Author: Lori Gordon

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Amazon Joins Orbital Reef Commercial Space Station Project

Amazon is getting into the private space station business. 

The company has joined the Orbital Reef commercial space station project to provide supply-chain logistics and Amazon Web Services for the private orbital outpost, which is slated to launch by the late 2020s. The Orbital Reef project is led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, and is a partnership with Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering, and Arizona State University. Amazon’s role in Orbital Reef, which the company announced at the 37th National Space Symposium, includes overseeing logistics using its Distribution and Fulfillment Solutions arm. And Amazon Web Services will offer networking, cloud computing and communications solutions for the station’s fight operations, development and design teams. 

Source: Amazon joins Orbital Reef commercial space station project | Space

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April is Supply Chain Integrity Month – NASA is Engaging the Interagency on the Theme ‘Identifying and Protecting NASAs Crown Jewels through Resilient Partnerships’


Supply Chain Integrity Month will engage live sessions taking place at NASA HQ in Washington, DC in the James E. Webb Auditorium and virtually. The event is open to all Government and Industry personnel with an interest in Supply Chain Integrity. The audience will be a mix of NASA civil servants and contractors as well as some participants from NASA partner organizations (e.g. NOAA).  In attendance will be those involved with supply chain, as well as Information System Owners (ISOs), Information System Security Officials (ISSOs), Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and acquisition professionals. 

Topics that will be covered:

  • ICT SCRM Task Force (Public/Private Partnerships) 
  • EO 14028 – Requirements Panel 
  • EO 14028 – NASA Implementation Panel 
  • EO 14017 Panel – DoC, DoE, DoD, HHS
  • Securing the Software Supply Chain / SBOMs 
  • Partner Panel 
  • Supply Chain Security Working Group 
  • Responding to Supply Chain Compromises Panel

Source: Federal Business Council, Inc. (fbcinc.com)

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Supply Chain Crisis Worsens As Russia’s War Against Ukraine Continues

As Russia’s war against Ukraine escalates and sanctions by the U.S. and other countries intensify, so does their impact on supply chains around the world.

Going through recent events like the U.S.-China trade war, Covid-induced disruptions, followed by the major armed conflict, many firms that had been skeptical about the idea of reshoring and multi-sourcing started to reexamine their options… they are living through the era of disequilibrium, and all of a sudden ‘just-in-case’ sounds more reasonable than ‘just-in-time’…

After the jolts from these successive events…the momentum will be built towards a model of more regionalized supply chains, with weakened linkages in some areas but also strengthened ones in other corners…

Many big tech companies put facilities in Poland and Hungary are quite close to the fire now. It is forcing those companies to shift capacity and volume to safer regions, like North and South America…

Source: Forbes Supply Chain Crisis Worsens As Russia’s War Against Ukraine Continues (forbes.com)

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One Year In: The Executive Order and Securing Software Supply Chains

One Year In: The Executive Order and Securing Software Supply Chains

In response to the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity published in May 2021, new mandates call for accelerating the adoption of secure open source software (OSS) and commercial off-the-shelf solutions to speed software delivery from years to minutes. Additionally, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has provided updated guidance for strengthening the security of critical software purchased by U.S. federal government programs from industry software suppliers and partners. 

Join ATARC and government and private sector experts working across Federal defense agencies as they cover:

  • Key insights from the Executive Order on Cybersecurity
  • Latest directives from the DoD, NIST, and other Federal agencies on using and securing OSS
  • Role of the software bill of materials (SBOM) in securing your software supply chain

Register here: One Year In: the Executive Order and Securing Software Supply Chains – ATARC

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National Supply Chain Integrity Month

Supply Chain Integrity Month | CISA

April is National Supply Chain Integrity Month. In partnership with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and other government and industry partners, CISA is promoting a call to action to “Fortify The Chain” for a unified effort by organizations across the country to strengthen the global ICT supply chain.

