After just seven more missions to the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Shuttle will retire without a replacement.  Ex-Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, chair of the United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee review, has published his committee’s findings, and NASA’s budgetary future looks bleak. Augustine told PBS “the human space flight program really isn’t executable with the money we have.” Augustine has given the “White House a dilemma” of accepting the necessary increase in spending or continuing on a path that leads to severely constrained and delayed space exploration. 

To find alternatives, NASA has committed $500 million dollars in stimulus funds to help two private firms, Space Exploration Technologies (better known as SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corp (NYSE: ORB), deliver cargo to the station, but will only commit $50 million dollars for commercial human transport to the ISS.  For perspective, “Fifty million is what it costs for one seat on the (Russian) Soyuz,” according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

But Lockheed Martin warns that commercial transit to the ISS would be costly and unsafe.  John Stevens, director of business development for human spaceflight at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said “we’re having a hard time affording the Orion program, which is designed to take humans to the station and the Moon, and now they’re talking about starting a commercial program to take humans [to the ISS]…If we can’t afford one program, how can we afford two?”

Bottom line: unless NASA’s budget gets some significant breathing room, the US may lose its edge in manned space exploration.

Stan Sloane of SRA: “750,000 American jobs are lost annually due to counterfeiting”

Stan Sloane of SRA

Another former Lockheed Martin executive, Stan Sloane, authored a BusinessWeek op-ed piece outlining the perils of intellectual property theft and the key tasks of the cyber-coordinator, whom he says America needs “now.”  He notes that intellectual property theft doesn’t just damage bottom lines, costing the country nearly $250 billion annually, but public health, because “1 in 3 drugs on the worldwide market is counterfeit. Some contain toxic substances and chemicals that can kill.”  Stan Sloane’s leadership has also landed him on this year’s ExecutiveBiz Top 20 People to Watch in ‘09. His tasks for the cyber-coordinator:

• Combat intellectual-property theft via collaboration and increased dialogue with government and industry.

• Protect U.S. IT infrastructure

• Lead the way in encouraging cyber innovation

• Act as cyber policymaker on the national and international front, reconciling international treaties and diplomatic obligations with security interests.

Cybercrime Kingpin Charged

Albert Gonzales, Cybercrime Kingpin

Albert Gonzales and two Russian accomplices were indicted Monday for the largest hacking/identity theft caper in U.S. history.  According to Federal prosecutors in New Jersey, the trio stole more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers by hacking into the computer systems of retail chains like Hannaford Bros. supermarkets, 7-Eleven, and Heartland Payment Systems, Inc., a credit-card processing company, between October 2006 and May 2008.    Gonzales is also charged with stealing over 45 million credit card numbers from retail giant TJ Maxx’s parent company, a separate indictment from a federal court in Boston.

Military Experts Question Effectiveness of Unmanned Systems

Last week, Northrop Grumman stole the show at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s conference and exhibition in Washington D.C., the largest event of its kind.  The company’s scope of offerings in unmanned vehicles is so great that E.J. “Gene” Fraser, a VP in the company’s strike and surveillance systems division, gave an overview of the company’s unmanned systems offerings by air, land, and sea, and the U.S. Navy announced at the conference that it has committed $6 billion over the next five years for unmanned vehicles.  But some experts question whether it will be money well spent:

• Micah Zenko, Fellow for Conflict Prevention at the Council on Foreign Relations “As a counterinsurgency tool, [the drone attacks are] generally ineffective.”
• Loren B. Thompson of the Lexington Institute ”Despite their endurance and versatility, unmanned aircraft are fragile systems that will seldom survive contact with a real enemy.”

Melissa Hathaway

Melissa Hathaway, the ExecutiveBiz Top 10 Game Changer to Watch in ‘09 who completed the Obama administration’s cybersecurity review in April and has served as the White House’s acting cybersecurity czar announced her resignation today, citing personal reasons.  Her resignation will take effect August 24th.

The White House is considering candidates for the position of Cyber Coordinator, which the President created May 29. The Cyber Coordinator will report to both the National Security Council and the National Economic Council.

Ms. Hathaway recused herself from consideration for the position two weeks ago. She cited personal reasons for leaving and intends to continue her work in the interest of national cybersecurity.

Share your comments here.

Kim Hart

In another sign of troubled times for the Washington Post, Kim Hart announced today she will be leaving the paper. For the past year, Hart offered Beltway readers the inside scoop on Washington’s technology community. Hart delivered news of her departure in today’s final Download column:

“I have enjoyed connecting the dots between these worlds [Washington technology community] for the past year. I will continue to watch with great interest as Washington’s technology community evolves, but I will not be writing about it in this column. This will be my last Download column as I pursue a new career opportunity. I have enjoyed getting to know the spirited entrepreneurs, eternally optimistic investors and seasoned technology gurus that make this area’s tech scene so unique. Even in the worst economy in decades, start-ups have been formed and jobs have been found — largely due, I believe, to the camaraderie and enthusiasm of this community.”

Hart’s next stop? The Hill, which covers Congress and the federal agencies. “I start my new gig covering all things tech policy at The Hill in two weeks,” announced Hart on her Facebook page today. “It’s hard to leave all the great people in this newsroom — I’ve learned so much here. But [I'm] excited about new opportunities! Thank you to all of my fabulous Post friends!”

What was your favorite Download column? Share your memories here.

Patriot Scientific Corporation has announced that Baroni Management Company LLC of Potomac, Maryland has been hired by the Audit Committee of Patriot’s Board of Directors to prepare a strategic assessment of Patriot’s wholly owned subsidiary Patriot Data Solutions Group, Inc’s operations.

