NewsBrief March 4, 2022

Navy wants tighter linkage between space and cyber

(fedscoop) The Navy wants to more closely align space and cyberspace operations, given natural synergies between the two. “They go hand in hand,” Vice Adm. Ross Myers, commander of the Navy’s Fleet Cyber Command/10th Fleet, said in an interview. Space — to include communications and actions — is most often secured through cyberspace, he said, adding “one does not exist without the other, so that’s why it’s a marriage made in heaven.” The Navy also designated Fleet Cyber/10th Fleet as the service component to space for U.S. Space Command, meaning Myers has responsibility for both cyber and space operations. Read More

DOD Financial Management: Air Force Needs to Improve Its System Migration Efforts

(GAO) The Air Force uses two financial systems (one aging and one modern) that aren’t fully integrated to manage its finances. This has made it difficult to obtain timely, accurate, and reliable information on its business operations. Although the Air Force has deployed the modernized system in pieces since 2005, it hasn’t created a migration plan to guide the transition from its existing system to the new one. Instead, the Air Force has used both systems simultaneously and plans to continue doing so for at least the next 10 years. Read More

NSA publishes guidance for best practices in network design configuration

(fedscoop) In furtherance of its new public-facing security posture, the National Security Agency released a report Tuesday guiding network architects and administrators on best practices for establishing their networks. The report was developed by the NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate, which was created to use the agency’s unique intelligence capabilities to share threat information with companies and the defense industrial base in a timely fashion to ensure they stay ahead of the most sophisticated threats. Read More

Limited’ progress made on the Pentagon’s plan to deliver real-time acquisition data, report says

(FCW) Congress wants a real-time reporting system to keep tabs on the billions of dollars the Pentagon spends on everything from weapons to business systems. But little progress has been made on bringing that system to life and there are several questions around how the Defense Department will deliver it, according to a recent watchdog report. Read More

Defense researchers lack consistent cybersecurity safeguards, IG finds

(FCW) Academic and research institutions that team up with the Defense Department to develop next- generation military technologies don’t always have the best cybersecurity practices in place to thwart data theft and insider threat risks, according to a recent watchdog report. The Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited 10 defense research organizations and found that nearly half had cybersecurity deficiencies that could put controlled unclassified data at risk. Read More

Office of Space Commerce seeks more commercial satellite tracking data

(fedscoop) The Office of Space of Commerce wants to buy more commercial satellite tracking data to improve on-orbit collision warnings and other applications of its Open-Architecture Data Repository in 2022, according to Technical Director Scott Leonard. OSC had the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration‘s acquisition arm issue a request for information (RFI) Feb. 16 on commercial tracking data and services that will be available between now and 2030, so that its repository might serve as a marketplace for them. Read More

Machine learning improves human speech recognition

(ScienceDaily) To understand how hearing loss impacts people, researchers study people’s ability to recognize speech. It is more difficult for people to recognize human speech if there is reverberation, some hearing impairment, or significant background noise, such as traffic noise or multiple speakers. As a result, hearing aid algorithms are often used to improve human speech recognition. Read More

NASA Selects Futuristic Space Technology Concepts for Early Study

(NASA) An astronaut steps into a body scanner and, hours later, walks on Mars in a custom-made spacesuit, breathing oxygen that was extracted from Mars’ carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. On Venus, an inflatable bird-like drone swoops through the sky, studying the planet’s atmosphere and weather patterns. Ideas like these are currently science fiction, but they could one day become reality, thanks to a new round of grants awarded by NASA. Read More

Autonomous supply chain planning for consumer goods companies

(McKinsey & Company) AI and machine learning hold the potential to dramatically improve supply chain performance for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. Yet most companies are limited by their approach thus far: investing in a collection of point solutions that work well for individual processes but don’t talk to each other or integrate data. The problem with this approach is that it still requires COOs and ops teams to be directly involved in decision making and oversight in order to manage the junction points and interdependencies among individual applications. Read More

How Well-Designed Work Makes Us Smarter

(MITSloan) Promoting worker learning is an increasingly urgent priority: To succeed at executing technology-driven strategies, a company must have a workforce that can rapidly adapt to and master new tools, processes, and roles. As AI systems automate more manual and routine tasks, humans will likely take on work that is more cognitively challenging. All of this makes it increasingly critical that managers understand how to foster cognition and accelerate learning in the workplace. Read More