Page 10 - FCW, May 2021

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94% of DOD applicants were denied student loan debt forgiveness under a public
service program
Pentagon officials debut innovation steering group
The Defense Department has launched a new steering group dedicated to syn- chronizing the department’s innovation efforts, according to the Pentagon’s top research official.
Barbara McQuiston, acting under- secretary of defense for research and engineering, recently told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee that the group will “articulate changes that need to take place internally in order to become more rapid in adaptation of technology.”
At the direction of Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the group is designed to be a conduit for DOD lead- ers to collaborate, synchronize efforts and share information, McQuiston wrote in her submitted testimony.
“Our services have the burden some- times of having the legacy systems and the newer disruptive technologies com- ing onboard,” she said. “We’re mov- ing modernization ahead, but we can always do it better and innovatively.”
That means managing existing IT more efficiently and effectively, she said, but it also means increasing DOD’s outreach to industry. The Defense Inno- vation Unit has been
instrumental in making it easier for nontraditional companies, particularly small businesses, to work with DOD, “but more is required,” she added.
During the hearing,
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
(D-N.H.) advocated the
permanent reauthoriza-
tion of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer programs, which are set to expire in 2022.
“Based on what we’ve heard and what we know is significant about the SBIR program, we should start from now to extend [and] reauthorize that,” Shaheen said. “And I would argue that
we should reauthorize it permanently.” McQuiston said the programs were an economic engine for DOD and could be a net gain for the country’s economy. A recent study of the programs found that DOD investments in small business research and development have generated a 22-to-1 return on investment in the past 23 years, McQuiston told the com-
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May 2021 FCW.COM
DHS and White House shine spotlight on ransomware
Officials at the Department of Home- land Security and the White House are developing plans to better combat ransomware.
Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said DHS has assembled a task force with representatives from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Secret Service, Coast Guard, and Immi- gration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit. He made the announcement at an April 29 event hosted by the Institute for Secu- rity and Technology (IST).
The new task force is part of a planned 60-day sprint on ransomware that Mayorkas announced in March as one of a series of targeted sprints that “will mobilize action by elevating exist- ing efforts, removing roadblocks and
launching new initiatives where neces- sary,” he said at the time.
“Beyond CISA...the entire federal government is stepping up to face this challenge,” he said at the April event, adding that “the White House is devel- oping a plan dedicated to tackling this problem,” and the Justice Department has established its own task force focused on ransomware.
IST recently released a report fea- turing recommendations for the Biden administration on combating the attacks. Ransomware “has disproportionately impacted the health care industry dur- ing the COVID pandemic and has shut down schools, hospitals, police stations, city governments and U.S. military facili- ties,” the report states.
IST’s recommendations include estab-
lishing a U.S. government Joint Ransom- ware Task Force, forming an interna- tional coalition focused on ransomware, sanctioning countries that fail to take action against attackers and designating ransomware a national security threat.
In early April, Mayorkas joined Attorney General Merrick Garland and counterparts in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada in issuing a joint statement on the threat ransomware poses.
“Ransomware is a growing cyber- threat [that] compromises the safety of our citizens, the security of the online environment and the prosperity of our economies,” according to the statement. “It can be used with criminal intent, but is also a threat to national security.”
— Justin Katz
Barbara McQuiston
mittee.
“Anything we can
do to encourage and bridge the gap between defense needs and small-business capabilities will be critical,” she said, citing the success of DOD’s Mentor-Protégé program in which small businesses are partnered with larger companies. “That’s the key: to be flexible and able to work...at com-
mercial speed.”
— Lauren C. Williams