture for Enterprise Implementation of ICAM Capabilities

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency has released the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program’s identity, credential and access management reference architecture.

CISA said Friday the document addresses the issue of a lack of a singular enterprise ICAM reference architecture, an issue that has resulted in different government agencies implementing ICAM capabilities in various ways and at varying degrees of maturity, potentially rendering such capabilities ineffective.

According to CISA, the document also works to show how identity and access management might integrate into the ICAM architecture of an agency. In so doing, the document clarifies and refines the scope of IDAM under the CDM Program.

The ICAM reference architecture also takes into account zero trust, whose adoption the Biden administration endorsed via Executive Order 14028. Zero trust is a cybersecurity framework that assumes devices and users cannot be trusted and therefore requires continuous authentication. The CISA document explains how ICAM supports zero trust.

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Auxon to Creat AI Fault Prediction Tech for Air Force
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Auxon to Creat AI Fault Prediction Tech for Air Force

Auxon, a Portland, Oregon-based developer of automated verification and validation technologies, was tapped by AFWERX to provide the Department of the Air Force with a real-time, artificial intelligence-driven predictive failure analysis capability to help it address pressing challenges and strengthen national security.

The company said Monday it will work under a $1.25 million Direct-to-Phase II contract to demonstrate an analytics technology capable of increasing space-based defense systems’ resilience and reliability.

“Our focus is on proactively identifying and resolving issues before they become operational challenges for our military personnel,” remarked Auxon CEO Nathan Aschbacher. “We’re dedicated to working closely with AFWERX, the Air Force, and other [Department of Defense] stakeholders to fortify our national defenses.”

The award is through the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer program, which is used by the Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX to advance small business-led technology innovation efforts.

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Tech Industry Executives Urge US Government for Systemic Reforms to Maintain Military Advantage
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Tech Industry Executives Urge US Government for Systemic Reforms to Maintain Military Advantage

A group of 21 technology industry leaders has called on the U.S. government through an open letter to facilitate greater collaboration with the tech sector to reestablish and protect the country’s military advantage amid strategic competition with China.

Some of the measures backed by the tech leaders in the letter published Friday are facilitating pathways for the Intelligence Community to adopt cutting-edge technologies and updating defense trade regulations and laws under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations and Export Administration Regulations by authorizing licensing exemptions for modern defense systems for the U.K. and Australia.

Congress and the Biden administration should also codify programs such as those described in the Nontraditional Innovation Fielding Enterprise and Replicator initiative to rapidly deploy autonomous technologies across multiple domains, according to the letter.

The tech executives continued, calling on the U.S. government to consider systemic reforms, such as providing better oversight of the Department of Defense’s contracting processes to speed up the deployment of capabilities to warfighters and improving assured access to microelectronics, strategic minerals and other critical supply chain areas by supporting tax incentive or loan guarantee programs.

The government should additionally incentivize private investments in research and development of dual-use technologies and implement the National Security Commission on AI’s recommendation to boost DOD’s investment in artificial intelligence and other science and technology areas.

Jacob Helberg, commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, co-signed the letter with 20 other tech leaders, including Akash Jain, president of Palantir USG and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, and Brian Schmipf, CEO of Anduril Industries.

House Committee Leaders Urge Sanctions Against China’s Huawei, SMIC
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House Committee Leaders Urge Sanctions Against China’s Huawei, SMIC

House lawmakers have called on the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security to impose sanctions against Chinese telecommunications company Huawei for launching a smartphone with 7-nanometer, 5G-enabled chips developed by Chinese state-owned Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and nine other House committee leaders sent a letter to BIS Undersecretary Alan Estevez to request tighter sanctions against the Chinese companies for allegedly violating U.S. export control regulations, HASC said Friday.

According to the lawmakers, companies such as SMIC support the Chinese military and “have been responsible for manufacturing semiconductors that power Huawei’s 5G devices, in violation of BIS’ export controls.”

The letter included seven recommendations to protect sensitive technologies from malign actors, including establishing a sanctions authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act focused on Chinese companies and imposing full blocking sanctions on SMIC and Huawei.

The committee leaders also recommended that BIS revoke all existing licenses for SMIC and Huawei and pursue criminal charges against the companies’ executives.

DHS Advisory Council Approves Recommendations on AI Use, Workforce Development, Grant Program; Alejandro Mayorkas Quoted
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DHS Advisory Council Approves Recommendations on AI Use, Workforce Development, Grant Program; Alejandro Mayorkas Quoted

The Homeland Security Advisory Council convened to discuss and approve three subcommittee reports, including the application of artificial intelligence to critical missions.

The council also added Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley to the team, reflecting an increased focus on fires as a threat, the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday.

In its fourth in-person meeting, HSAC reviewed subpanel recommendations on the responsible use of AI, specifically in advancing the agency’s missions. The AI Mission Focused Subcommittee’s final report called for the establishment of a central AI office that can enforce policy and leverage DHS data systems and lakes to enhance operational efficiency.

The council also tackled funding for the Homeland Security Grant Program, looking into a subcommittee’s suggestions to amend threat risk methodology to improve finance allocation and coordination.

A third report, from the workforce subcommittee, proposed training changes and the adoption of a hybrid work set-up to make the agency a better place to work in and motivate employees to be more responsive to the needs of stakeholders.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas commented that the advisory council is essential in sustaining DHS’ ability to keep up with the evolving threat landscape faced by the country. “[The council’s] impact can be felt across DHS, including in our ongoing work to leverage the power of AI, streamline our service delivery, and support our workforce,” according to Mayorkas, a Wash100 awardee.

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