The Department of Health and Human Services has unveiled an enterprise strategy to advance the development and application of artificial intelligence across common mission areas in an effort to meet the evolving needs of U.S. citizens.

The HHS AI Strategy calls for the department to establish an AI council to help communicate the department’s AI vision and ambition and implement the enterprise strategy and strategic priorities with regard to the technology.

The HHS AI Council will specifically set and carry out priorities, cultivate partnerships with public and private entities, provide governance support and sponsor a community of practice comprised of AI practitioners.

Nextgov reported a chair and co-chair will lead the AI Council as it implements the strategic priorities in the document. Oki Mek, recently named chief AI officer at HHS, said he will serve as the council’s co-chair and the chair will be a senior official who will report directly to the HHS secretary.

Operating and staff division leaders across the department will comprise the rest of the council.

“AI Council members should be deeply familiar with the mission and operations of their respective Op/StaffDiv and have demonstrated experience with or interest in artificial intelligence,” Mek said. “The composition of the AI Council should include a variety of both technical and non-technical perspectives.” 

The council will identify and back priority initiatives within four key focus areas: develop an AI-ready workforce and strengthen AI culture; encourage health AI innovation and research and development; democratize foundational AI tools and resources; and promote ethical, trustworthy AI use and development.

“This strategy lays the foundation upon which the AI Council can use to drive change across the Department by encouraging the application of AI to promote advances in the sciences, public health, and social services—improving the quality of life for all Americans,” the document reads.

Army Gen. James Dickinson, commander of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM), said he supports a plan for the Department of Commerce (DOC) to take over space traffic management responsibilities to enable Space Command to focus on monitoring space activities that have an impact on national security, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.

Dickinson said his command and the department have been collaborating in the past two years to come up with a plan for the transition. He also cited the country’s need for an equivalent of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that would be responsible for ensuring safety in the space domain.

Dickinson said he supports the transfer of space traffic control to the Department of Commerce “where it can be better managed,” he said.  That would allow Space Command to focus on tracking space activities that affect national security.

“Our orbital regimes are becoming much more congested,” he said Tuesday during a Mitchell Institute virtual event. “Most of it is either space debris or commercial activity. And as we look to the future that’s only going to get more congested.” 

The U.S. Army seeks to further develop its network capabilities with the planned fielding of new communications equipment across multiple brigade combat teams.The service branch said Monday it will continue integrated tactical network development after the completion of handheld and man-packable radio tests for Capability Set 21st, a package of modern network technologies.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, operating in Vicenza, Italy, will receive the next CS21 delivery as one of four initial fielding brigades. Brig. Gen. Robert Collins, head of the Army's Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical or PEO C3T, said the Army will distribute CS21 kits to five more brigades in fiscal year 2022.

The Germany-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment will be the first of five to receive the next batch of kits.

“As we are getting ready to pivot to multi-domain operations, we realize the importance of not only having a tactical, capable force, but also having our expeditionary signal battalion enhanced and [continuing] to refresh our ESBs,” Collins said at a virtual conference of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Northern Virginia Chapter.

The Army will also continue to develop Capability Set 23, a prototype technology package designed to boost network convergence, resiliency and capacity. CS23's further development will build on CS21 and future Project Convergence exercises.

Maj. Gen. Pete Gallagher, director of the Army's Network Cross-Functional Team, said the service wants to become a multi-domain capable force by 2028 with the help of CS23.

U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity used 3D printing to address the U.S. health care workforce's demand for N95 respirators, DOD News reported Monday.

U.S. Air Force Maj. Daniel Williams, product manager for N95 respirator efforts at USAMMDA's Warfighter Expeditionary Medicine and Treatment Project Management Office, said his team leveraged internal expertise on medical product development to address the N95 shortage.

The team worked with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), U.S. Navy Underwater Warfare Center-Keyport, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and U.S. Forces Korea to manufacture the masks.

U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command's Additive Manufacturing Working Group verified the agreements, intellectual property concerns and regulatory requirements relevant to N95 respirator production.

Lastly, Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Chemical Biological Center evaluated respirator prototypes to verify compliance with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

“It has been such an honor to work with such an amazing group of professionals, spanning the medical and non-medical communities, and a truly unique experience to see so many different specialties come together for a common goal,” Williams said in an interview.