NewsBrief July 30, 2021

DOD tests new machine learning capabilities for JADC2

(fedscoop) The Department of Defense recently concluded a round of tests of new machine learning technology that aims to increase data sharing between combatant commands. The North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command’s Global Information Dominance Experiment 3 (GIDE 3) brought 11 combatant commands, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and other tech leaders together July 8-15 at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado to test the use AI in warfare. The GIDE experiments aim to advance tech that will enable the DOD’s new concept of how it will fight in the future, where data from across military domains will be shared between machines and AI will assist commanders in their decision-making. Read More

Artificial Intelligence: Next Frontier is Cybersecurity

(NSA | CSS) FORT MEADE, Md. – Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will play a role in protecting the United States from malicious cyber actors. NSA’s Jason Wang, technical director for the Computer and Analytic Sciences Research Group, forecasted a future in which AI will support the Intelligence Community’s (IC) efforts to secure and defend our Nation’s networks. “I think the next frontier for us is probably in the cybersecurity space,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity … to bring machines to this very low latency, highly dynamic problem in ways that really are not human-time kinds of responses.” Read More

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency opens new lab for unclassified collaboration

(C4ISRNET) WASHINGTON — The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has opened its first unclassified laboratory in St. Louis, continuing the agency’s push for collaboration with commercial and nontraditional partners. While NGA has unclassified areas within some of its facilities, Moonshot Labs is unique in that it was designed to be open from the very beginning. Industry leaders in the geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) space have said the classification requirements companies need to meet in order to work with the intelligence community are onerous, even when much of the work is technically at the unclassified level. In response, the agency has expressed interest in conducting more of its work in the unclassified space, and the work-from-home reality of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it to adopt new practices that encouraged more work at the unclassified level. Read More

HASC cyber subcommittee pushes mandatory legacy IT audit in defense bill

(FCW) The military services could be required to audit its legacy IT systems and software as part of a proposal to be considered in the 2022 defense authorization bill. The Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems for the House Armed Services Committee is proposing a mandate that would require “each military service initiate an effort to account for the legacy information technology (IT) systems, applications, and software.” The goal is to sniff out “redundant and unnecessary investments” that can be retired or managed differently so freed up funds can be reinvested into the Defense Department’s other priorities, mimicking what the Navy set out to do with its Operation Cattle Drive effort announced in December. Read More

Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force Releases Final Report

(House Armed Services Committee) WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the bipartisan Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force released their final report, findings, and recommendations, following a months-long review of supply chain threats and vulnerabilities. Co-Chaired by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the Task Force included Representatives Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), and Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.). The Task Force was chartered to review the industrial base supply chain to identify and analyze threats and vulnerabilities Read More

How enterprise architects need to evolve to survive in a digital world

(McKinsey Digital) Many CIOs at large incumbents have made a startling discovery about digital natives: those businesses often don’t have architects or at least anyone with the formal title of “enterprise architect.” With CIOs increasingly moving their organizations to an agile DevOps operating model, that discovery has prompted much questioning about whether they still need architects, and if so, what they should be doing. While incumbents can learn plenty from digital natives and adopt many of their practices, eliminating the architect role shouldn’t be one of them. That’s because digital natives have the benefits of a highly skilled and experienced workforce operating in a start-up culture on a modern architecture with few legacy issues. Read More

Space telescopes spot light ‘echoing’ from behind black hole for the first time

(Space.com) For the first time ever, scientists have seen the light from behind a black hole. Black holes are regions in space-time where gravity’s pull is so powerful that not even light can escape its grasp. However, while light cannot escape a black hole, its extreme gravity warps space around it, which allows light to “echo,” bending around the back of the object. Thanks to this strange phenomenon, astronomers have, for the first time, observed the light from behind a black hole. Read More