Aleksandra Bembnista

Our report highlights the breadth and depth of the New England #Defense ecosystem. It is a major economic engine with $119B annual economic output and is an important contributor to our #NationalSecurity!

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The GenAI race is on. Federal agencies, many already looking at how to implement this new technology, have recently been directed to speed up preparation for its eventual adoption. As they plan for this new reality, here are five important things to consider. https://bit.ly/3Y9mbZw

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🚀 Big news for those in the Defense Innovation space - Kind of🚀 The House Appropriations Committee has put forward a proposal for fiscal 2025 that could bring transformative changes to defense technology.  Here are the top lines for funding: 🟢 Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) - $1.3 Billion (Proposed) 🟢 APFIT Funding - $400M (Proposed) - Increase of $100M over last year. 💡 My Thoughts: 1️⃣ $400B for the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program is absolutely critical.  This funding helps innovative small business bridge “The Valley of Death” - BUT it only addresses half the problem.  You can’t buy innovation (See #3)! 2️⃣ The article largely highlights a flaw in the way appropriators look at innovation within the DoD.  Appropriated funds for Defense Innovation Unit - That means we get innovation right?  (The unit has the word in the title after all)  Innovation often happens closest to the problem being solved!  3️⃣ Geographic Combatant Commands (GCCs) require three things to foster real innovation within their formations to solve their problems:   💰Dedicated Funds for Innovation - To facilitate road mapping, strategy alignment, and delivery.  You cannot let your resource managers hoard money until the end of the year so you can buy gym equipment. 📝Fast and Wide Contract Vehicles - Able to source everything from drone motors to cloud infrastructure and everything in between. 🦄The Right People - You need a unicorn ranch and it has to be protected from bureaucratic acquisitions process and decision making committees.  SOF Truth #1: Humans are more important than hardware!  What are your thoughts on this proposed funding? Is it a step in the right direction for defense innovation?👇 Link to Article: https://lnkd.in/eyMBuVfE #DefenseInnovation #MilitaryTech #USSOCOM #APFIT

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I want to bring to your attention an important and timely panel discussion sponsored by the Washington Space Business Roundtable, "Launching The Next Generation Of Lift: Perspectives From Providers." After years of bottleneck in availability and capacity, the second-half of this decade may be a renaissance in space launch. Several larger, more capable, cheaper rockets – including ULA’s Vulcan, Arianespace’s Ariane 6, Rocket Lab’s Neutron, as well as several other high-profile vehicles – are now entering service or are soon slated to. With these changing dynamics, opportunities (and questions) abound regarding the impact of the next-generation of launch on the space economy. The panel discussion features executives from several leading launch providers working on next-gen capabilities: Arianespace, Rocket Lab, & United Launch Alliance. Through open discussion with our speakers, hear their views on the shifting launch market, how they’re competitively positioning their vehicles, and what the future of an evolving launch sector may hold for the broader space community. The luncheon is scheduled for Tuesday, June 25, at Hogan & Lovells LLP, 555 13th St, NW, DC. Deadline for registration is Thursday, June 20, 12Noon eastern. I hope to see as many of you there as possible. Shaping up to be a terrific discussion. https://lnkd.in/eMVMaiDy

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John Beverley sharing key lessons about ontology development and implementation as the DoD-IC and other government agencies get more involved with ontologies. Highly recommend looking at this slide deck!

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AI is the new technology frontier and innovation pioneers are creating new pathways and concepts for future development. Has the U.S. government positioned our U.S. based firms to accelerate and outpace foreign development? Or have we handcuffed ourselves to policies that lack vision and hold firm to a risk adverse cultural mindset?

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Most organizations are built to respond dynamically to changing market conditions by taking advantage of feedback loops. But Army Recruiting faces a system that naturally creates a state of continuous, uncontrolled variation. #armyrecruitment #systemdesign #bureaucracy

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Interested in sharing information about how to better understand AI bias in datasets? Submit a response by May 15 to the U.S. Air Force Chief Scientist's inter-agency working group as they address significant challenges that persist in combating bias within AI and ML systems. The group sent out a request for information, seeking support from academic institutions like minority serving institutions and historically black colleges and universities. Check out the CCC blog for more information: https://lnkd.in/e8WgMtsf Read the full RFI here: https://lnkd.in/eq_RrmuQ #artificialintelligence #machinelearning #CCC

