The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a draft document outlining a list of nine factors that contribute to an individual’s potential trust in an artificial intelligence platform. 

The draft document titled “Artificial Intelligence and User Trust” seeks to show how a human may consider the factors based on the task and the risk involved in trusting the decision of an AI system and contributes to NIST’s efforts to advance the development of trustworthy AI tools, NIST said Wednesday.

“Many factors get incorporated into our decisions about trust,” said Brian Stanton, a psychologist who co-authored the draft document with NIST computer scientist Ted Jensen.. “It’s how the user thinks and feels about the system and perceives the risks involved in using it.”

Those listed factors are accuracy, reliability, resiliency, security, explainability, safety, accountability and privacy. The publication looks at trust’s integral role in human history and trust challenges related to AI and presents a comparison of user trust scenarios between a music selection algorithm and an AI that helps with medical diagnosis.

“We are proposing a model for AI user trust,” said Stanton. “It is all based on others’ research and the fundamental principles of cognition. For that reason, we would like feedback about work the scientific community might pursue to provide experimental validation of these ideas.”

Public comments on the draft publication are due July 30th.

If you’re interested in AI and its role in the national security landscape, then check out GovCon Wire’s AI: Innovation in National Security Forum coming up on June 3rd. To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the GovConWire Events page.

The Department of Homeland (DHS) has opened the application period for its annual event to test biometric recognition systems from the commercial sector in operational security and checkpoint settings.

DHS' science and technology directorate said Wednesday it will host the Biometric Technology Rally this fall at the Maryland Test Facility and evaluate the performance of candidate platforms in identifying images of travelers even when protective equipment is worn.

Participants will have a chance to take part in the Stakeholder Demonstration Day to present their technology offerings to government and industry stakeholders. 

Arun Vemury, director of the DHS S&T-run Biometric and Identity Technology Center, said the previous year saw industry adapt to changes and circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic through innovation.

“Now it’s time to see if further innovation and improvement can be achieved to further reduce errors and provide more consistent and equitable performance under challenging conditions,” Vemury added.

Tests will occur in controlled setups applicable to department operations. The S&T directorate plans to evaluate matching algorithms using data from the scenario test and give product reviews to help developers adjust technologies.

An information webinar is scheduled for June 9 and the deadline for applications to join the demonstration is July 15.

Clare Martorana, federal chief information officer, said her office and the Federal CIO Council have kicked off work on a new strategy for governmentwide information technology modernization, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

She said she expects the new IT modernization plan to come with a holistic approach to IT delivery across the federal government.

“We do want to be public about what we stand for as great IT leaders in government,” Martorana said Wednesday during an event. “So, that is something that the CIO Council is working on.”

Martorana also discussed the updated model for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). In early May, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced a flexible structure for funding federal IT transformation initiatives through TMF, which received an allocation of $1 billion under the American Rescue Plan.

Martorana said the administration has been able to evolve TMF through new flexibilities and funding.

“We are going to be working very collaboratively with agencies to see where their projects fit in these priority areas and hope to be able to roll out some really high-impact projects,” she added.

Col. Ken Kuebler, program executive officer for fixed-wing at U.S. Special Operations Command, said Air Force Special Operations Command considers modifying its MC-130J aircraft to enable the plane to operate in amphibious environments, National Defense reported Wednesday.

Kuebler said having an amphibious aircraft would provide the service the capability amid a great power competition.

He noted that the command plans to conduct feasibility studies, explore operational concepts and look at possible digital design options to prove the aircraft capability through a demonstration.

“That all leads to giving us key decision points as we move forward,” Kuebler said Wednesday during the virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference.

The U.S. Air Force uses a special assessment process to ensure the integrity of personnel with assignments that involve sensitive information.

The Continuous Evaluation (CE) program randomly screens individuals who have access to secret or top secret information, Air Force Materiel Command said Monday.

USAF uses CE to determine whether these individuals maintain what is required to eligibly access this information. The process provides a more timely assessment between periodic investigations.