Information and communications technology (ICT) products and services ensure the continued operation and functionality of U.S. critical infrastructure. However, recent software compromises and other events have shown the far-reaching consequences of these threats. When a supply chain incident occurs, everyone suffers: buyers, suppliers, and users.

As the nation’s risk reducer, CISA’s top priorities include securing the global ICT supply chain from the evolving risks of tomorrow. Every week, CISA is promoting resources, tools, and information, including those developed by the public-private ICT Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force. CISA themes for each week include:

  • Week 1: Power in Partnership – Fortify The Chain!
  • Week 2: No Shortages of Threats – Educate to Mitigate
  • Week 3: Question, Confirm, and Trust – Be Supplier Smart
  • Week 4: Plan for the Future – Anticipate Change

Use the hashtag #FortifyTheChain, #SupplyChainIntegrityMonth, or #SCRMTaskForce in your social media posts to raise supply chain awareness.

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FCC Puts Kaspersky on Security Threat List

The Federal Communications Commission recently determined that security products from Kaspersky posed an unacceptable risk to US national security and added the company to a covered list of other firms not eligible for FCC funds.  Kaspersky becomes the first security company and first Russian entity to be added to the US security threat list. Companies that appear on the list are ineligible to receive any of the $8 billion available annually under the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. The fund supports telecom services in rural areas or is for low-income consumers or entities like schools, libraries, and hospitals.  The move adds Kaspersky to the same covered list that Huawei and ZTE landed on in 2021.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/03/fcc-puts-kaspersky-on-security-threat-list-says-it-poses-unacceptable-risk/

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Managing Trustworthiness & Dependability of Systems Acquired Via Supply Chain

Presented by

Dr. Bill Curtis, Executive Director, CISQ | Robert Martin, Sr. Software and Supply Chain Assurance Principal Eng., MITRE

Register: Managing Trustworthiness & Dependability of Systems Acquired Via Supply Chain (brighttalk.com)

About this talk

Join the Consortium of Information and Software Quality (CISQ) on April 6th, 2022, 3:00pm CST – 4:00pm CST to learn how to manage the trustworthiness and dependability of systems acquired through your supply chain. Learning Objectives: – Learn how to leverage CISQ measures to reduce risk in your contacts & SLAs – How to certify software and its level of risk – How to manage the quality of the software you are receiving from a supply chain – Learn about the use of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in a software supply chain

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Senate Revving up to Finish COMPETES/USICA Reconciliation

Source: MeriTalk

Senate leadership is making the legislative moves necessary to begin work in earnest on reconciling two different versions of innovation and competition legislation that features billions of funding to boost domestic semiconductor production and create a new technology directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Along those lines, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture on the House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Act on March 17.

On the Senate floor, Schumer then laid out his plan of action that involves the Senate taking up the America COMPETES to amend it with the text of the Senate-passed United States Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), passing it, then sending the resulting legislation back to the House for conferencing.

“Last summer the Senate passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that will bring manufacturing jobs back to America, fix supply chains, fuel scientific research, and ultimately lower costs by a significant amount,” Sen. Schumer said. “The bipartisan bill would be great news for our economy, our entrepreneurs, our innovators, and especially families who are feeling the sting because of the chip shortage.”

“We all know the chip shortage is hurting so many people,” he continued. “It’s hurting the auto industry that’s had to temporarily shut down factories. It’s hurt our tech industry, our health care industry, and so many others. So let’s solve this quickly.”

Each of the bills contains $52 billion to fully fund the CHIPS Act – a measure included in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 National Defense Authorization Act – in addition to other investments in domestic research and development.

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Russian Hackers Are Targeting American Oil Refineries

Russian Hackers Are Targeting American Oil Refineries
Source: The Street
Published: March 15, 2022

Cyber criminals are targeting the energy infrastructure in the U.S, including pipelines, refineries and power grids to attack their operations and supply chain systems, experts said. Hackers have targeted oil and gas producers in the past, such as the attack of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. fuel pipeline that resulted in shortages along the East Coast in April 2021.