The U.S. Air Force looks to hire new employees with skills on technical aspects by the end of 2017 that include 1,400 cyber and 2,200 acquisition workers for the service branch’s civilian service.

The service branch said Thursday it currently employs 27,000 acquisition and 9,500 cyber civilian employees around the world stationed at more than 80 Air Force installations with a majority based in the U.S.

“Our efforts have intensified on these two career fields to increase the pool of talented candidates,” said Mike Brosnan, the Air Force Personnel Center’s workforce planning and talent acquisitions chief.

The Air Force has used hiring events in a push to recruit new talent such as a Nov. 16 event at Los Angeles Air Force Base, where the branch sought to fill more than 350 acquisition vacancies.

The Air Force has also authorized the use of incentives for recruitment, relocation, retention and student loan repayment in support of its recruitment mission in the acquisition career field.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein has said military leaders need a common operating system that will work to collect and assess data as well as provide situational awareness in order to operate in the age of information warfare, DoD News reported Friday.

Jim Garamone writes Goldfein made the remarks Thursday during a conversation with Defense One’s Marcus Weisberger at the Defense One Summit in Washington.

Goldfein said the service branch has started the Data to Decision experiment that aims to collect data from all domains and put the information into a single common operating platform.

He also cited the need for novel technology platforms designed for use in intelligence analysis, Garamone reports.

“We got to get into the next stage, which is machine-to-machine, human/machine teaming, and artificial intelligence — to turn all that data into decision-quality information and then you act,” he said.

Goldfein, who assumed his post in July, told Weisberger that he aims to facilitate discussions on the future of joint warfare and combined arms, the report added.

Raj Shah, managing director of the Defense Department‘s Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental organization, said that DIUx will expand its presence nationwide through the help of technology experts from the U.S. military’s National Guard and Reserve components, DoD News reported Thursday.

“We have reservists working in technology companies of all sizes [and] maturities across the nation and they have a deep desire to continue to serve,” Shah told the CyberCon 2016 forum.

“We’re setting up a new reserve unit across the services, including the National Guard, where we will be able to help build the team that gives us access to new technology.”

Cheryl Pellerin reports that DIUx has inked 12 contracts valued at $36 million with multiple technology companies to date and looks to finalize 15 more contracts worth $60 million for innovation projects in the robotics, machine learning, biotechnology, networking and cyber defense areas.

Shah also discussed the lessons learned and progress made by the organization’s second outpost during the CyberCon event.

He said that lessons DIUx 2.0 learned from predecessors include relationships with team members that understand challenges of working with the government as well as resources to keep businesses operational and a focus on problem sets that need to be addressed.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said “building the force of the future” requires recruitment, training and retention of service members as well as provision of healthcare support to uniformed personnel, DoD News reported Thursday.

Karen Parrish writes Carter made the remarks Wednesday during his visit to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas.

He spoke with training instructors of the U.S. Air Force and visited Brooke Army Medical Center.

”We have military competitors. And, it’s important for us to build the force of the future that will be the best,” Carter noted.

He told reporters that the Defense Department is prepared to welcome President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, according to the report.

Michael Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has been appointed national security adviser by President-elect Donald Trump, Politico reported Thursday.

“I am pleased that Lieutenant General Michael Flynn will be by my side as we work to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, navigate geopolitical challenges and keep Americans safe at home and abroad,” Trump said in a statement.

“Flynn is one of the country’s foremost experts on military and intelligence matters and he will be an invaluable asset to me and my administration,” Trump added, according to the report.

Bryan Bender writes Flynn retired from his post as DIA chief in 2014 after a 30-year military career.

Flynn became DIA director in 2012 after he served as assistant director of national intelligence for partner engagement.

He also served as director of intelligence for the Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Central Command and the Joint Staff and commander of the 111th military intelligence brigade at the Army’s intelligence center in Arizona.