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https://lnkd.in/eCgchb8U While this is a step in the right direction...I have some thoughts. First about the article in general: the title of the article addresses industry "complaints" and "gripes" regarding #ATO issues...children "complain" about being tired, spouses "gripe" about dishes being left in the sink or towels on the bathroom floor, industry vendors (specifically small businesses) who spend years investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, precious resources, time, and energy into a convoluted process that often ends up in projects being halted or killed completely are concerned and frustrated and often devastated by the exorbitant timelines and loss of revenue. If you want industry to feel heard and validated, choose better words. Instead, the first line of this article invalidated and callously dismissed a serious thing many of us are experiencing. Second about the policy itself: I have been in this game for many years, both inside the government and out. Reciprocity has always supposedly been a thing. I reached out the the #DAF #CIO 5 years ago and she presented me a letter stating reciprocity was to be honored which the governing bodies of the ATO process ignored. Until you hold those entities accountable by way of a reporting mechanism businesses can use to alert to non-compliance of the policy or until you reward the granting of reciprocity in some way, this is lip service. Additionally, reciprocity assumes you were even able to get through the process in the first place. If you truly want this to be easier, give units the proper resources to support this requirement. (ISO, ISSO, ISSM, etc.) Everyone wants to require it, but no one wants to support it or can't support it. This is a problem that hinders industry in a major way. Also, train these folks on alternative solutions that are available like PlatformOne, cATO, and the myriad government backed third party vendors offering easier solutions for #cybersecurity. Legacy processes are an easy, lazy way these folks hide behind 24 month timelines to no account. --end rant (or should I say end gripe lol 😝 ) Adam Chitwood thanks for sending this to me this morning and getting me all fired up 🤣

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🎉 JULY DATA BOOK GIVEAWAY!! 🎉 Welcome to my monthly book giveaway, where I team up with amazing authors to highlight their incredible books. 📚✨ This month, I'm thrilled to partner with the fantastic Neil Richards! 🤩 His book, Questions in Dataviz, is a treasure trove of design questions you may have never considered. It's an invaluable resource when you need another perspective on data visualization. And, of course, The Data Storyteller's Handbook is a must-have for anyone passionate about data storytelling. If you'd like to be in to win The Data Storyteller's Handbook and Questions in Dataviz, like and/or share this post! 📙📘

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Come learn about FACE conformance and TSS!

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Belcan continues to lead the way in critical areas

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It’s invigorating to be part of an organization that consistently seeks innovative opportunities to expand cloud access for customers across the Department of Defense. Transitioning to the cloud is not just a technical shift but a foundational change, especially for government agencies with limited IT resources. As HaC Technical Director Korie Seville highlights, it's challenging to start from a "blank slate" cloud environment. Agencies face numerous hurdles, from ensuring robust enterprise network connectivity to configuring essential services and addressing stringent security and compliance requirements. Each step requires careful planning and support. Effective cloud adoption in government necessitates understanding these unique challenges and providing tailored solutions. By doing so, cloud providers and partners can facilitate a smoother, more secure transition for government entities, empowering them to harness the full potential of cloud technology. #CloudAdoption #GovernmentIT #DigitalTransformation #HaC #DISA https://lnkd.in/eWQThesn

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An esteemed panel at the #AspenSecurityForum called for “responsible space actors.” We’ve been ahead of the challenge and worked with The Aspen Institute in 2022 on a research report calling for a comprehensive, whole-of-nation approach to handle the increased traffic—and competition—in space. Now is the time to act to ensure the security, resilience, and sustainability of U.S. space systems and the space operating environment. See the full Forum panel: https://lnkd.in/epnXfiMf. Read our whitepaper on the space imperative: https://lnkd.in/eXXjjBjK

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Nine companies have been awarded contract modifications by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific. These companies are BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton, ICF Inc. LLC, Leidos Inc., Peraton Technology Services Inc., Parsons Government Services Inc., Science Applications International Corp., Scientific Research Corp., and Peraton Technology Services Inc. This modification allows these companies to exercise Option Two of an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, which aims to support the architecture, engineering, functionality, interface, and interoperability of Cyberspace Operations systems, services, and capabilities at tactical, operational, and strategic levels. The total maximum dollar value for all nine contracts combined is $1,856,048,552. Each company has been awarded a specific amount: 1. BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. - $205,601,340. 2. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. - $204,053,976. 3. ICF Inc. LLC - $240,164,326. 4. Leidos, Inc. - $223,713,581. 5. Peraton Technology Services Inc. - $205,301,482. 6. Parsons Government Services Inc. - $211,984,975. 7. Science Applications International Corporation - $170,488,367. 8. Scientific Research Corp. - $171,923,497. 9. Peraton Technology Services Inc. - $222,817,008. These two-year options extend the five-year contracts to seven years, effectively increasing their total values. The work under this option is scheduled to commence in San Diego, California, from May 2024 and continue until May 2026, providing a clear timeline for the project's execution. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Instead, funds will be obligated as task orders are issued using various funding sources, including research, development, test and evaluation, other procurement, Navy, operations and maintenance, and other funding. This also includes the potential for defense working capital funds and Foreign Military Sales funding. The contract was competitively procured via Request for Proposal (N66001-18-R-001), published on the Federal Business Opportunities website and the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command e-Commerce central website. A total of 18 offers were received, and nine were selected for award. NIWC Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