Greg Baroni

Rumor has it though that Éclat Consulting, LLC, founded by Greg Baroni, is closing a deal to obtain the remaining legacy contract assets of Bearing Point’s Public Services. An anonymous source has confirmed that Éclat could be closing on this transaction as early as the end of the month.

In March, it was announced that Deloitte would buy $350 million worth of BearingPoint’s Public Services assets, last month GovConWire reported that Keane had purchased an undisclosed amount of the remainder, and CSC has purchased BearingPoint’s Brazillian business unit. Now it looks like Eclat will purchase what is left.

Previously, Mr. Baroni was a Senior VP at Unisys, and before that a Senior VP at KPMG Consulting’s Public Services unit. He most recently served president of Federal Systems, providing a wide range of services to companies in the highly competitive federal marketplace.

Jim O'Neill

The restructuring of Siemens by majority owner The Gores Group will also brings personnel changes. CEO Jim O’ Neill, in office since October 2008 and one of ExecutiveBiz’s Top 20 People to Watch in ‘09, will be replaced by Mark Stone, who has served as chairman of board of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group since October 2008.

Dr. Gerald Kromer, VP of Strategy for Siemens’ Munich branch, and Richard Schlauri of Fujitsu Siemens Computers, will cooperate to grow their global service business. Dr. Kromer will focus on Professional services and Solutions, while Mr. Schlauri works on the Lifecycle and Managed services business.

We’ll keep you posted on Jim’s next move, just as soon as he makes it.

Gerry Connolly

Gerry Connolly (D) is the freshman Congressman from Virginia’s 11th District, including parts of Fairfax and Prince William Counties.  He replaced Tom Davis (R) after Tom’s retirement last year, and has some big shoes to fill as an advocate for the GovCon community.  Here are some highlights from our interview:

• I think there’s a looming personnel crisis, both in the demographic bulge of baby boomers getting ready to retire, and in the failure of the federal government to properly staff up for large procurement contracts.
• It’s easy to demonize a whole industry, but I don’t think it’s productive and I don’t think it’s fair.
• I don’t see federal contractors as anything but a resource for the federal government.
• Streamlining regulations is something Congress wants to do to level the playing field and rationalize the current process.

Check out the full interview here.

AT&T to Test Einstein 3 Cyber Initiative

Michael Chertoff

AT&T’s pilot program will test whether Einstein 3 can safely and effectively monitor only government agency networks and sidestep privacy concerns.

What’s the difference between Einstein 3 and earlier models? Michael Chertoff puts it in layman’s terms: “Intrusion detection is like a cop with a radar gun on a highway who catches you speeding or drunk and phones ahead to somebody at the other end.  Einstein 3 is a cop who actually arrests you and pulls you off the road when he sees you driving drunk.”

Michael Chertoff will address the Potomac Officers’ Club on July 16.  Click here to register.

GovCon Goes Green

There’s plenty of government green in green technology:

• SAIC and General Atomics are splitting $35 million in DARPA biofuel contracts, breeding algae that produce a substitute for jet fuel.
• Raytheon has saved $11 million in energy costs by increasing energy efficiency by 38% since 2002.
• Lockheed Martin is building a major solar power plant in Arizona that will power 73,000 homes and generate an estimated $1 billion in revenue

Tony Zinni

Tony Zinni on Smart Power

Tony Zinni, BAE’s CEO, is interested in “smart power,” the U.S. government’s nonmilitary efforts to improve economic and political stability in war-torn or dangerously dysfunctional countries.  Zinni said BAE’s smart power strategy will focus on “stabilization and reconstruction, and more balanced approaches to international and national security issues,” Zinni said.  As funding for large, costly weapons systems is cut from the DoD budget, “smart power” will become an increasingly important market to large defense firms.

War 2.0

Mossad reports that Israel would be allowed to fly through Saudi airspace it decides to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.  But will it have to?  An Israeli drill in the late ’90s established that military facilities could be literally destroyed through cyber infiltration, and an Air Force study has confirmed U.S. offensive cyber capabilities. Obama was right when he said “The future does not belong to those who gather armies on a field of battle or bury missiles in the ground,” because if a cyberattack is successful, it immediately becomes infinately scalable ammunition.

We brought our camera to the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons on Thursday for the Ernst & Young Executive of the Year awards.  Federal CIO Vivek Kundra and CTO Aneesh Chopra took a break from their marathon push to meet the administration’s ambitious IT goals to congratulate industry leaders and take in some top-notch surf-and-turf (or, in Vivek’s case, a great vegetarian meal).  Check out ExecutiveBiz’s exclusive photo of the two federal IT policy architects side-by-side.

Winners included Reggie Aggarwal the CEO of Cvent (IT Services); Fuad El-Hibri, the chairman and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions (Technology); Eric Major, the president and CEO of K2M (Emerging); Ronald Paul, the chairman and CEO of EagleBank & Ronald D. Paul Cos. (Business Services); Richard Shurtz, the president of Stratford University (Government/Education Services); Philip Soucy, the CEO of Modern Technology Solutions (Government Contracting); and John Young, the president and CEO of Colfax (Infrastructure).

Washington Power Players: CIO Vivek Kundra and CTO Aneesh Chopra

 

Paul Smith of Red Hat

Sudhakar Kesavan of ICF

 

Rick Marcotte, CEO of DLT Solutions and his wife

Hollis Helms of Abraxas and Rene Salas of Ernst & Young

The Award-Winners