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John Bass Named State Department Chief Sustainability Officer
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John Bass Named State Department Chief Sustainability Officer

John Bass, undersecretary for management at the State Department, has been designated by State Secretary Antony Blinken as chief sustainability officer.

Blinken, a previous Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement published Wednesday Bass will help advance the department’s federal climate and sustainability priorities outlined in the Biden administration’s two executive orders and oversee the implementation of the department’s resilience, sustainability and adaptation goals.

“He will be supported by the Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer who leads the Greening Diplomacy Initiative within the Office of Management Strategy and Solutions, as well as the Climate and Sustainability Working Group comprising multiple Department bureaus and offices,” added Blinken.

Bass’ appointment comes as the State Department advances efforts to address the climate crisis, including improving sustainability and reducing carbon emissions of its offices in the U.S. and overseas.

Bass is a senior foreign service officer who started his diplomatic career in 1988. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Turkey and Georgia, executive secretary of the State Department and senior adviser at the Foreign Service Institute.

POC-How Climate Policy Can Drive Change

The Potomac Officers Club will hold the forum How Climate Policy Can Drive Change on Feb. 24, Thursday. Visit the Potomac Officers Club site to learn more about this event and view POC’s full calendar.

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IntelliDyne Deemed a Top Workplace in the U.S. 2022 by Energage; CEO Robert Grey Quoted
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IntelliDyne Deemed a Top Workplace in the U.S. 2022 by Energage; CEO Robert Grey Quoted

Information technology company IntelliDyne has been recognized by Energage as a Top Workplace in the U.S. for 2022, a distinction they also received in 2021.

The federal government-serving company announced on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, that it made the cut on the decade-and-a-half-old award that picks the companies they feel are most deserving through the polling of 20 million employees.

“A cohesive culture has always been the cornerstone of our success and the pandemic has continually challenged us over the last two years to find new and innovative ways to ensure our employees remain engaged by providing meaningful work, purpose, and belonging,” said IntelliDyne CEO Robert Grey.

Grey entered the company on the ground floor in 1999 and was at its helm for almost 10 years before stepping down in 2008. He then resumed his post as CEO just before the COVID-19 pandemic exploded onto U.S. shores in February 2020.

Energage’s Top Workplaces USA survey is culled exclusively from employee feedback and takes into account over 42,000 companies before making the list. The questionnaire utilizes criteria based on “industry benchmarks” and 15 different culture-driving qualities seen as favorable by most workers.

“Our employees have truly thrived over the last year. The company experienced exciting growth in 2021 which allowed us to expand our offerings and provide new opportunities for our staff,” Grey added.

In May 2021, IntelliDyne developed a board of advisors to aid the company’s executive leadership in decision-making.

In the same year, the Falls Church, Virginia-based company also announced a partnership with Morgan State University in Maryland. Together, the organizations are aiming to offer internships, workshops and career development pathways for students.

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F-35 Office Looks for Technologies to Beef Up Joint Fighter’s Cybersecurity in Upcoming Challenge
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F-35 Office Looks for Technologies to Beef Up Joint Fighter’s Cybersecurity in Upcoming Challenge

The F-35 Joint Program Office is launching a new competition aimed at improving the security, resilience and survivability of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter next-generation aircraft against cyberattacks.

The F-35 JSF Cybersecurity and Cyber Defense Challenge will look for technologies designed to help in the real-time atuomatic cyber threat detection, response and recovery that can be integrated on the fighter, according to a special notice on SAM.gov.

Technologies of interest may include various communication buses for real-time operating systems and platform information technology systems, as well as those that provide alerts pre-, in- and post-flight or isolate and prevent cyber incidents without affecting aircraft safety.

Interested industry members can submit their response to the special notice on or before March 3, with selected participants set to demonstrate their proposed technologies to officials in detail.

According to a report, the F-35 is full of software and cybersecurity problems.

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DOE Appoints 11 Individuals to Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee
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DOE Appoints 11 Individuals to Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee

The Department of Energy has named 11 new members of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee, a reconstructed group dedicated to helping DOE make decisions on various nuclear energy matters.

The renewed NEAC will meet biannually to advise the energy secretary and the assistant secretary for nuclear energy on national policy, nuclear program partners, program element reviews and the resources needed for nuclear program planning, DOE said Wednesday.

The commission, which originally stood up in 1998, will help DOE leadership identify the needs and priorities of nuclear program partners, tackle the scientific aspects of nuclear matters and periodically review elements of the department’s nuclear programs.

DOE has restructured NEAC to streamline the committee with a focus on current priorities instead of efforts that have already concluded.

“A change in the structure and focus in NEAC will help DOE act more quickly and effectively to research advances in nuclear power to meet the nation’s energy, environmental and national security needs,” said Andy Griffith, deputy assistant secretary for nuclear fuel cycle and supply chain.

