The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology Council issued an update to the 2016 U.S. Strategic Computing Plan in response to the emergence of heterogeneous computing systems and growing complexity of software.

The report outlines the government’s refocused objectives and the first goal deals with the introduction of new frontiers of digital and non-digital computation to address technological and scientific challenges of the 21st century.

The other two objectives focus on the development and advancement of the country’s computational infrastructure and ecosystem and expansion of computing partnerships to ensure U.S. leadership in technology, science and innovation.

The document includes recommendations to meet the updated objectives. For the first goal, the U.S. government should adopt a diversity of software and hardware approaches for the future of computing and advance the development and deployment of software tools, systems and frameworks.

“The National Strategic Computing Initiative Update provides a framework to drive the future of computing, improve our computational infrastructure, and create lasting multisector partnerships to ensure continued American leadership,” Michael Kratsios, federal chief technology officer and a 2019 Wash100 award winner said in a statement published Thursday. “These priorities will help ensure next-generation computing will enable technological advancements and scientific discoveries for the benefit of all Americans.”

The Transportation Security Administration has posted a broad agency announcement to seek concepts and proposals that will help augment aviation security systems, Fedscoop reported Wednesday.

According to a notice posted on the government’s System for Award Management website, TSA aims to secure approaches and technologies that will address security gaps in specific areas including alarm resolution and portable screening tools.

“We are going through a series of innovation efforts to understand — not just in the security space — who’s looking at things that might go to some of these problem sets,” said Patty Cogswell, acting deputy administrator at TSA.

Cogswell added that the agency explores artificial intelligence technologies to automate tasks and validate evidence in CCTV clips for law enforcement usage.

Responses to the notice are due Jan. 17.

TSA will also host an industry event on Dec. 6 to discuss the requirements in line with the initiative.

The U.S. Air Force and Navy have agreed to develop a joint combat network that will enable coordinated operations between the service branches’ aircraft as well as the Navy’s vessels, USNI News reported Wednesday.

Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, entered into an informal agreement with Air Force Chief of Staff and former Wash100 awardee Gen. David Goldfein to establish a Joint All Domain Command and Control network that builds on the Navy’s work on its intra-service weapons control system.

Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, said the service seeks to continue developing the Navy Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air system to include multiple sensors, weapons and platforms.

“I want one integrated fire network where all the systems snap into that same standard,” he said. “And that’s a challenge for us because our requirements process isn’t generated to do that; it usually generates a requirement that is satisfied by a single resource sponsor and a single program manager, so we’ve got to kind of up our game here.”

Reps. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, Eddie Bernice Johnson, R-Texas, and Frank Lucas, R-Okla., have introduced a bill to modernize and secure the country’s voting systems.

The Election Technology Research Act would bolster the National Science Foundation’s and National Institute of Standards and Technology’s capacities to pursue research for further development of these systems, Sherrill’s office said Tuesday.

The bill would authorize NIST-led security research, establish an elections-focused collaboration center and permit related NSF grants. The legislation would also assign elections security tasks to NIST and direct the Government Accountability Office to evaluate NIST efforts.