November 03, 2023

Nuclear gravity bomb, DOD requesting deepfake tech, Summit 7 buys CSW Systems, Eqlipse buys SR Tech, Polaris protest about JVs, Senate approves military posts

November 03, 2023

QUICK HITS

  • How an AI company parsed misinformation in Israel-Hamas war: And what it's currently doing amidst the ongoing tensions.

  • 2023 marks the 20th annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Check out the slew of new initiatives that are arriving in its wake.

  • The development of a nuclear gravity bomb is underway: It aims to meet the needs of an evolving security environment.

  • Federal CIO has a very clear message to industry: Start building opportunity roadmaps off of executive orders.

TRIVIA

DEFENSE & AEROSPACE

Deepfakes pose unique risks that require special consideration—especially when the DOD is using them.

Deepfakes can be used to impair military and intelligence operations, manipulate elections, erode trust in public institutions, and threaten the economy, as well as for blackmail and reputation damage. So, it is no surprise that the DOD has prioritized the procurement of this technology both to defend against it and to use it to conduct campaigns against adversaries. Read more

Is the Space Force's embrace of commercial launch competition about to become less painful?

The Space Force’s embrace of competition within the commercial launch market has been a slow and in many ways painful process. But the launch strategy that it has in the works may pave a path toward a less painful future. Read more

Senate successfully approves three military promotions.

The U.S. Senate approved three high-level military promotions this week, sidestepping a months-long blockade of hundreds of promotions. The Senate approved Admiral Lisa Franchetti as Chief of Naval Operations and General David Allvin to be Chief of Staff of the Air Force by a 95-1 vote. Lieutenant General Christopher Mahoney was confirmed by 86-0 as Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps. Read more

ICYMI:

  • USAF aims to release RFP for KC-135 Recapitalization Program in FY25.

  • RFI: Army seeks market input for Project Linchpin AI implementation.

  • America's new stealth bomber, B-21 Raider, designed in secret Melbourne lab. (Check out NG’s unveiling)

  • How to make friends 101: Give them money. In the Pacific, new data shows US topped China “Belt and Road” aid spending by 2021.

Defense Contract Awards

Follow the Defense Leaders

Defense Job Openings

  • Office of Naval Research seeks Superintendent, Space Systems Development Division.

  • USSOCOM seeks a President, Joint Special Operations University.

INTEL COMMUNITY

U.S. intelligence's $100B in funding under scrutiny.

The Pentagon released its figure for what is called the military intelligence program for the 12 months that ended Sept. 30, showing $27.9B . However, ODNI’s director revealed that the nat-intel program budget last year was $71.7B. That’s a big difference. Some critics wonder whether that’s money well spent. Read more

ICYMI:

CIVILIAN

VA's whistleblower office may no longer be an 'agency in crisis'.

The VA office that investigates whistleblower retaliation cases says the agency's leadership is acting on more of its recommendations. Members of the House VA Committee, however, are concerned VA’s Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) doesn’t have independence from the rest of the department to carry out its work. Read more

New policy will push GSA to protect data more responsibly.

The GSA administrator said the new policy will push the GSA to protect government data and use it responsibly within AI tools, encourage experimentation of the technology — particularly generative AI — and increase the pipeline of AI talent using additional resources. Read more

USPS wants to deliver better shipping experiences with AI.

According tot he USPS CIO, the USPS is “the best deliverers in the world." In addition to USPS’s use of AI to improve customer experiences around package delivery, Mehra said the agency is looking at how the technology can “improve our entire development infrastructure.” Fraud detection is a major component of that process improvement, she said, noting that AI can be used to determine “whether a package has been paid for, where it’s coming from [and] what the patterns are.” Read more

ICYMI:

  • Fun news that isn’t terrifying: NASA celebrates second MarsXR virtual reality winners.

  • GSA's Polaris is the subject of a whole new protest: claimant alleges “favoritism" to mentor-protégé JVs.

  • New ISC2 report finds that workforce shortage jumped by 13%.

  • Bipartisan House duo looks to extend quantum tech legislation.

Civilian Contracts Awards

Follow Civilian Leaders

Civilian Job Openings

M&A CORNER

Summit 7 purchases CSW Systems.

In its latest DOD and IC managed IT services expansion push, cybersecurity company Summit 7 has acquired CSW Systems for an undisclosed sum. The purchase will help Summit 7 expand its delivery of compliance support and managed IT services to classified data processing facilities and initiatives across the DOD and IC. Read more

Eqlipse buys SIGINT provider SR Technologies.

Eqlipse Technologies unveiled plans to purchase signals intelligence and electronic warfare technology provider SR Technologies for an undisclosed amount. The deal was announced this week by private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners, which owns equity in Eqlipse. SRT has 51 U.S. patents for products ranging from satellite communications, Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth silicon-on-insulators. It is known for technologies such as Windjammer, LANShark and BlueFin. Read more

SHOWER THOUGHTS 🚿

What are 5 lessons we can learn for the coming AI talent surge?

The AI Executive Order issued earlier this week calls for a talent surge to hire the agency AI technical and support staff to implement this Order. The AI talent surge will improve agencies’ capacity to implement the EO’s requirements -- to take advantage of AI’s promises while protecting the government and citizens from harm. Read more

From the perspective of retail workers and thieves, what the heck is America’s shoplifting problem?

One former booster…described going to Home Depot and Lowe’s dressed relatively nicely — with a collared shirt, maybe a Bluetooth piece in his ear — and asking workers to get him generators or tools down from shelves. He’d put them on a cart, walk out the door, sometimes with a manufactured receipt in his hand, and get into an Uber or Lyft he’d ordered. “The times I was stopped, I never would acknowledge the fact that I’d just been caught,” he says. “If it’s already on the cart, I’m committed.” He’d then sell the items to a local pawnbroker or even to a foreman on a construction site. They had to have figured out what he was up to, handing over a brand-new generator for a fraction of the cost, but they didn’t ask. “They’ve got to be pretty stupid not to know.” Read more

Have math-addled economists hijacked climate policy?

Do governments, policymakers, and the public have any clue that the message from climate economist elites is unhinged? So far, it seems that we may have all followed along in the belief that all is well. Read more

TRIVIA ANSWER: B - 1892

The first mechanical lever voting machines made its debut in the election of 1892 in Lockport, New York. These machines assigned each candidate to a lever and votes were tallied by counting the number of times a lever was selected for each candidate. This method of voting took the country by storm, and by the 1960s they were in use by more than half the nation. The lever machines were used in presidential elections through 1996, after which they were replaced by computerized devices. (Source)

Did you learn something new from today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

*Want more B2B leads / customers / users / clients? Click here…

Share GovBrew, Win Cool Stuff!

Have colleagues who'd like our newsletter too? Click to share or give them your unique referral link (below) and get rewarded when they subscribe.

Or copy and paste this link to others: https://govbrew.co/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

PS: You have referred 0 people so far