The Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center has been officially recognized as a field operating agency within the U.S. Air Force, the service reported Friday. DC3, which previously operated as a unit under the Office of Special Investigations, will now run as an independent agency aligned under the inspector general, office of the secretary of the Air Force.

“DC3’s recognition as an Air Force FOA serves as a testament to the substantive evolution of its overarching capabilities and purpose,” said Jeffrey Specht, executive director of DC3. “I have every confidence this new structure and alignment will not only serve as a catalyst for DC3’s continued evolution to best meet Air Force and DOD mission needs, but will enhance our capacity and focus on amplifying effects for those we’re charged to support.”

The capabilities, size and services of DC3 have evolved in the past 20 years to meet the changing requirements of the DOD counterintelligence and law enforcement community. The center relies on the expertise of over 500 military, contractor and civilian personnel to provide cyber training, multimedia and digital forensics and cyber analytics services for the Pentagon, defense industrial base and international mission partners.

Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt, commander of Combined Force Space Component Command (CFSCC), told C4ISRNET in an interview published on Friday about plans to improve missile warning satellites and one of those is the need to equip satellite constellations, ground systems and other space-based missile warning capabilities with software that could be reprogrammed quickly in response to threats.

“For the future, we’re looking at how do you create app-based applications to then allow you to expand or contract your constellations as need be. This is now software-based versus hardware-based,” Burt said. “I’m not necessarily worried about the chassis and the bus itself. I’m more concerned about the guts, and can I reprogram the software more rapidly to adjust to threats and other things happening. And you’re doing that both on the satellite and in the ground system, as well as any receiver equipment.”

She cited the need to protect such systems from cyber threats and noted that diversification in the satellite development industry helps reduce costs and promote competition.

When asked about the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) tracking layer and Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared satellites, Burt said those missile warning satellite programs are meant to improve the country’s “resiliency, our accuracy and reporting, and to address emerging and future threats.”

Stephen Lee, senior scientist for interdisciplinary sciences at the U.S. Army Research Office, said innovation mostly stems from the combination of multiple scientific disciplines. The scientist noted that interdisciplinary collaboration opens opportunities to engage in new research areas that may support soldier performance, the Army said Thursday.

“With the different perspectives not being tied to an individual approach, we can combine ideas and provide comprehensive operationalization of the sciences in our programs,” Lee said.

He referenced the Fido explosives detector that Nomadics, now part of Flir Systems, further developed for the Army. Fido is designed to detect explosive vapors.

Lee supported Fido's development in the early 2000s based on research made by Timothy Swager with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The technology uses algorithms based on the behaviors of different animals including detection dogs. This externally led to the development of new equipment, including cameras and smart technology, to protect and support military detection dogs.

“I’m hopeful that, while we’re engaged at different levels as individuals in our own organizations, we can apply our technical expertise to new areas and really get deep down into the art of research and technology for the Soldier," Lee said.

Alka Patel, who leads artificial intelligence ethics policy at the Joint AI Center (JAIC), said Department of Defense (DOD) officials believe ethical concerns must be applied to the technology's design and use, DOD News reported Thursday.

The Defense Innovation Board developed five principles to implement AI ethics: a personnel's own careful judgment, efforts to reduce unintended bias in AI, expertise requirements in AI development, mandatory use testing and the ability to prevent or stop unintended consequences, Patel said at the Defense One Genius Machines 2021 virtual summit.

The board created the principles with the help of AI experts, U.S. citizens and military leaders. DOD will move forward to implement the principles across the military's AI applications, she said.