//
House Panel’s Budget Reconciliation Text Includes $500M for Federal IT Modernization, AI Adoption
Published on
Person holds tablet in front of tech infrastructure symbology

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s budget reconciliation text, which is set to be marked up on Tuesday, includes $500 million in funding for the Department of Commerce to support the modernization of federal IT systems and advance the adoption of artificial intelligence models to improve operational efficiency and service delivery.

The committee said Sunday the funding will also enable the department to improve the cybersecurity posture of federal IT systems through automated threat detection and adoption of modernized architecture and integrated AI platforms.

Commerce would be able to use the appropriated funds to modernize and secure federal IT systems and deploy AI and automation technologies through the end of September 2035.

AI State Law Enforcement Prohibited

Nextgov/FCW reported that the text includes a moratorium on the enforcement of state-level laws and regulations related to AI systems.

According to the document, subsection (c) stipulates that “no state or political subdivision may enforce any law or regulation” related to AI models and systems or automated decision platforms during the 10-year period.

“A moratorium on new AI regulations will give this market time to grow and ensure American AI innovators can invest and compete against China and the rest of the world,” Adam Thierer, a senior research fellow at the think tank R Street Institute, said in a statement to Nextgov/FCW.

/
DIU Awards Contracts for Hybrid Space Architecture Project
Published on
Defense Innovation Unit logo

The Defense Innovation Unit has awarded contracts to 12 companies for the Hybrid Space Architecture, or HSA, project, designed to create a unified integrated architecture by combining commercial, civil and military space assets.

Enhancing Warfighter Situational Awareness Capabilities

The DIU said Monday the project intends to provide warfighters with asymmetric awareness and enhanced decision-making capabilities at the tactical edge, giving them an advantage against rapidly evolving threats. The HSA network aims to utilize multi-path routing to bolster network resilience against disruptions, providing secure and agile communications during military missions.

The project will fuse commercial persistent sensing, data fusion, edge computing and resilient data transport capabilities to boost real-time information access. The DIU collaborated with the U.S. combatant commands to identify operational needs, prototype software architectures and map out pathways for adoption.

DIU Leveraging Strategic Partnerships

The awardees include Capella Space, EdgeCortix, Eutelsat America Corp. + OneWeb Technologies, Fairwinds Technologies – AST Space Mobile, Illumina Computing Group, Lockheed Martin Space, MapLarge, SES Government Solutions, Skycorp, SkyFi, Ursa Space Systems and Viasat. They will start conducting prototype demonstrations across the Indo-Pacific, European, Central and South Commands in summer 2025.

The 12 companies will join current HSA performers, including Aalyria Technologies, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Kuiper, Anduril, Astranis Space, ATLAS Space Operations, Enveil, Google, Palantir, Planet Labs Federal, Microsoft and SpiderOak.

The HSA team will also activate a live hybrid network for demos, exercises and tactics integration. These demonstrations will help boost the progress of the HSA project, which aims to lay the technical and programmatic foundation for an operational hybrid commercial and government space architecture by 2026.

/
USSF Leaders Gaining Increased Control Over Counterspace Ops
Published on
Image of a starry sky in the evening.

Experts have confirmed that the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Space Command are receiving increased authorities over offensive counterspace operations and other military activities and equipment, such as anti-satellite weapons, or ASAT, amid increasing threats from Russia and China.

Sources who spoke to Breaking Defense for an article posted Monday revealed that there has been a greater push for USSF and USSPACECOM leaders to have more control over ASAT weapons for years. 

Authority Over the Use of ASATs

According to people who have knowledge of the matter, control over the use of some temporary or reversible counterspace actions, such as jamming or lazing, has become less stringent over the last decade. 

One former senior Pentagon space policy official explained that no one has delegated the responsibility of kinetically engaging with another country’s satellite before 2020. Now, some types of ASATs can be delegated under certain circumstances. 

The source noted that “there are just too many combinations of possible effects and possible causes to come out with a blanket statement.”

Another former Pentagon official shared that the strongest push to authorize the head of SPACECOM to decide on potentially launching offensive counterspace capabilities came from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Space Policy. 

Rethinking Rules of Engagement in Orbit

An unnamed Air Force space policy expert told Breaking Defense that current rules of engagement are “in conflict” with efforts from Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations and three-time Wash100 Award winner, to ensure that military operators and civilian leaders look at the space domain as any other warfighting domain.

In a Space Warfighting framework published in April, the Space Force laid out its vision for achieving and maintaining space superiority and warned against overly restrictive ROE. 

According to the framework, tightening ROE may potentially lead to Guardians relying on approval and hesitating to act, increasing risk for the mission and the entire Joint Force.

“It is the formative purpose of the Space Force to achieve space superiority — to ensure freedom of movement in space for our forces while denying the same to our adversaries,” Saltzman explained in a statement that accompanied the Space Warfighting framework. “We must be prepared to employ capabilities for offensive and defensive purposes to deter and, if necessary, defeat aggressors that threaten our vital national interests.”

