The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has listed advanced analytics and modeling, data management, modern software engineering, artificial intelligence and future of work as its five technology focus areas this year.

“This document is focused on our needs, rather than specific technologies,” Mark Munsell, chief technology officer at NGA, said in a statement published Wednesday. “The changes we must make cannot only occur within the confines of NGA – they require the innovative spirit of industry to find new and unique solutions to some of our most difficult challenges.” 

The 2020 Tech Focus Areas document seeks to help NGA and other government agencies facilitate partnerships with industry, academia and other community partners to counter the threats posed by near-peer adversaries.

“The tech focus areas aren't 'shelfware' – we are identifying opportunities to leverage non-traditional acquisition capabilities to address the needs outlined in this document,” said Christy Monaco, chief ventures officer at NGA.

NGA listed several tech needs under the advanced analytics and modeling category, including analytical modeling, knowledge modeling, insights as a service, supplier capability evaluation and contextual learning.

The agency cited multidomain data aggregation, location-based insights and automated object validation as some of the technology needs that show the rising demand for agile integration of data management systems.

Under modern software engineering, NGA mentioned DevSecOps automation, software supply chain transparency, identity and access management and development environment for 3D data as technology needs.

AI-related tech needs include quantum computing for geospatial optimization, object detection and classification and machine learning model fitness for use.

For the future of work category, NGA listed remote and real-time collaboration, multidomain and multipartner collection management, secure and flexible work tools and secure cross-domain access as specific tech requirements.

Joe Kirschbaum, director of defense capabilities and management issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), told Federal News Network in an interview posted Wednesday about GAO’s assessment of the Department of Defense’s three cyber hygiene efforts.

GAO looked at DoD’s defense to cybersecurity culture and compliance initiative, cyber discipline plan and cyber awareness training and Kirschbaum said the office found lapses in tracking the implementation of cyber hygiene-related tasks.

“So I’m not suggesting that we found like an absolute hole in cybersecurity,” Kirschbaum told Federal Drive host Tom Temin. “What we did find was incomplete understanding of the extent to where some of these things are done. And some of these are basic cybersecurity practices, making sure you’ve got the principles throughout the department imputing all the training at the right levels, making sure you’re following through with who’s supposed to be doing that training.”

Kirschbaum noted that GAO recommended that the Pentagon follow through on those cyber hygiene initiatives. “And we want them to follow through on those things, to track the things that need to be tracked and to make sure that the department’s leadership is aware of those things and the status of those things so they can make those risk management decisions,” he added.

The U.S. Army has repurposed an existing counterterrorism technology for use in coronavirus tracking amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Fedscoop reported Tuesday.

The Joint Analytic Real-time Virtual Information Sharing System, originally designed for terrorism surveillance, now also helps the Army identify where the virus spreads and inform decisions on what facilities to close.

Everbridge, a firm specializing in emergency communications, originally developed JARVISS in 2018 to address shootings. JARVISS now uses layers of open-source content to inform commanders on coronavirus-related happenings.

“The way that JARVISS was designed was to be an open platform where any threat to the Army or to the U.S. globally could be brought into the system and analyzed,” Jeff Kahler, a JARVISS program manager at Everbridge, told Fedscoop.

James Allen, the JARVISS program manager from the Army’s side, said other military and federal entities addressing COVID-19 have also adopted the system's use for tracking.

The Department of Energy is hosting a $9M competition on technologies designed to purify high-salinity water via solar-thermal energy.

DOE said Tuesday it invites the public to take part in the American-Made Challenges: Solar Desalination Prize, a four-phase contest that seeks the development of solar-driven desalination systems.

Participants may compete for up to $2.3M worth of cash prizes and national laboratory vouchers amounting to $200K in value. The vouchers would allow participants to further develop their entries at national laboratories and partner facilities.

The American-Made Network, a multisector group of experts and investors, will also offer financial and professional support to the challenge participants.

“These innovations will not only encourage new uses for solar energy, but will also help achieve President Trump’s clean water goals,” said Dan Brouillette, secretary of energy.

DOE seeks to boost freshwater access and in turn fortify U.S. water security and economy through the effort.

The U.S. Army has introduced a Microsoft-built high-speed goggle that works to provide situational awareness capacities to warfighters in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Integrated Visual Augmentation System employs a Microsoft HoloLens unit equipped with a heads-up display to evaluate soldiers’ temperature at a rapid pace, the Army said Monday.

The service branch tested IVAS’ capacity within various operational areas during the Soldier Touch Point 2 activity. A soldier wore the goggle to trace the forehead and inner eye temperature of around 300 soldiers in less than 30 minutes.

“We’ve always planned for an agile software system and a digital platform that can be upgraded and adapted to use against emerging threats in the future,” said Tom Bowman, director of IVAS Science and Technology Special Project Office.

The Army will begin deployment of the goggle to troops in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021.

Patrick Grother, biometric standards and testing lead at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said the agency seeks to focus on ethical biases in its reports and testing activities, Biometric Update reported Tuesday.

Grother told the publication that the NIST also aims to address differences in performance among various demographics in its research efforts in order to reflect stakeholder concerns.

He noted that while NIST’s respective end-user and algorithm-developer stakeholder groups generally have a high understanding of NIST’s reports, the agency also seeks to provide insight to the general public and media on issues such as biases in facial recognition technology.

Government testing of such technologies are also crucial for technology development and mitigating generalizations in the biometrics industry, Grother added.

According to Grother, the U.S. government is primarily looking into leveraging biometrics capabilities for applications such as airport security procedures and other operations that allow less physical interaction with customers.