The new NEAC members and their respective focuses are:

  • Bill Magwood (Chair)  – International Perspective
  • Edward Kee – Private Investment and Financial Perspective
  • Frederick Bresler – Utility Distribution Perspective
  • J’Tia Hart – Engineering and National Security Perspective
  • Kemal Pasamehmetoglu – Advanced Reactor Research and Development Perspective
  • Lake Barrett – Used Nuclear Fuel Perspective
  • Maria Korsnick – Industry Perspective
  • Michael Ford – Engineering, Public Policy and National Security Perspective
  • Raluca Scarlat – University Perspective
  • Richard Arnold – Tribal Perspective
  • Sonja Schmid – Social Studies of Science and Technology Perspective

 

Army’s Paul Pucket Urges DOD to Build Direct Relationships With Cloud Service Providers
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Army’s Paul Pucket Urges DOD to Build Direct Relationships With Cloud Service Providers

Paul Puckett, the director of the Enterprise Cloud Management Office for the U.S. Army, said the Department of Defense must transform cloud acquisition strategy by developing a standard cost structure and building direct relationships with cloud service providers.

Puckett said the Army has begun to forge direct partnerships with CSPs through its cArmy program and Cloud Account Management Optimization effort in a push to eliminate excess cloud spending and have ownership of an enterprise cloud infrastructure, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

The Army lets companies compete for delivering mission capabilities based on their ability to design and deploy services using a government secure cloud infrastructure rather than their ability to resell cloud services.

Puckett said the adoption of the enterprisewide cloud platform has enabled the Army to save about $8 million in spending.

The military service’s cloud acquisition approach serves as a foundation to DOD’s Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability program, the replacement for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure effort.

Pucket said his office is working closely with the Defense Information Systems Agency to provide lessons learned from the CAMO and cArmy programs and share how the Army lead cloud acquisitions.

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NASA Pursues New Heliophysics Missions to Further Study the Sun
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NASA Pursues New Heliophysics Missions to Further Study the Sun

NASA will employ a pair of new scientific missions to further study the Sun and its connection with Earth in ways that can benefit astronaut and space asset safety.

The space agency said Friday its Multi-slit Solar Explorer or MUSE mission aims to determine the roots of coronal heating and instability and provide insight into the corona’s basic plasma properties. The corona serves as the sun’s outermost atmospheric layer.

MUSE will also attempt to capture images that depict changes of solar flare ribbons. Bart DePontieu from the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center will serve as MUSE’s principal investigator, with his organization being in charge of program management.

“It will provide more insight into space weather and complements a host of other missions within the heliophysics mission fleet,” Nicola Fox, director of the NASA’s heliophysics division, said about MUSE.

The second mission, known as HelioSwarm, will deploy nine spacecraft designed to measure solar wind turbulence, which refers to the fluctuations in the magnetic field of solar wind. HelioSwarm will employ a hub spacecraft linked with eight co-orbiting small satellites to measure plasma from different points.

Harlan Spence, a physics professor at the University of New Hampshire, will serve as the principal investigator for HelioSwarm, which will be managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center.

The Explorers Program Office within NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center will fund and oversee both missions under the Heliophysics Explorers Program.

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Air Force’s Lease Program Helping Provide Installations With Commercial 5G Coverage
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Air Force’s Lease Program Helping Provide Installations With Commercial 5G Coverage

U.S. Air Force officials have revealed that an ongoing lease program with commercial telecommunications companies are helping provide 5G cellular coverage to military installations across the U.S.

The multi-phase Long Term Evolution project is currently offering 25-year leases to private entities for the installation of broadband networks to connect all installations on an improved cellular network by 2026, the Air Force said Wednesday.

Managed by the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, the project is expected to imporve connectivity at home and offices within the military facilities as well as the service branch’s operational flight line, according to AFCEC Deputy Director of Installations Col. Shamekia Toliver.

“We’re ensuring lethality and readiness by improving connectivity for devices powering missions while benefiting Airmen and Guardians and their families,” explained Toliver.

Once the the first two phases of the program, which covers southeast, southwest and midwest U.S., are completed in 2023, Air Force Reserve Command Chief Information Technology Officer Kenneth Morgan noted that all bases will ready to tap into 5G communications.

“That means when we deploy capabilities, we can deploy those technologies universally across the command,” explained Morgan.

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Gen. Paul Nakasone Says CYBERCOM, Academe Partnerships Help in Fighting Cyber Threats
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Gen. Paul Nakasone Says CYBERCOM, Academe Partnerships Help in Fighting Cyber Threats

Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, stressed the importance of partnerships in the fight against evolving cyber threats during a recent CYBERCOM Academic Engagement Network welcome session.

He told over 230 students, faculty and staff members that potential partners and collaborators are in a good position to tackle cybersecurity problems that the military, busy fighting cyber adversaries, couldn’t address, CYBERCOM said Thursday.

