PEO Pulse - Jan. 31, 2020

The "PEO Pulse" is a weekly digest of relevant news, recent PEO EIS events and updates to keep our workforce informed. 

Take a look at the headlines in this week's edition:

• ARMY MODERNIZATION TRANSLATES INTO ACCEPTING RISK AND LEARNING QUICKLY
• TO KEEP CYBER WORKERS, ARMY OPENS UP ITS WALLET
• 20 FIRMS OF 350 ADVANCE IN ARMY SHARK TANK: $1.7 M IN PRIZES
• ESPER TAKES AIM AT DOD 'CULTURE,' RISK AVERSION
• PENTAGON RACING TO ESTABLISH NEW CHIEF DATA OFFICER WITHIN CIO'S OFFICE
• DOD'S TOP IT OFFICIAL TALKS AI, JEDI, AND HOW TO WIN OVER THE COMMERCIAL TECH INDUSTRY
• CAN THE U.S. COMPETE IN R&D?
• PENTAGON ISSUES GUIDANCE TO SERVICE MEMBERS ON CORONAVIRUS
• BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS REFORM SHIFTS FOCUS WITH BACKLOG DOWN
• WHAT IMPACT CAN CONTINUING EDUCATION HAVE ON FEDS' CAREERS?
• AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE ON CLOSING THE CYBER WORKFORCE GAP
• SILICON VALLEY INVESTORS TO DOD: DUAL-USE TECH IS A BAD STRATEG
• LOCKHEED ADDS DUNFORD, FORMER TOP US MILITARY OFFICER, TO BOARD

ARMY

ARMY MODERNIZATION TRANSLATES INTO ACCEPTING RISK AND LEARNING QUICKLY 
Two years ago, the Army recognized the need to rapidly and persistently modernize our force to stay ahead of technological change and national competitors. The Army Futures Command and the assistant secretary for acquisitions, logistics, and technology lead these bold new efforts. From the start, we have been committed to modernizing differently, faster and smarter, making “learning” a foundation of our efforts. Modernizing our Army this way is essential for strengthening our advantage over national competitors, and it will ensure our ability to fight and win if we have to.
*Read More 

TO KEEP CYBER WORKERS, ARMY OPENS UP ITS WALLET
Forget about all the talk about training and the mission when it comes hiring and retaining cyber expertise in the government. Just look to the 1996 Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. movie “Jerry McGuire,” and yell “Show me the money!” The Army is taking a page right out of that script to offer service members and civilians bonuses to keep their skill sets in-house and away from the alluring private sector. And while it may be too early to say for sure it’s working, initial results are promising.
*Read More

20 FIRMS OF 350 ADVANCE IN ARMY SHARK TANK: $1.7 M IN PRIZES
The Army’s xTechSearch competition has picked 20 small businesses – out of 350 applicants – to pitch their technologies in person to an Army panel in front of a live audience at AUSA’s Global Force conference in March. The goal is to connect the Army to innovative small businesses outside the traditional defense contracting world and find so-called “dual-use” technologies with both commercial and military applications. XTechSearch is run by the Army’s civilian Service Acquisition Executive, Assistant Secretary Bruce Jette, a former small-business founder and patent-holding inventor himself.
*Read More 

DEFENSE

ESPER TAKES AIM AT DOD 'CULTURE,' RISK AVERSION
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is targeting the Defense Department’s culture of risk aversion as he aims to spark innovation and private-sector partnerships in the acquisition of emerging technology. “DOD needs to be able to take risks and accept failure,” he said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Friday. “The hardest part is culture, that will take time.”
*Read More 

PENTAGON RACING TO ESTABLISH NEW CHIEF DATA OFFICER WITHIN CIO'S OFFICE
The Pentagon does not always respond with alacrity when Congress directs it to make changes. But barely a month after this year’s National Defense Authorization Act changed the location of DoD’s chief data officer in the department’s organizational chart, it has already started recruiting candidates to be the next CDO and drafting plans for how a revamped data office will operate. That’s according to an undated memo Dana Deasy, the department’s chief information officer, sent to Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist.
*Read More 