Join Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Air and Space Summit on July 31 to gain insights into the role of air and space in national security and the great power competition. Register for the in-person event today!

USSF Leaders Gaining Increased Control Over Counterspace Ops
//
DHS Evaluates Emerging Tech for Combating Identity Fraud
Published on
Department of Homeland Security official seal

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology directorate and the National Institute of Standards and Technology have tested technologies designed to combat identity fraud.

Held recently in Maryland, the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstrations tested commercially available systems’ ability to authenticate identity documents, DHS said. While the test events produced mixed outcomes, the trials involving facial recognition confirmed significant improvements in the capability.

Industry Partnership for Identity Tech Challenges

The result was unsurprising since the U.S. government has been evaluating face recognition technologies for decades with industry partnership, according to Arun Vemury, senior adviser for biometrics and identity at S&T. The evaluations proved that the government does best when collaborating with industry and organizing technology challenges, he added.

“This kind of public-private partnership helps elevate and advance technology for use across multiple sectors. Because we don’t have a competing interest, we can help bring these industry competitors together, foster collaboration and create a space where we can learn together,” Vemury explained.

Benefits of Technology Evaluations

Vemury stressed that such technology challenges provide transparency into government needs, create a level playing field for developers, accelerate the innovation cycle and promote an ecosystem for the best ideas to be recognized. He noted that running similar evaluations regularly can help developers implement improvements. S&T is working to automate the process and make it easier for companies to submit their technologies for future evaluations.

/
State Department Issues RFI for GenAI Contracting Assistant Tool Support
Published on
U.S. Department of State seal

The Department of State has started conducting market research on potential contractors for a commercial-off-the-shelf artificial intelligence/machine learning technology with advanced large language model capabilities similar to ChatGPT.

AI-Enhanced Tools to Enhance Procurement Process

According to the request for information notice posted on SAM.gov Thursday, the State Department’s Bureau of Global Acquisitions, or GA, seeks a proven platform with integrated analytical tools and customizable AI/ML and LLM development capabilities needed to support AI-enhanced workflows for processing and evaluating government data at various classification levels. The platform should also meet Department of Defense Impact Level 6 compliance, Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, moderate to high level authorization and other federal security requirements.

GA intends to enhance the procurement process to support the department’s domestic operations and 275 global diplomatic missions. It aims to develop AI-enhanced contract support tools that will streamline the acquisition lifecycle, including capabilities to conduct market research and independent government cost estimate analysis, as well as write documents such as requirements, federal notices, statement of work and statement of objectives.

Interested vendors have until May 21 to submit their responses.

/
New Senate Bill Proposes Security Measures to Prevent China From Accessing US Chips
Published on
Image of computer chip

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., introduced a bill that aims to prevent advanced American chips from going to U.S. adversaries such as China. The Chip Security Act will provide increased oversight of advanced chips by establishing security measures. 

“We must do better at maintaining and expanding our position in the global market, while safeguarding America’s technological edge,” Cotton commented May 8. “With these enhanced security measures, we can continue to expand access to U.S. technology without compromising our national security.” 

DOD & Commerce Dept’s Roles

The Chip Security Act tasks the secretaries of the Department of Defense and Department of Commerce to explore potential mechanisms to protect semiconductors and then assess annually for three years if new security measures should be required.

Under the bill, export-controlled advanced chips will also come equipped with location verification. Exporters will have to report to the Bureau of Industry and Security if their products are diverted away from their intended route or if there were attempts to tamper with security measures. 

The proposed legislation comes months after BIS introduced three strategies for regulating the distribution of advanced computing chips and artificial intelligence models to prevent malicious actors from accessing American technologies.

/
Trump Admin Considers Appointing Czar for Golden Dome
Published on
A missile shoots into the atmosphere, trailed by smoke.

The Washington Times reported Sunday that the Trump administration is considering the appointment of a “Golden Dome czar” to oversee the development and deployment of a next-generation missile defense shield to protect the U.S. homeland from hypersonic and ballistic missile attacks.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring the deployment of a new missile defense shield against foreign aerial attacks.

Urgent Need for American Golden Dome

Defense industry leaders like United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno have highlighted the need for a Golden Dome as Russia and China ramp up investments in the capability to conduct hypersonic attacks.

“The good news is that it is finally possible,” Bruno, a previous Wash100 awardee, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Times. “A practical American Golden Dome could begin deployment right now. Even better news is that several existing agencies, such as the Missile Defense Agency, the Space Development Agency and the U.S. Space Force, could oversee this effort.”

The ULA chief executive and other industry experts say the system should include a space-based layer of interceptors, maritime-based missile defense systems and Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense anti-ballistic missile defense batteries.

