Chris Campione, the Department of Energy’s chief information officer, has said that operational visibility, delivery improvement, innovation and workforce development will be the department’s priorities for fiscal 2020, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Campione told the publication that the department intends to address issues such as data center utilization and operational visibility in the cloud as part of its information technology modernization strategy.

“We have a lot of old data centers,” he said. “So when we talk about data center consolidation, which is a much larger initiative — but the way we look at is how do we get out of some of our old data centers into the cloud?”

Campione assumed the role of DOE CIO in July after serving as the department’s principal deputy CIO.

Michael Kratsios, federal chief technology officer and a 2019 Wash100 Award winner, said the White House will soon release guidance on how agencies should oversee and regulate artificial intelligence applications, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

“This will be the first document that has legal force around the way that agencies should be looking at regulating artificial intelligence technologies,” Kratsios said at the Politico AI Summit Tuesday. “I think it will set the tone globally on the way that we can be pro-innovation while also protecting American safety.”

He stated that each agency should oversee the development of AI in specific areas and the memorandum will provide agencies a framework for their regulatory approaches with regard to the use of the technology. The memo is part of an AI executive order signed in February.

The U.S. Air Force has named its new Boeing-made T-X aircraft, with a public announcement at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference. Matthew Donovan, acting USAF secretary, announced the aircraft’s naming as the T-7A Red Hawk in National Harbor, Md., on Monday, the service branch said the same day.

“The name Red Hawk honors the legacy of Tuskegee Airmen and pays homage to their signature red-tailed aircraft from World War II,” Donovan said.

He unveiled unveiled a quarter-scale model of the T-X, now named T-7A Red Hawk, with a red-colored tail. The aircraft’s new name also honors the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, a fighter that served under the U.S. Army Air Forces’ first fighter squadron of African Americans.

USAF intends to use the T-7A trainer as a replacement for the existing T-38C Talon aircraft. Boeing secured a $9.2B contract last year to produce T-X aircraft under a partnership with Swedish firm Saab.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has unveiled a new program to train health care providers on the new electronic health record platform. The program, dubbed VA Innovative Technology Advancement Lab, has selected 76 participants to provide feedback that will be used to continuously improve the Cerner-built EHR technology, the department said Monday. 

“VA established VITAL to specially train staff who can identify possible challenges and work across the entire VA organization to make improvements,” said Robert Wilkie, secretary of VA and a 2019 Wash100 Award winner. 

VITAL will train end-users who require instructor-led EHR training, “super users” who need enhanced training to support their peers and users who need specialty training before the platform goes active. The program consists of four, three-day, in-person sessions within 12 to 18 months. 

The Department of Health and Human Services has adopted artificial intelligence to determine how government-friendly a solicited service can be, FCW reported Monday. Jose Arrieta, chief information officer at HHS, said the department constructed a neural network that has so far calculated correctly 86 percent of the time.

The neural network serves to help human procurement staff determine government-friendly services and allow personnel to focus on more crucial work. The AI-driven network builds on existing HHS work statements and guidelines on governmental functions from the Government Accountability Office. HHS has so far spent under $300,000 on the project and anticipates to save about $100 million in the first batch of work, Arrieta said.

“The better you understand when you need federal employees and when you need contractors to perform a service, the better service outcome you will provide,” the CIO noted.

The U.S. Air Force intends to reactivate the squadron that performed the pre-operational tests of the B-2 Spirit aircraft to support the flight test phase for the military service’s future B-21 Raider bomber plane. B-21 prime contractor Northrop Grumman is building the test aircraft at a production facility in Palmdale, Calif., the Air Force said Monday.

“The first flight of the Raider will take it from Palmdale to Edwards AFB, where the legacy of excellence will continue with the reactivation of the 420th Flight Test Squadron,” said Acting USAF Secretary Matthew Donovan.

USAF noted it collects feedback from the intelligence community as part of the B-21 program security evaluation process. The Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office and the 420th Flight Test Squadron will collaborate to deploy the long-range bomber aircraft.

Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, Whiteman AFB in Missouri and Dyess AFB in Texas were chosen as the preferred Raider operating base locations.