The U.S. intelligence community has established a new council to augment how commercial space systems deliver data for intelligence operations, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday. The Commercial Space Council seeks to identify how to accelerate intelligence deliveries that rely on commercial satellites.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), National Security Agency (NSA), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) stood up the council to be chaired by David Gauthier, NGA's head for commercial space operations.

Gauthier said the council will work to increase IC's understanding of commercial technologies and advise on the community's policy and strategy.

Alka Patel, chief of ethics at the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), said the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contains certain provisions that could help JAIC operationalize DoD’s AI ethics principles and advance Responsible AI, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Patel cited Section 233 in the NDAA, which requires the DoD secretary to form a board of advisers for JAIC to assess and advise leaders on ethical matters with regard to the department’s use and development of AI. 

Another provision she mentioned is Section 235, which calls for the “acquisition of ethically and responsibly developed artificial intelligence technology.” Patel plans to introduce a Responsible AI Champions pilot within the department this spring to promote Responsible AI literacy and increase awareness of AI ethics principles. 

“Additionally, we want to create a DoD-wide network of Responsible AI Champions from across components who can be a resource within their respective areas as well as with each other,” Patel said. "They will also be extremely important creating a feedback loop to help us understand and inform future policies and guidance."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the Department of Defense (DoD) determine ways to communicate its list of critical technologies, acquisition programs and manufacturing capabilities within DoD and to other agencies, come up with metrics to evaluate protection efforts and designate an organization to oversee future protection measures.

“By determining the approach for completing these tasks, DoD can better ensure its revised process will support the protection of critical acquisition programs and technologies consistently across the department,” GAO said in a report published Tuesday.

The Pentagon’s revised process to better protect critical technologies and acquisition programs is composed of four steps: identify, communicate, protect and assess, and oversee. GAO said the department started executing the updated process in February 2020. DoD officials expect to execute all the steps in the process by September 2021.

“Officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury stated that they could use the list, if it is effectively communicated, to better understand what is important to DOD to help ensure protection through their respective programs,” the report reads.

Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has developed a large set of thermal face data to support facial recognition in dark environments, FedScoop reported Monday. ARL collaborated with Booz Allen Hamilton, West Virginia University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Johns Hopkins University to build the ARL Visible-Thermal Face Dataset.

The team used a long wave infrared camera to capture over 500,000 thermal images of 395 faces. Thermal data on a subject's head pose, expressions and eyeglasses serve as references to reproduce physical conditions.

The Army expects the dataset to allow for facial recognition in scenarios with no sunlight, through the help of artificial intelligence. The service branch seeks to further develop thermal identification despite the lower quality of thermal images compared to traditional ones.