The Defense Intelligence Agency took part in a two-week exercise of joint, integrated activity between operations, intelligence and technology. The U.S. Navy-led 2019 Joint Innovation Battle Lab exercise took place at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story from April 29th through May 10th, DIA said Thursday.

DIA’s Office of Advanced Technologies Intelligence worked with operators to field technologies for the JIBL exercise. The agency served as leader of the exercise’s technology segment. The annual event is intended to boost collaborative technological work between the military, the intelligence community, federal law enforcement groups, industry and academia.

 “One of the exercise goals is to integrate with our interagency partners to increase speed, accuracy and lethality,” said Matt Avery, technology line of effort director for JIBL. “As technology experts, DIA must identify innovative technologies to meet intelligence and operational requirements for warfighters,” he added.

The U.S. Navy plans to bring new high-power laser weapons and a non-lethal laser dazzler to the field later in 2019 to conduct operational testing aboard ships. The project is part of the Navy Laser Family of Systems, USNI News reported Thursday. NLFoS include the Solid State Laser-Technology Maturation system, the High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, and the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy.

“We’re not fielding these in large numbers, but we’re fielding them – and it’s an important step, I think, because we get a lot of operational feedback that we would never get otherwise,” Frank Peterkin, the Navy’s senior technologist for directed energy, told USNI News. He added the testing will focus on operating, employing and maintaining the laser weapons at sea.

SSL-TM will be installed on the San Antonio class amphibious ship and USS Portland (LPD-27), while ODIN would go to an Arleigh Burke destroyer. Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin is working on the HELIOS system.

The U.S. Army wants to change how it deploys communications and networking equipment to help troops keep up with the changing environment and modernization of adversaries, C4ISRNet reported Thursday. 

Maj. Gen. Randy Taylor, commander of Army Communications and Electronics Command, said the command has launched efforts to determine global hot spots where soldiers may require immediate support from technicians. Taylor said forward technicians will provide support when systems break or require updates while in the field. The Army also aims to configure systems ahead of conflicts to maintain military capability. 

“What we’re looking at now with this possible near peer conflict is fight tonight expeditionary,” Taylor said. “That’s part of the imperative for modernizing the network so it’s lighter, faster, more capable, but sustainment has to keep pace with those expeditionary units.”

The Army CECOM manages sustainment and refurbishing of the service’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. The Army plans to integrate C5ISR systems with “pre-positioned stocks,” which provide troops with immediate access to equipment and eliminate the need to carry their gear during deployment. 

Federal and industry officials called on the government to consider the latest changes in the tech sector when creating standards for the use of artificial intelligence-based technologies, Nextgov reported Thursday. Lynne Parker, assistant director for AI in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said there is a need for a new standards-setting process as the U.S. industry leads the global marketplace for technology. 

“Because most of the inventions and innovations were coming from American companies, for the most part, the folks that were at the table conversing about technology—technical standards—were primarily American companies,” she said. “But, we can’t assume that because it’s worked out well for American companies in the past it will continue to work out well going forward.”

Parker suggested that the country should put American principles into international efforts to develop AI and the standards for the technology. Jason Matusow, general manager of Microsoft’s Corporate Standards Group, said engineers and non-technical people should share expertise to create the AI standards. 

“We have a need to have people who are truly trained ethicists, people who have a basis for the discussion,” he said. “We have to find a joining of the conversation to say that it’s not some magical standard that gets written that defines ethics.”