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Gen. Paul Nakasone as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors.

The CYBERCOM commander, who is also director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service, explained that working with institutions that share the same risks, goals and technologies is the best way to react to and anticipate current cyber threats, which he noted are beyond the scope, scale and depth of previous incidents.

“Ideally, it would be terrific if we could mature this network to the point where we move beyond solely dialogue and develop real solutions, real impacts to our shared challenges,” shared Nakasone, a six-time Wash100 Award recipient.

Established in 2021, AEN gathers 92 academic organizations representing 40 states and CYBERCOM personnel to work on defending U.S. networks.

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GovCon Expert Dana Barnes: Reflections on White House Zero Trust Cybersecurity Plan
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GovCon Expert Dana Barnes: Reflections on White House Zero Trust Cybersecurity Plan

Palo Alto Networks Senior Vice President of Public Sector Dana Barnes, who is also a 2022 Wash100 Award recipient as well as a member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, has shared his thoughts on President Biden’s Zero Trust plan, which was unveiled in January 2022.

“The Federal Zero Trust Strategy represents an important milestone as it not only ensures all agencies are on a common cybersecurity roadmap, but also underscores the importance of network visibility, asset discovery, cloud adoption and endpoint-based detection,” said GovCon Expert Dana Barnes, a two-time Wash100 Award recipient.

President Biden’s new strategy proposes all federal employees will implement managed and secure accounts on which they will perform all work-related tasks, as well as specialized, monitored devices to do this work.

The plan also puts forth the idea that all inter-agency activity will be encrypted and that apart from necessary interactions, agencies will act and run discretely from one another.

“From SolarWinds to the recent Log4j vulnerability, protecting federal organizations from the most serious cyber threats calls for a modernized approach to security. Organizations are only as strong as their weakest link when it comes to cybersecurity,” Barnes continued.

The executive’s mention of SolarWinds references a 2020 hack by Russian cybercriminals into the data and systems of the information technology company of the same name. The breach affected an estimated 18,000 of the firm’s customers.

Log4j is a Java-based software whose code glitch in late 2021 provided inroads for exploitation from hackers from several different countries. These recent major-scale hacking incidents have widely prompted politicians and commercial sector figures to reexamine cybersecurity measures.

Barnes concluded his thoughts on the matter, musing, “However, a critical component to accelerate Zero Trust is to first understand an organization’s attack surface, their critical systems and potential exposures to determine where they should enforce Zero Trust policies in a risk-prioritized manner.”

Barnes’ approval of the new Zero Trust plan and his perspective on its actualization dovetails with a December 2021 GovCon Expert piece he published in GovConWire.

In that piece, GovCon Expert Dana Barnes laid out what he sees as the four tenets of federal cybersecurity modernization: improving threat detection and sharing threat information; securing and monitoring workloads in the cloud; reducing the attack surface; and implementing a zero trust enterprise.

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Vertosoft Named as New Government Partner for Udacity
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Vertosoft Named as New Government Partner for Udacity

Vertosoft announced a new partnership on Friday with Udacity, a company that is redefining the meaning of workplace development. With this new partnership Vertosoft will distribute Udacity’s talent transformation suite and digital competency platform to its federal network and highlight how the platform alleviates talent gaps within agencies.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen a consistent requirement for better digital workforce enablement platforms across all job roles and technology skillsets in the Public Sector”, said Josh Slattery, Vice President of Technology Sales at Vertosoft. “As a result of that growing need, I am very excited about our partnership with Udacity.

The Udacity platform allows Government Customers to do more than just scratch the surface on a given skillset or interest like so many other platforms in the market. Agencies will be able to provide an employee enablement program that consistently develops deep expertise for the skills needed today for the workforce of the future.”

Upskilling the Government workforce is a necessity right now and a consistent requirement that is highlighted by the Department of Defense and Civilian Agencies alike. Udacity’s Talent Transformation Suite helps Government Agencies discover the most relevant and in-demand technologies and provides a plan tailored to the unique needs of a specific agency.

This allows each agency to eliminate specific talent games and stay up to date on the latest trends in data science, machine learning, cloud, DevSecOps and so much more.

About Vertosoft

Established in 2016, Vertosoft accelerates the adoption of innovative and emerging technology within the government. We bring the flexibility, agility, and responsiveness of a small company with the experience of a large organization. With our clear focus on emerging technology growth in government, Vertosoft is uniquely positioned to reduce complexity and provide scalable, cloud-ready technology solutions that enable government agencies to deliver smarter, client-centric digital transformations.

About Udacity

Our mission is to train the world’s workforce in the careers of the future. We partner with leading technology companies to learn how technology is transforming industries, and teach the critical tech skills that companies are looking for in their workforce. With our powerful and flexible digital education platform, even the busiest learners can prepare themselves to take on the most in-demand tech roles.

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