Mark Nehmer, technical director for the Defense Security Service’s National Background Investigative Services, said that artificial intelligence can significantly help government officials in conducting background investigations, the Department of Defense said Monday.

Nehmer told attendees at a Nextgov event held on March 29 in Arlington Va., that AI can quicken the pace of investigations, resolve understaffing issues, decrease case backlog and mitigate a “Snowden-like event” or instances of government leaks. 

AI’s algorithm and machine learning elements can monitor data flowing through agencies, banks, police records and social media to identify anomalies or suspicious activity, he added. Other potential uses of AI include behavioral analysis and detection of life changes such as debt to identify the need for services like financial assistance.

Nehmer noted that AI will never replace humans in investigative procedures, but platforms using the technology can be leveraged as tools for performing investigations. Work is underway to incorporate AI technology into investigative operations ahead of a potential decision for deployment, he added.

Microsoft is working on a modified version of its reality-based HoloLens 2 headset designed to support the U.S. Army’s military training and combat missions, CNBC reported Saturday.

Work on the integrated visual augmentation system is part of a potential two-year, $480M contract the Army awarded to Microsoft in November. The system headset has a glass visor that displays the user’s location through a map, 3D images and data that allow a soldier to locate his colleagues and enemy positions. The device also has thermal night vision capabilities.

“With thermal, you can see through the smoke and engage and destroy a threat. This is a game changer on the battlefield,” said Ryan McCarthy, undersecretary for the Army.

McCarthy said the Army plans to use the system to help troops improve their marksmanship by collecting data during training. He added that he expects the service to start deploying the AR-based system as early as 2022 and 2023.

The Army Cyber Command is increasing its focus on defending facilities and infrastructures that play a vital role in military installations, Fifth Domain reported Friday. The command wants to transition cyber teams from tasks focused on threat actors, defense and incident response to responsibilities to protect industrial control systems and supervisory control and data acquisition.

“Over the last four or five years, as we’ve gotten repetitions responding to incident responses, we’ve really identified where the most likely opportunities that the [Cyber Protection Brigade] will be called to respond and react to. One of those huge areas is ICS-SCADA networks,” said Lt. Col. Michael Smith, S-3 operations officer at the brigade. 

He said the Army is trying to understand all facilities that support military installations, from water to electric, to see the potential impact of a successful cyber attack. The Army cyber teams are also considering commercial environments and infrastructures that support military installations. 

However, Greg Touhill, former federal chief information security officer, said in 2018 that such a move would require specialized expertise.

“At each base there is so much stuff, I don’t believe at this point that cyber protection teams could parachute in effectively,” he said. “You almost have to have a tailored approach for each installation.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will hold an annual event intending to grow the creation of a secure, specialized and autonomous electronics industry. The Electronics Resurgence Initiative Summit seeks to gather the electronics sector and provide organizations an avenue to assess technical progress, demonstrate their technologies and share their inputs for potential research pathways, DARPA said Friday.

Scheduled from July 15 through 17, this year’s event will support ongoing research partnerships, provide opportunities, discuss potential effects of advanced electronics and present the technical outcome of ERI initiatives.

Confirmed speakers for the summit include Steve Mollenkopf, CEO at Qualcomm, John Kelly III, executive vice president at IBM and Lisa Su, president and CEO at AMD.

The summit is open to the public and interested media attendees may submit their email applications to DARPA.