Energy Secretary Rick Perry has announced the formation of a new office to help coordinate the Department of Energy’s research-and-development work on artificial intelligence. The Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office was established as part of the Trump administration’s call for a national strategy to advance the development of AI technologies, DOE said Friday.

“This new office housed within the Department of Energy will concentrate our existing efforts while also facilitating partnerships and access to federal data, models and high performance computing resources for America’s AI researchers,” Perry said. “Its mission will be to elevate, accelerate and expand DOE’s transformative work to accelerate America’s progress in AI for years to come.”

The department is using AI to improve national security, grid resilience and cybersecurity, among other initiatives.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Christopher Krebs wants to expand his collaboration with Anne Neuberger, head of the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity directorate, to defend U.S. critical infrastructure from potential attacks, Fifth Domain reported Saturday.

“How can I provide the NSA and the cybersecurity division the guidance and requirements set where they can turn around and help me?” Krebs said at the Billington Cybersecurity conference held last week.

NSA expects its newly established directorate to reach initial operating capability on Oct. 1 to specifically help protect the defense industrial base. Krebs and Neuberger collaborated during her leadership of NSA’s Russia Small Group, a task force the agency formed last year to counter foreign interference in U.S. elections.

Karen Evans, assistant secretary of the Department of Energy’s cybersecurity, energy security and emergency response office, cited public-private partnerships as vital for critical industries like the energy sector, Nextgov reported Friday. She noted during World Wide Technology’s IoT Industry Day in Washington, D.C. that working with private operators of energy infrastructure has given her a “deeper appreciation for what public-private partnership means.”

“They understand exactly how these devices are being used and they know how they are being held accountable,” Evans said. Her office is working on a range of internet-of-things initiatives spanning areas such as grid security, modernization, workforce planning, emergency preparedness and infrastructure protection.

Landon Van Dyke, senior adviser for the State Department’s energy, environment and sustainability division, said the department also has concerns over vulnerabilities that may result from using IoT for operations such as building management and air monitoring.

Francisco Salguero, deputy chief information officer of the Agriculture Department, said he intends to deploy IoT to improve mapping activities through drone capabilities. The department has also been leveraging emerging technologies like blockchain to address organizational requirements as well as the needs of U.S. farmers.

Maj. Gen. Dennis Crall, deputy principal cyber adviser and senior military adviser for cyber policy at the Department of Defense, has emphasized lethality, partnerships and reform as the key tenets of DoD’s cybersecurity strategy in a panel discussion held Thursday.

He noted that commanders need to use special authorities and maintain communications at a minimal level to support defensive and offensive cyber missions, according to an article published Friday on the Pentagon’s website.

“Congress and the administration loaded us up with authorities we never before had, so we need to use them,” Crall told his audience at the 10th Billington Cybersecurity Summit.

He added the U.S. military should properly manage scarce resources consistently and strengthen relations with coalition forces via training events.

“We still struggle with information sharing in a timely manner, so we need better cross-domain solutions, and that’s on the radar to solve this year,” he said.

Gen. Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency and 2019 Wash100 Award recipient, talked about lessons learned from the 2018 midterm elections and highlighted efforts to prevent foreign interference, Cyberscoop reported Friday. U.S. Cyber Command and NSA worked with the FBI to prevent Russia from repeating the disruption of the 2016 elections in 2018.

USCYBERCOM and the two agencies disrupted the internet access of a Russian online influence entity that disseminated false information in 2016. The intelligence community is using insights from the 2018 effort to inform decisions on the upcoming 2020 elections.

“If there is any adversary or adversaries attempting to either influence or interfere, we are going to impose a cost on that adversary,” Nakasone stated.

A space-focused laboratory within Utah State University has developed a small satellite that would help NASA study cloud water and ice particles on microphysical levels.

USU Space Dynamics Laboratory’s cubesat would carry the HyperAngular Rainbow Polarimeter, an instrument that would introduce the ability to measure aerosol and cloud properties, USU said Thursday.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore County developed the HARP payload with the leadership of J. Vanderlei Martins, the project’s principal investigator.

NanoRacks will launch USU’s satellite with the HARP payload on a Northrop Grumman-made Cygnus cargo spacecraft next month. Cygnus will transport the HARP satellite and payload to the International Space Station.

“Working together with Dr. Martins and his team at UMBC as well as the NASA Earth Science Technology Office is a great example of academia, industry and government working together to answer scientific questions for the benefit of mankind,” said Tim Neilsen, program manager for HARP at USU SDL.