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Last week I posted on the importance of the continuing development of platform plays and the advancements made in the ASPM space. Although the industry has made great strides, it's still important to hit on some important topics that practitioners need to consider when building their nirvana code and application defense platform of choice.   This week I want to focus on end-to-end pipeline defense. As a chief security officer, I have always felt that multiple and diverse development pipelines with independently managed technology and code repos are a continuing blind spot for us. From code to cloud, there are a host of security considerations that should be acknowledged when focusing on application and code security that should be inclusive of end to end pipeline defense.    Let's start with one of the most continuing issues that we seem to deal with; secrets. Hard coded secrets continue to be the bane of many incident responders. The problem is, there are multiple opportunities within the SDLC that we can prevent this at. When considering your platforms, look for technologies that are capable of remediating at the pre-commit stage, the pre-receive stage, and even at the pull-request stage of development. By having a multi-detection-in-pipeline capability, you significantly reduce the opportunity for misconfiguration and the inappropriate application of secrets in code.   Next let's talk about CI/CD security itself. Have you asked yourself, “Am I sure we are enforcing least privilege?” Or “Do I know what DevOps tools have source control access?”. These are all important elements of how we manage our pipelines and enforce security policies that we attest to for our regulators, customers, and our commitment to our business. Make sure that as you choose your platform that it is inclusive of capabilities to manage, enforce, and report on your policies.   Finally, we have to move beyond historical SDLC security evaluation concepts as the baseline of how we defend our pipelines end to end. Secure code as a component of quality is a given, but we also need to think about the broader issue of code exposure as an anchor point for adversaries to attack and exploit your business. When considering your application and code defense platform options, ensure that they include code leak defense. The technology should autodetect for tool misconfigurations that could allow leaks, provide automated alerting on suspicious code access or patterns, and provide continuous public domain scanning to find your intellectual property and proprietary code in public repositories on an ongoing basis.   With the advancements made today in the ASPM technology market, you don't have to choose multiple tools to give you the umbrella capability necessary to defend your pipeline end to end. Create your checklist and go upgrade your business operations protection from cloud to code tomorrow. #cybersecurity #appsec #codedefense #aspm #secrets #codetocloud Cycode | Complete ASPM

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Recently I had the privilege of joining Miriam McNabb, (Editor-in-Chief at DroneLife.com), Charles Werner (Executive Director of DRONERESPONDERS), and Tim Martin (Director of Training, Unmanned Aerial Systems, The Regional Training Center) for an episode of the Public Safety Drone Review. Below is a breakdown of the topics covered and where you can find them in the video:  News: 5:23 – 7:58: The importance of communication and transparency in building public acceptance of drones. 15:05 – 17:10: Outreach events support public acceptance and can inspire the next generation of drone operators. 18:40 – 23:20: DETECT Act discussion, drone cybersecurity, & the impact of uncertainty on the market and drone programs.  23:21 – 27:45: Drones & Wildland Firefighting – the opportunities they represent to fill historical gaps/limitations and evolve risk mitigation and response.  Webinar Topics: 30:30 – 36:00: Practical Guide to the American Security Drone Act (ASDA) – (https://lnkd.in/epHeFciA) 36:07 – 37:30: U.C. Berkeley Disaster Lab and the FIRE Foundry program discussion (https://lnkd.in/eBWFXpev), (https://lnkd.in/egF5sqDm), (https://lnkd.in/em33DGXA). 37:31 – 40:03: Wildland Fire – The role of an "Operational Technologist" in connecting government agencies and industry to promote collaboration and advancement (https://lnkd.in/eB4KBARk)  41:09 – 42:56: Regulatory support and aligning airspace and regulations to reflect new technologies and expanded commercial markets that are part of this 2nd Golden Age of Flight (https://lnkd.in/eYZsuXkZ). 43:23 – 46:50: Future of eVTOL in wildland fire (https://lnkd.in/eeKieaRw). 47:00 – 50:25: “Drones for Better” – discussion of the new SourceAmerica Mentor-Protégé Program under AbilityOne that provides expanded opportunities for drone and related technology companies, Federal Agencies, wounded warriors and other deserving Americans with disabilities. (https://lnkd.in/eaXeYC5k). Audience Questions: 52:05 – 56:40: ASDA follow-up question. 56:41 – 57:58: MQ-25 question. Closing: 58:05 – 59:11: Future influence in the drone space – military to commercial or commercial to military? https://lnkd.in/ePnaJFSh #dronesforgood #dfr

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Booz Allen Hamilton just unveiled the “Top 10 Emerging Technologies for the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Security.” This comprehensive analysis spotlights the crucial tech set to revolutionize defense and intelligence missions over the next 1-3 years. Notably, post-quantum cryptography is highlighted as the sole cyber-focused technology on the list. This is a clear signal for everyone to gear up for the future of #cybersecurity. Ready to stay ahead of the curve? Connect with us today to learn how we can help you navigate and implement these critical advancements. #DefenseTech #Innovation #PostQuantumCryptography

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