Ellen McCarthy, assistant secretary for the State Department’s bureau of intelligence and research and a former Wash100 Award, said the bureau has adopted publicly available, open-source data to serve as the foundation for the department’s intelligence, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

She said she believes that publicly available information offers some of the best data and there is a need to go beyond the classified domain in order to derive insights from open-source data.

“That’s not to say that – we don’t still value compartmented sensitive information, but to the extent that we can focus our resources on areas where we have gaps in knowledge, and really take advantage of what we understand from the open source, I really think that’s going to be the bright side of all of this,” McCarthy said Wednesday at an Intelligence National Security Alliance-hosted webinar. “And I definitely get the sense that that’s what we’re going to go.”

McCarthy noted that the bureau continues to collect sensitive geopolitical data in support of the department’s diplomats amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Stuart McGuigan, the State Department’s chief information officer, said his organization has leveraged teleworking to more quickly support foreign policy via analytics, Fedscoop reported Wednesday.

The department’s Center for Analytics is moving forward to create predictive models that provide insight into government-related changes. McGuigan attributes the center’s accelerated work pace to the implementation of teleworking.

The State Department migrated its operations to cloud in 2019, and now has approximately 90 percent of its workforce teleworking, allowing employees to work from home or anywhere with a stable internet connection.

The Center for Analytics employs 75K personnel across the globe, and the department has used teleworking to equip each of them with needed tools and training.

He spoke about the department’s teleworking implementation at a recent webinar with the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

The U.S. Navy has certified the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier’s fifth lower-stage advanced weapons elevator at Naval Station Norfolk, exhibiting an accelerated pace of operations.

Rear Adm. James Downey, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said in a statement posted Wednesday the elevator’s certification demonstrates Ford’s ability to quickly transport artillery from the carrier’s deeper segments to the flight deck.

The latest elevator’s certification follows at-sea tests where the carrier, also known as CVN 78, demonstrated flight deck operations, aircraft recovery and catapult launches. Ford’s 32-day sea trial allowed the carrier to receive certification for the flight deck.

“In just the last few weeks, we’ve seen an increase in the velocity of flight deck operations and new system certifications aboard Gerald R. Ford that’s beyond impressive,” said Downey.

The ship has already completed over six months of the 18-month post-delivery test and trials phase.

Twelve sailors from Ford will attend a 16-hour online training session at a nearby facility to learn more about elevator operation. Huntington Ingalls Industries, the ship’s contractor, will task an instructor to conduct the web-based training.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is offering over $1 million in prizes to participants in a competition focused on developing augmented-reality and internet of things technologies to aid first responders, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

The CHARIoT Challenge includes IoT and AR-focused increments that will culminate in an event where “smart city” disaster simulation technologies will integrate with AR platforms for various emergency response applications.

Sarah Hughes, prize challenge specialist at NIST, said participants will receive feedback and demonstrate their technologies during the final phase which will include assessments by real first responders.

AR research and development work may include capabilities such as holographic technology while the IoT challenge could potentially cover data stream concepts through sensor-based infrastructure, according to the report.

NIST will accept proposals from technical professionals and enthusiasts through May 6.

Lt. Gen. Eric Wesley, deputy commander of Army Futures Command, said the service branch may need to soon begin alterations to adopt the use of electric engines in vehicles, Military.com reported Wednesday.

Wesley said the Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle may employ an upscaled version of electric motors as demonstrated by car maker Tesla.

The service is challenged to manage the supply chain for the adoption effort, but the automotive industry’s shift towards electric engines, Wesley noted.

This potential industrial shift may also further prompt the Army to go electric due to the resulting cost changes and factors like fuel transportation, the general added. Electrification would reduce the need to transport fuel during battle and lessen the operational burden.

Wesley said the Army has to make its decision on the potential adoption within the next decade.

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) has developed an artificial intelligence system that works to forecast supply chain issues and COVID-19 hotspots through various data sources, Defense One reported Wednesday. Salus is designed to predict potential concerns based on the kind of data fed by its users.

Nand Mulchandani, chief technical officer at JAIC, said the tool has been initially employed to organize and monitor information on masks, ventilators and medical supplies. Mulchandani noted JAIC has partnered with data aggregators and retail firms to collect data for the tool.

“The insights we gather we are able to pipe directly into the systems that they’re using,” said Mulchandani.

Salus has been fielded to the U.S. National Guard and U.S. Northern Command’s information systems.