Steven Walker, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said at a Senate hearing that one-third of AI Next projects are creating artificial intelligence technologies or running in AI, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

Walker testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday along with Michael Brown, director of the Defense Innovation Unit, and Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the recently created Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

Walker noted that DARPA has 20 new programs run by AI. More than 80 programs within the agency are AI-driven following the agency’s $2B investment in the field.

Brown told senators that the Defense Innovation Unit seeks to develop AI-based computer vision capabilities in an effort to “maintain our technology edge, not only in AI, but in other dual-used technologies.”

“The more we collaborate with the private sector on mutually beneficial projects, the more opportunities we’ll have to engage in open dialogue about the applications and principles for the use of AI,” Brown said.

The artificial intelligence center’s first two national mission initiatives include using AI for disaster response and predictive maintenance for the U.S. Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, Shanahan said. He added that the center is at the “early problem-framing stage” for a proposed national mission initiative for fiscal year 2020.

A Government Accountability Office report says the Department of Defense must address three issues to fully institutionalize the responsibilities and authorities of the chief management officer to oversee the Pentagon’s business operations. GAO said in the report published on Thursday that DoD has yet to determine how the CMO will carry out its authority to direct military services on business reforms especially if there is disagreement with a department.

The two other issues cited include the CMO’s oversight of Defense Agencies and DoD Field Activities or DAFAs and the transition of responsibilities from the chief information officer to the CMO.

“Making determinations on the three unresolved issues and issuing guidance would help ensure a shared understanding throughout the department of the CMO’s role in leading DOD’s enterprise-wide business reform efforts,” according to the report.

GAO made four recommendations, including the need to codify and operationalize the CMO’s discretionary and statutory authorities through a departmentwide guidance.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Fogarty, head of Army Cyber Command, said ARCYBER prioritizes building and maintaining critical networks and information warfare capabilities to counter agile enemies, DVIDS reported Wednesday. 

The Department of Defense Information Network is “the most important, the most complex, weapons system DoD employees are operating 24/7,” Fogarty said during his keynote address at the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association’s 2019 Army Signal Conference in Springfield, Va on Wednesday. 

“The network is the critical capability that is going to allow us to fight and win on modern battlefields. … All the other (Army) priorities are actually dependent upon that effective network,” he said. Fogarty discussed how persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, situational awareness, logistics and other operations rely on the network.

He mentioned ARCYBER’s critical tasks, including his command’s plan to integrate cyber, information operations and electronic warfare into its mission to establish a systematic information warfare capability. Fogarty also mentioned ARCYBER’s partnerships with academia and industry on tech development efforts and the need to hire and retain top talent.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the Pentagon’s $718 billion funding request for fiscal 2020 is a “requirement-informed budget” supporting the National Defense Strategy and addressing threats posed by Russia and China, the Department of Defense website reported Thursday.

Shanahan, a 2019 Wash100 winner, testified on Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee to provide an overview of DoD’s FY 2020 budget request and how its provisions intend to respond to those specific threats. The proposed budget supports nuclear triad modernization, improvements to the missile defense system, hypersonics development and investments in cyber and space capabilities.

Shanahan noted the budget’s shipbuilding portion includes the construction of Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers and three Virginia-class submarines. David Norquist, DoD’s comptroller and a fellow 2019 Wash100 winner, and Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, joined Shanahan during the Senate hearing.

The Wash100 award, now in its sixth year, recognizes the most influential executives in the GovCon industry as selected by the Executive Mosaic team in tandem with online nominations from the GovCon community. Representing the best of the private and public sector, the winners demonstrate superior leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement and vision.

Visit the Wash100 site to learn about the other 99 winners of the 2019 Wash100 Award. On the site, you can submit your 10 votes for the GovCon executives of consequence that you believe will have the most significant impact in 2019.

The General Services Administration and the Department of Education launched a new information technology acquisition guide, according to an article in CIO.gov published Wednesday.

The Technology Business Management Playbook will assist agencies in various IT implementation issues such as compliance reporting, cost transparency, business strategy development and initiatives for innovation. Jason Gray, chief information officer at the Department of Education and David Shive, CIO for the GSA explained the guide’s purpose.

“We want to be able to take the lessons learned and take the issue areas that we solved and share those playbooks and learnings with other agencies,” Shive said.

The guide covers steps for IT deployment including identifying key stakeholders, determining the agency’s current state, targeting measurable desired outcomes, collating the agency’s current IT data, assessing insights and implementing and developing the TBM framework.

“Working with GSA has allowed us to build off of our experience with TBM and helped each other move forward faster with implementation,” Gray said.

The two agencies created the playbook in line with IT spending transparency objectives outlined in the president’s Management Agenda Cross Agency Priority.

The Department of Labor announced the creation of a new position that will help monitor the agency’s governance architecture.

The chief data officer will report to the office of the assistant secretary for policy and will supervise a newly established data board, the department said Wednesday.

“The CDO will serve as chair of the data board as we transform our data infrastructure and capacity to achieve our goal of evidence-based policymaking,” said Alexander Acosta, secretary of labor.

The agency’s data board will provide data oversight recommendations and coordinate data-sharing initiatives and department-wide posts on data and standards management, strategy and execution consistent with governance guidelines provided by the Office of Management and Budget and Congress.

Creation of the new position and the board follows the enactment of the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act, a law which requires agency heads to assign a non-political employee as chief data officer. 

The Department of Defense plans to test ground-based cruise missiles in August as the U.S. moves to renounce its commitment to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987, Reuters reported Thursday. The potential withdrawal would occur if Russia does not cease from committing what the U.S. considers violations to the treaty.

The ground-launched cruise missile could enter service in 18 months, depending on the test results. Production of the cruise missile’s components is set to begin. A senior U.S. official said an intermediate-range ballistic missile test would follow in November. The tests would not be nuclear.

The treaty mandates that the U.S. and Russia end their use of land-based, medium-range missiles.