Greg Zacharias, chief scientist of the U.S. Air Force, has said that fighter jets might be able to fully control a group of unmanned aircraft systems through the cockpit to perform reconnaissance, electronic warfare, weapons transport and targeting missions in the future.

Zacharias told Scout Warrior reporter Kris Osborn in an interview published Thursday F-35 aircraft pilots could someday directly use video feeds generated by electro-optical/infrared sensors onboard the service branch’s drones to facilitate targeting operations without the need to go through ground control stations.

“The more autonomy and intelligence you can put on these vehicles, the more useful they will become,” Zacharias said.

He also noted the potential use of “decision aide support” that involves the use of machines that work to analyze and transmit data without the need for human intervention.

“A person comes in and does command and control while having a drone execute functions,” Zacharias said.

“The resource allocation will be done by humans,” he added.

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has released a document that lists five voluntary best practices for the commercial and private use of unmanned aircraft systems.

Angela Simpson, deputy assistant secretary for communications and information at NTIA, wrote in a blog entry posted Thursday that NTIA collaborated with industry, trade groups and other stakeholders to develop the guidelines that seek to address transparency, accountability and privacy issues related to UAS.

The guidelines call for drone users to notify other individuals of UAS use and data collection activities, practice caution when it comes to collection and storage of data of specific individuals, restrict use and sharing of such data, implement measures to ensure security of covered data as well as comply with laws on the use of drones.

According to the document, the best practices do not apply to news organizations as well as to safety and rescue missions and other emergency response efforts.

The document also contains guidelines for recreational drone operators.

Mary Jo White, Securities and Exchange Commission chair, has said some cyber policies over the U.S.’ financial system are not enough to mitigate risks, Reuters reported Wednesday.

White told the Reuters Financial Regulation Summit that SEC discovered some major exchanges, dark pools and clearing houses that did not have adequate cyber policies to address potential threats, Lisa Lambert and Suzanne Barlyn wrote.

“What we found, as a general matter so far, is a lot of preparedness, a lot of awareness but also their policies and procedures are not tailored to their particular risks,” said White.

White added SEC examiners work to assess the cyber defenses of broker-dealers and investment advisers, Lambert and Barlyn wrote.

The U.S. Army has collaborated with the U.S. Agency for International Development to create a new video game designed to train soldiers on response measures for foreign natural disasters, the Army reported Monday.

Mike Casey and Robert Ramon write that Disaster Sim features an hour-long scenario that works to teach procedures on how to work with USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, non-governmental organizations and the host nation.

“Disaster Sim teaches soldiers how to be part of a joint task force… [and] shows how the Army is using technology to make training more engaging and accessible,” said Maj. Gen. Mark O’Neil, deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center – Training.

The Army added that Disaster Sim will look to provide users an option to create new foreign disaster scenarios apart from the initial scenario set to train soldiers in preparing for an earthquake in Guatemala.

The video game was developed through the collaboration of multiple organizations including OFDA, U.S. Army South, Army Research Laboratory, Army Games for Training Program, the University of Southern California and the Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.

Disaster Sim is now available for download through the Army’s Milgaming website.