AI-Powered Missile Tracking Satellites

Booz Allen Hamilton recently published a plan, called Brilliant Swarms, featuring a fleet of about 2,000 interconnected satellites designed to facilitate missile tracking operations using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

“For people in the industry, when we think about the space assets we have today, the combination of peer-to-peer networks, and the combination of [artificial intelligence], you put those three capabilities together and you can actually create space-layered missile defense capabilities for the United States that … was not possible during the Reagan era,” Andrea Inserra, president of global defense sector at Booz Allen and a 2025 Wash100 Award recipient, said during an exclusive interview on the Washington Times’ Threat Status podcast.

/
Executive Order Directs Federal Register Office to Speed Up Publishing Time
Published on
White House logo

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order directing the Office of the Federal Register to accelerate the publication of new regulatory actions and reduce costs as part of efforts to improve efficiency.

Modernizing Computer Systems

The EO requires the U.S. archivist to work with the director of the Government Publishing Office to modernize computer systems and remove unnecessary bureaucracy to reduce publication delays.

Required OMB Reports

The new presidential action directs the U.S. archivist to submit to the director of the Office of Management and Budget a report showing average publication times for various categories of documents within 15 days.

Within 45 days, the archivist should assess the fee schedules for publication in the Federal Register and initiate steps to ensure that fees are based on the publication’s actual costs. A report calculating the percentage difference in fees between any proposed fee schedule and the previous one should also be submitted to OMB.

The archivist should submit another report to OMB no later than Aug. 22, 2025, showing average publication times between July 15 and Aug. 15, for the same categories of documents cited in the initial OMB report.

/
Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Help Small Businesses Commercialize Technologies
Published on
Seal of the United States Senate

Sens. John Curtis, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Del., members of the Small Business Committee, have proposed a bipartisan bill aimed at empowering innovative small businesses to commercialize their technologies.

What Is the RAMP for Innovators Act?

Curtis said Thursday the Research Advancing to Market Production, RAMP, for Innovators Act is designed to strengthen the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer, collectively known as “America’s seed fund,” and other existing programs intended to support small businesses in conducting research and development efforts to enhance potential for commercialization.

The RAMP for Innovators Act, which also aims to promote entrepreneurship and competitiveness in emerging technologies, is designed to streamline the SBIR and STTR application and award processes, introduce a fast-track option for funding small businesses and assign a Technology Commercialization Officer at agencies with an SBIR/STTR program. In addition, the legislation is meant to provide awardees with technical assistance, I-Corps training access, clearer commercialization performance metrics and a faster patent examination process.

Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., also introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The bipartisan bill received endorsements from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the University City Science Center, BPC Action and the Delaware Small Business Development Center.

“By improving programs that foster innovation and commercialization, our bipartisan legislation helps entrepreneurs develop new technologies and bring them to market — strengthening our economy and our competitiveness on the world stage,” said Curtis. 

“The bipartisan RAMP for Innovators Act helps bring the best ideas to the market — strengthening our place as the global leader in innovation and helping small businesses thrive,” stated Coons.

//
DISA’s Christopher Barnhurst Details Top Priorities and Operational Needs
Published on
Headshot of Christopher Barnhurst, deputy director of the Defense Information Systems Agency

Christopher Barnhurst, deputy director of the Defense Information Systems Agency, has emphasized the need for readiness, agility and strong partnerships within an increasingly contested cyber domain.

DISA said Friday Barnhurst set the tone for his keynote address at the AFCEA TechNet Cyber 2025 by quoting Mike Tyson: “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”

DISA’s Top Priorities

The DISA executive’s message underscored the agency’s focus on unity and momentum, which aligns with DISA Director Lt. Gen. Paul Stanton’s four priorities: readiness, campaigning, continuous modernization and establishing lethality.

The agency intends to promote readiness by empowering its workforce with career development initiatives while fostering collaboration with partners. DISA will also focus on campaigning by integrating the agency’s field commands and offices to gather vital insight into operational priorities to determine acquisition and program planning efforts.

Another priority is to facilitate modernization by replacing legacy systems with modern technologies while reducing expenditures and risks. Finally, the agency will work to establish lethality by strengthening its infrastructure to support major defense operations, from border security to ballistic missile defense.

Championing Industry Partnership

Barnhurst emphasized the significance of industry partners in DISA’s operational success. “One of the first things Lt. Gen. Stanton would say is, if you contract with DISA, you’re on the team. It’s a partnership,” he said.

The deputy director mentioned the Thunderdome program as a prime example, with various partners contributing technologies and services to build the integrated zero trust architecture. He further stressed that DISA is one of 45 Department of Defense Information Network, or DODIN, areas of operation, representing “a potential vector of attack for an adversary.” This reinforces the department’s “one team, one fight” mentality.

The Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Cyber Summit brings cyber experts and government contracting leaders together to discuss emerging cyber threats, policies, initiatives and modernization strategies.

DISA's Christopher Barnhurst Details Top Priorities and Operational Needs
1 … 67 68 69 70 71 … 2,617