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The House narrowly approved the $839B defense spending bill, ending the brief government shutdown with a 217–214 vote. The measure restores full Pentagon funding, including $8.4B more than the Pentagon’s request…though DHS gets only a two‑week extension.

The U.S. is shifting from efficiency‑driven, just‑in‑time logistics to long‑term resilience as concentrated supply chains put national security at risk. With Project Vault mobilizing $10B in EXIM financing and $1.67B in private investment to stockpile 50+ critical minerals, Washington is treating industrial inputs as strategic assets rather than commodities.

The Army is pursuing a “hyperconnected” transport layer that integrates line‑of‑sight radios, 5G, troposcatter, and multi‑orbit SATCOM to push more data to the tactical edge, even as autonomous systems add thousands of nodes.

Army MAPS Radmap to Acquisition. Check out the full slide deck with Robert Tuner on LinkedIn.

The NRO has formally declassified aspects of its Cold War–era “Jumpseat” surveillance program, revealing how satellites launched between 1971 and 1987 collected critical signals intelligence from highly elliptical orbits. The agency concluded the disclosure poses no risk to current systems and provides historical insight into early space‑based reconnaissance.

U.S. intelligence and defense agencies are fast-tracking a $3.5 billion satellite constellation designed to eliminate the "blind spots" currently exploited by hypersonic missiles. By deploying an interconnected mesh of sophisticated sensors in LEO, the I.C. aims to provide real-time, persistent tracking data that allows for the interception of maneuverable threats before they can evade traditional radar.

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The brief partial shutdown has once again caused two key cybersecurity authorities—CISA 2015 and the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, to expire, leaving federal and state cyber efforts in a holding pattern. With DHS funding still unresolved, these programs remain vulnerable to broader budget negotiations.

The DOE and HHS are facing backlash after agency inventories revealed they are piloting xAI’s "Grok" chatbot for research and administrative tasks. Advocacy groups are now demanding a suspension of these "Grok for Government" contracts, citing concerns over biased outputs and the chatbot's controversial reputation.

FedRAMP is finally shaking off its backlog, cutting review times from a year to under 30 days as it pivots toward its faster, cheaper “FedRAMP 20x” model. After stabilizing agency budgets, leaders are now reengaging to push modernization.

In a historic move to create an integrated AI and space exploration titan, SpaceX has acquired xAI in a record-setting deal that values the combined entity at over $1 trillion. SpaceX said that the acquisition was driven by expectations that global demand for AI computing will soon outpace available electricity and cooling capacity on Earth.

Nava is boosting its govtech capabilities by acquiring Beam, an 11‑person team whose platform has already delivered $400M in aid across 39 states. Nava will fold Beam’s case management, claims, and payment tools into its open‑source Strata stack, aiming to help agencies modernize benefits faster.

Auria has acquired BCubed to strengthen its software‑defined C3 portfolio, adding more than 500 employees across multiple locations and enhancing integrated space, ground, and tactical operations. The move broadens its ability to support faster decision‑making and resilient mission execution.

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