Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy said today at the Defense Systems Summit that he has identified four “key strategic areas” that will work to support the National Defense Strategy (NDS). Those four areas – cloud, artificial intelligence, C3 (command, control, and communications), and cybersecurity – are organized not in order of importance, but rather “order of integration,” Deasy said, with each of the priorities flowing from the prior one. […]

Paul Craft, director of operations at the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DoDIN), spoke today at the Defense Systems Summit about how his relatively new component of U.S. Cyber Command is now tasked with operating and securing the entirety of DoD’s sprawling IT network infrastructure and has undertaken a complete restructuring of network operations for all of DoD. […]

Dana Deasy, chief information officer at the Department of Defense (DoD), said today at the Defense Systems Summit that he would not commit to an official release date for the finalized request for proposal (RFP) for DoD’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract. […]

Keeping pace with growing cyber threats is an uphill battle for Federal agencies as network complexity increases and the boundaries of networks extend to systems and devices not always under the control of their IT organizations. […]

The White House isn’t doing enough to address in a public forum a range of artificial intelligence issues and needs to institute a public process to seek comments on AI-related issues, said a group of six industry groups and more than 80 individuals from academia and the private sector in a July 4 letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). […]

To celebrate Independence Day, the Department of Defense (DoD) released its Digital Engineering Strategy on Wednesday. The strategy “promotes the use of digital representations of systems and components and the use of digital artifacts to design and sustain national defense systems,” DoD said. […]

The potential of artificial intelligence opens up the abundant future of game-changing machine-based applications in science, medicine, national defense, business, and just about every other area. But getting there while maintaining the U.S. lead in AI research and development will hinge on two old-school constants of innovation: money and people. […]

Amid growing fears of large-scale cyberattacks–ranging from attacks on infrastructure, to cyber espionage that threatens national security, to a “terabyte of death”–Congressional lawmakers are calling for a more clearly defined strategy for responding to such attacks. […]

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2019 will head into conference next week when legislators return from the Fourth of July recess. The $700+ billion must-pass defense spending bill has been approved in both the House and Senate, and now the two chambers must come together to reconcile differences in the legislation and re-vote the unified bill before it can land on President Trump’s desk for signing. […]

With cybersecurity threats on the rise, most recently seen in a Chinese hack of a Navy contractor, the Department of Defense is taking new steps to ensure security, in part by putting more of the onus on contractors. […]

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan last Wednesday issued a memorandum that officially establishes the Defense Department’s (DoD) new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), confirming statements made by Secretary James Mattis and other DoD officials in April that a center to house DoD’s roughly 600 AI projects was forthcoming. […]

The latest edition of the Army’s annual Cyber X-Games exercise is designed to let Reserve and other cyber warriors team up to train in dealing with real-world situations. It is focused on protecting U.S. infrastructure, an area somewhat outside the norm for the exercises, but one that reflects an emerging potential battleground on the cyber landscape. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) is using big data analytics and automated intelligence to both uncover discrepancies in budget-draining programs and engage leadership to direct funding to the correct priorities, according to a former Deputy Secretary of Defense and the founder of a business intelligence firm that supports the Pentagon. […]

While political and military leaders debate the pros and cons of whether the United States needs a separate “Space Force,” Chinese hackers have offered a reminder of two truths: operations in space are extremely important, and the assets used in space are vulnerable to cyberattack. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

Josh Marcuse, executive director of the Defense Innovation Board (DIB), said today at Defense One’s Tech Summit that both Silicon Valley engineers and national defense community members are stuck in a line of thinking about artificial intelligence (AI) and warfighting innovation that could impact safety and contribute to greater risk on the battlefield. […]

Google’s decision to pull out of the Defense Department’s (DoD) Project Maven artificial intelligence (AI) initiative without DoD consultation could have potential ramifications on American military and civilian lives, according to former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work. […]

The Department of Defense has a genuine “do more with less” problem on its hands when it comes to electromagnetic spectrum. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report Thursday that found many Federal agencies are not entirely up to speed in classifying members of their cybersecurity workforce, although many of them have traveled well down the road toward compliance. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is considering limiting the network damage that can result from Web browsing by having employees take it outside. […]

The possibilities of quantum computing have been floating on the horizon for a while now, at least since renowned physicist Richard Feynman dreamed up the idea in 1982. But like the horizon itself (at least in a world that isn’t flat), it always seems to recede despite all efforts to close in on it. Until now. […]

Tony Scott was the Federal government’s third chief information officer, serving the nation in that role from 2015 through early 2017. During his time at the helm of government-wide IT, Scott led the development of 2016’s State of Federal IT Report, which left a lasting roadmap for modernization progress in the Federal government. […]

Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]

For the first time in more than eight years, the House Appropriations committee shuttered its doors when it discussed budget issues with top Pentagon brass late last month. […]

You can hear the clatter from the White House as it hammers out the details of a long-awaited national cyber security strategy. But, the Department of Defense (DoD) cyber policy strategists are writing out advice to keep Federal agencies safe from hackers’ webs today. […]

The Air Force has awarded five small businesses contracts that could top out at $950 million for the rapid development of new cyber capabilities. This contract continues an effort by the service, and the Department of Defense overall, to keep up with potential adversaries in the fast-changing cyber domain. […]

The Pentagon has a lot of dogs in the artificial intelligence fight. Now it seems to be setting up shop to get those puppies groomed and ready for the big show. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) Empire just struck back with answers to more than 1,000 questions that vendors posed regarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract. DoD just released its second draft request for proposal after responding to concerns of 46 vendors and two associations. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD)–has recruited a new CIO–Dana Deasy. The former CIO at JPMorgan Chase & Co., Mr. Deasy is expected to report for duty in early May. […]