DOD'S TOP IT OFFICIAL TALKS AI, JEDI, AND HOW TO WIN OVER THE COMMERCIAL TECH INDUSTRY
When Pentagon leaders talk about the tools they will need to win future wars, two capabilities consistently come up: the cloud and artificial intelligence. The official leading those efforts is Dana Deasy, the Defense Department’s chief information officer. The former top IT executive at JPMorgan and BP, Deasy is leading what some might call a transformation at the Pentagon to modernize enterprise IT and better arm the war fighter for the future fight.
*Read More 

CAN THE U.S. COMPETE IN R&D?
In a Jan. 29 hearing on maintaining America's competitiveness in critical technologies, lawmakers homed in on strategies to boost federal funding for research, promote a stronger talent pipeline for tech workers and stay ahead of China in areas like artificial intelligence, quantum science and 5G. In her opening statement, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said that over the last 15 years, the U.S. has dropped the ball by failing to increase spending to support research on emerging technologies, lamenting that "other countries have implemented strategies and invested significantly in their science and technology capacity."
*Read More 

WORKFORCE

PENTAGON ISSUES GUIDANCE TO SERVICE MEMBERS ON CORONAVIRUS
The Pentagon has released an advisory about how service members can reduce the risk of catching the coronavirus, after the State Department issued a travel advisory to not travel to China where the virus originated. The Pentagon said Department of Defense personnel who have returned from China in the last two weeks — or have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus and are having symptoms like a fever — should receive medical attention immediately, per recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
*Read More 

BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS REFORM SHIFTS FOCUS WITH BACKLOG DOWN
The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency has reduced the background investigation backlog from a high of about 725,000 cases in April 2018 to 231,000, according to leader William Evanina. The director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center testified on security clearance reform progress before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door hearing Wednesday.
*Read More 

WHAT IMPACT CAN CONTINUING EDUCATION HAVE ON FEDS' CAREERS?
Each year hundreds of federal employees get to participate in an intensive, single day of education, courtesy of American University. Classes cover everything from cyber policy to career planning. Vicky Wilkins, dean of AU’s School of Public Affairs, and Patrick Malone, director of AU’s Key Executive Leadership Programs, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin in studio with more on the topic of continuing education.
*Listen 

INDUSTRY

AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE ON CLOSING THE CYBER WORKFORCE GAP
By now, it’s well known there is a cybersecurity workforce gap throughout all levels of government, academia and industry. The Center for Strategic and International Studies found in a survey of IT decisionmakers across eight countries that 82 percent of employers report a shortage of cybersecurity skills, and 71 percent believe this talent gap causes direct and measurable damage to their organizations. By 2022, the global cybersecurity workforce shortage has been projected to reach upwards of 1.8 million unfilled positions, according to a Global Information Security Workforce Study by Frost & Sullivan in 2017.
*Read More 

SILICON VALLEY INVESTORS TO DOD: DUAL-USE TECH IS A BAD STRATEGY
Dual-use technology — that is, tech that can be adapted from the commercial market to serve the needs of the military — is core to the U.S. Department of Defense’s innovation strategy. But those willing to put money toward big ideas argue it’s the wrong approach. “In terms of how to build a startup and how to scale really fast, you can’t have two missions,” said Katherine Boyle, an investor with venture capital firm General Catalyst, during a Defense News roundtable in California. “You can’t be a 10-person startup saying: ‘OK, we’re going to sell to the DoD, but we’re also going to sell to these commercial customers, and it’s just going to work out magically.'"
*Read More 

LOCKHEED ADDS DUNFORD, FORMER TOP US MILITARY OFFICER, TO BOARD
Lockheed Martin has added Joe Dunford, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to its board of directors, the company announced Friday. Dunford, the Marine general who retired from service at the end of September 2019, will become the 12th member of Lockheed’s board on Feb. 10. He will serve on the board’s Classified Business and Security Committee as well as its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee.
*Read More 

This message contains curated content from external sources, and does not indicate PEO EIS endorsement of the views or ideas expressed therein.