The U.S. Space Force hosted an event in February that sought to address various intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance needs in the service branch.

The Senior Intelligence Officer Conference featured discussions on ISR unit readiness and warfighter capabilities and explored initiatives such as training and defensive cyber operations, the Space Force said Wednesday.

Col. Suzy Streeter, director of ISR at Headquarters USSF, said the military must engage together in dialogue to assist the service branch in developing space policies.

“The discussions started at this conference will continue as we determine the organizational structure and ISR missions within the USSF as space ISR professionals develop new techniques to sense, identify, attribute and share the rapidly evolving threat picture – the threat that initially spurred the establishment of the Space Force,” said Lt. Col. Matthew Roberts, operations division chief of ISR at HQ USSF.

The Department of Energy intends to award $30 million in grants to support the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence methods in fusion energy research. DOE said Wednesday that it eyes to provide $17 million in support of research efforts that will cover the management of facility operations, forecast of plasma phenomena and rapid discovery efforts in the area of data science.

A separate $13 million grant will be provided to fund fusion theory studies and observe various factors that affect the movement of plasma within fusion reactor systems. Each funding opportunity will run for two to three years and recipients may receive an additional $7 million through fiscal year 2020 funds and Congressional appropriations. Universities, private sector firms, nonprofit organizations and national laboratories are eligible to participate in the projects.

“Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies can bring new, transformative approaches to tackling fusion energy theories and challenges,” said Dan Brouillette, secretary at DOE.

U.S. Air Force officials told senators at a hearing that the service seeks to prioritize efforts to establish a joint command-and-control system, dominate space and generate nuclear combat power in its $169 billion budget proposal.

The Air Force said Tuesday that USAF Secretary Barbara Barrett and Gen. David Goldfein, the service's chief of staff and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the military branch’s priorities for its fiscal 2021 budget request.

Barrett outlined goals related to countering peer competitors like China and Russia. These include establishing the Joint All-Domain C2 battle management platform, sustaining the U.S. Space Force and modernizing the nuclear triad’s land and airborne units to include additional squadrons and B-21 long-range bomber aircraft.

“This budget, building on the last three, offers the most aggressive package of strategic trades we have made as a service in over two decades to achieve complete alignment with the National Defense Strategy and secures our nation’s military superiority over the next decade,” said Goldfein.

The Air Force noted that the proposed budget also covers the acquisition of modernized aerial refueling, transport, supersonic and surveillance aircraft.

Gen. Paul Nakasone, who leads U.S. Cyber Command and is a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, considers election security as his priority and said federal agencies are ready to address potential foreign interferences, The Hill reported Wednesday.

He discussed this priority to a panel during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing that took place Wednesday. The hearing focused on U.S. Cyber Command’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2021. Nakasone said his command and other agencies have been coordinating on election threats, making the 2018 elections seem like a "pickup game" in comparison with Tuesday's primary election.