Brad Carson, acting undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the Defense Department, will leave the Pentagon on April 8 after nearly one year on the job, Military Times reported Monday.

Andrew Tilghman writes Carson has led DoD’s efforts to update its civilian and military workforce management policies and crafted the Future of the Force initiative that aims to help the department attract and retain talent.

He was chosen by President Obama for the acting P&R undersecretary role in April last year but some senators raised legal concerns about him serving in that position while he awaits a final Senate confirmation, Tilghman reports.

“Given the extraordinary work that we’ve already achieved to date, low likelihood of confirmation.. and reduced time left in the administration, I have determined it is better for me and my family to depart from public life,” Carson told his staff members in an email obtained by Military Times.

He previously served as a Democratic member of Congress from Oklahoma and as U.S. Army undersecretary.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson has said expanding the U.S. Navy‘s integrated fire control network can help the military service operate in an environment that employs anti-ship cruise missiles, USNI News reported Friday.

Megan Eckstein writes Richardson said he believes a distributed way of operations for carrier strike groups in contested environments is one approach to combat the hostile kill chain.

“We are a global maneuver force, and so that data is highly perishable: as soon as you sense that ship, whether it’s an aircraft carrier or whatever, that’s going to be obsolete data very quickly,” Richardson told the McAleese/Credit Suisse FY 2017 Defense Programs Conference.

Richardson also wants additional sensors and platforms built into the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air system to improve its resiliency, Eckstein reports.

He also called for the involvement of the underwater community in order to build a resilient network, USNI News reports.

Navy Adm. William “Bill” Gortney, head of U.S. Northern and North American Aerospace Defense commands, has identified what he views both organizations’ major homeland defense challenges in testimony to House lawmakers Thursday.

Gortney told the House Armed Services Committee that the Islamic State militant group, other terrorist organizations and transnational organized crime are among the more dangerous threats to the U.S.

“[Homeland security] is a no-fail mission and it’s just as important today as when NORAD and Northcom were established, with one single commander responsible for the defense of our homeland through the many domains of air, space, maritime, land and cyber,” said Gortney.

Gortney added Northcom is coordinating closely with other branches of the armed forces including the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps in an effort to fortify defense missions in the country.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated $14 million in costs between fiscal years 2016 and 2021 for the government to implement a proposed bill in the House that aims to accelerate transfer of systems for agencies to monitor terrorists and foreign fighters as they travel.

CBO said Friday the Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act of 2016 calls on the departments of Homeland Security and State to collaborate in support of the U.S.’ Terrorist Interdiction Program that includes a monitoring system based in several countries, as well as to notify Congress of planned transfers.

DHS would be required to share technology that screens persons who enter the U.S. with foreign governments.

The act also would have the State Department give Congress a plan to help foreign countries increase their capacities to monitor travel and progress toward that goal.

The U.S. Army Cyber Command and Second Army will launch two programs in an effort to develop countermeasures against cyber adversaries.

For the first program, Arcyber will begin the Silicon Valley Innovation Pilot program that teams 10 command professionals with 10 tech industry personnel to work on a social media project through direct collaboration, the U.S. Army said March 7.

The second program includes participation in the Stanford University Hacking4Defense program that begins in April where students can select to apply “lean startup principles” to address Army challenges.

“I think we’re pushing on an open door. I think you’re going to see information sharing in ways that we haven’t’ really seen before,” said Lt. Gen. Ed Cardon, commander of Army Cyber Command.

“We’re not in this by ourselves. We need academia and industry.”

The programs are intended to support Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s push to collaborate with the tech industry such as the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, Defense Innovation Advisory Board and Defense Digital Service, the report said.

Bob Sadowski, chief roboticist at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, has told an unmanned technology conference that robotic systems could serve as an initial line of defense against adversaries during battle as opposed to manned platforms.

“We should be thinking about having a robotic vanguard, particularly for maneuver formations,” he said, according to a March 7 Army report.

“There’s no reason why the first contact with an enemy force should be with a man-platform, because it means that platform is at the greatest risk.”

Sadowski said the Army could eventually carry out an extended warfighter experiment with robotic technologies at Savannah River, South Carolina.

The Army has identified robotic systems as a tool that can potentially detect adversaries in the field and take fire before personnel are attacked.

Advancements in robotics for warfare face challenges such as logistics and how to use robots in the field during fights, Sadowski said.

Sadowski said industry developers could create products the Army can work to integrate in units’ missions as a way to make the process more efficient.