“CE leverages automated record checks and applies business rules, aligned to the Federal Investigative Standards, to assist in the ongoing assessment of an individual’s continued eligibility,” said Alecia Davis, facility security officer at National Aerospace Solutions, a contractor working for Arnold Air Force Base's Engineering Development Complex.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency said it will require all secret-level access holders to be partially or fully CE-enrolled by the current fiscal year's end.

NASA has test-flied a system that would help aircraft get into precise positions during supersonic flight.

The space agency said Wednesday it tested the Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System in preparation for future demonstrations of the Lockheed Martin-made X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology or QueSST plane.

Lockheed designed QueSST to lessen the sonic boom sound emitted during supersonic flight. The aircraft will undergo demonstrations beginning in 2024.

NASA first has to test X-59's quietness through acoustic validation. An F-15 aircraft equipped with a shock-sensing probe will gather needed information by measuring QueSST's shock waves. 

ALIGNS will facilitate the distancing between the two aircraft during the acoustic validation test.

"The pilots will get directional cues on the ALIGNS display to help them steer the F-15 to that specific point in space,” said Troy Robillos, principal investigator for ALIGNS.

The Department of Energy (DOE) will invest $40 million in research that aims to reduce the waste emitted by nuclear reactors. DOE said Wednesday its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy will use the funds to finance projects under the Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) program.

ONWARDS will explore how to lessen the waste and used nuclear fuel of advanced nuclear reactors by 10 times. The project will seek improvements in recycling processes, waste forms and sensors and data used for nuclear material management.

DOE pursues ONWARDS to further commercialize advanced nuclear reactors and protect the environment through the implementation of clean energy.

“More than half of our zero-carbon energy is generated from nuclear power, and through this groundbreaking research we can expand nuclear's potential,” said Jennifer Granholm, secretary of Energy.

Database management system developer Neo4j has received approval to join a U.S. Air Force-run digital hub of binary container images intended for use on Department of Defense networks.

The company said Wednesday it built a hardened container with the Air Force’s Platform One software development team and will offer the technology via the DOD Centralized Artifacts Repository.

Jim Webber, chief scientist of Neo4j, noted the company aims to help DOD network users understand data connections.

The graph technology provider used an authorized base image and followed a container hardening guide as part of the Iron Bank certification program.

Nicolas Chaillan, chief software officer of the Air Force, said the service built DCAR “as part of our effort to select, certify, and secure best of breed development tools and software capabilities.”

The U.S. Army implemented Neo4j’s platform to monitor equipment maintenance data.

The U.S. Air Force has conducted its first information warfare-focused exercises to test the concept at a new range in the New Mexico desert. The Air Combat Command has performed ten proof of concept exercises intending to consolidate and operationalize all the capabilities to provide Air Force and joint commanders integrated information warfare packages.

The exercises were designed with the critical concept of convergence supported by Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of 16th Air Force, the Air Force’s first information warfare numbered force that integrates global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, cyber, electronic warfare, and information operations under a single commander. C4isrnet reported the story on Wednesday.

Jeffrey Phillips, commander of the 67th Cyberspace Wing, commented on the theme of convergence, saying, “how do we organize ourselves around problems that also don’t constrain us by the geography? Because in many cases, that information that’s available to us will not necessarily be collocated with the adversary we’re targeting.” 

“It’s taking advantage of our global access, our global access to the data and unique authorities, whether that’s intelligence authorities or the role that we play as a cyber component of the capabilities that we now stood up from an information warfare and an information operations perspective. How those come together and integrate are the outcomes that we are producing and will produce with our partners, Phillips added. 

Phillips also explained that the Air Force has begun to combine other disciplines, such as electronic warfare and intelligence, into specifically trained airmen who will play a critical role in communications systems in keeping with the convergence theme. 

The airmen who complete electronic warfare training will be assigned to air operations centers to support squadrons, where they will have a substantial impact. These airmen are also trained as behavioral scientists and are experts in military information support operations, military deception operations, psychological operations.

“We see to get them the right formal training so they can bring all those functions together and take them out to the field to influence operations,” Phillips concluded.