NewsBrief August 9, 2019

Mass data fragmentation limiting agencies’ cloud benefits

(fedscoop)Many government IT leaders aren’t seeing the improved efficiency, reduced costs and insights they expected moving to public cloud due to mass data fragmentation, according to new Cohesity research. Mass data fragmentation occurs when information is spread across multiple environments, including the cloud, in a siloed way that limits integration and analysis. Read More

New director of National Reconnaissance Office sworn in

(C4ISRNET) Christopher Scolese was sworn in as the 19th director of the National Reconnaissance Office Aug. 5. “I am truly honored to have this opportunity to serve the nation as director of the NRO. I am looking forward to fulfilling the great responsibility ahead of me and helping the NRO accomplish its mission to provide innovative overhead intelligence systems that help keep our nation safe and secure,” said Scolese in a statement. The NRO is the agency in charge of acquiring and maintaining satellites on behalf of the intelligence community. Read More

DISA awards $21.9M contract supporting background check IT system transfer

(fedscoop) The Defense Information Systems Agency awarded a $21.9 million contract for IT support as the Department of Defense takes over the National Background Investigation System. The contract, awarded to HGSNet, covers a range of software, network and data analysis needs for DISA. The firm-fixed-price contract has a one year base period with a potential six-month add-on. Read More

F-35 talks to US Army’s missile command system, says Lockheed

(DefenseNew) HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The F-35 joint strike fighter demonstrated its ability to send data to the U.S. Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System during the Orange Flag Evaluation 19-2 at Palmdale, California, and Fort Bliss, Texas, in June. F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced in an Aug. 6 statement that the jet, in a live demonstration, sent track data to the IBCS through the F-35 ground station and “F-35-IBCS adaptation kit.” Read More

Audit Finds Good Process, Poor Data at TSA

(FEDweek) The TSA has put in place “adequate and valid” processes for determining whether employees in its Office of Investigations qualify as law enforcement officers, but those determinations still are unreliable because of problems with the data put into that system, an audit has found. Read More

Sandia Nat’l Labs Developing Missile Intercept Tech Based on Dragonflies

(ExecutiveGov) The Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories is developing an artificial neural network that uses dragonflies’ hunting capacity as a basis for enabling missiles to intercept targets such as hypersonic platforms, C4ISRnet reported Tuesday. Read More

Reducing indirect labor costs at semiconductor companies

(McKinsey & Company) When chip components shrink, manufacturing and testing costs rise. This adage holds true even though Moore’s law has slowed, since expenses related to semiconductor production have increased over the past few years. At every semiconductor company, cost efficiency is now at the top of the agenda, although annual revenues are solid and have been trending upward. While better margins are one motivator, companies also want more funds to invest in innovative chips for autonomous vehicles and other emerging technologies. Read More

CHANGE IMPLICIT BIAS, CHANGE BEHAVIOR? MAYBE NOT

(Futurity) The concept of implicit bias has made its way into the general consciousness, most often in the context of racial bias. More broadly, however, implicit biases can affect how people think of anything. “All the little ways in which our everyday thinking about social stuff is unconscious or uncontrollable,” writes Calvin Lai, assistant professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, in an article in DCist. “The stuff that we don’t realize is influencing us when we make decisions.” Read More

Solve your next big problem at work or home with the help of a logic tree

(Bloomberg) How do you solve problems? Some of us set out for a walk, working the body and changing our surroundings as a way to achieve mental clarity. Others sit down to make a detailed list of pros and cons. Some people rely on instinct with snap decisions, or make incremental choices in part, perhaps, to avoid conceptualizing larger problems. Read More

‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ catches heat for its inclusion of white phosphorus

(MilitaryTimes) Controversy in the video game world — or real life, who knows anymore — swirled July 29 when mega-popular franchise Call of Duty released new details about killstreak rewards in the franchise’s upcoming soft reboot of the immensely popular “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.” A drivable infantry assault vehicle and the Juggernaut assault suit comprised two of the unveiled rewards players can expect on the multiplayer battlefield, but the final reveal raised some eyebrows. Read More