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Marines Test ‘Robotic Goat’ in Combat Center Rocket Weapon Launch
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Marines Test ‘Robotic Goat’ in Combat Center Rocket Weapon Launch

U.S. Marines with the Tactical Training Exercise Control Group from Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command have partnered with the Office of Naval Research to test a quadruped robotic platform, dubbed “the robotic goat,” at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California.

During the test, the mechanism carried an M72 light anti-tank weapon rocket launcher, enabling the Marines to control the anti-armor system remotely, the U.S. Marine Corps said Thursday.

“Instead of having a Marine handle the weapon system, manipulate the safeties, we could put a remote trigger mechanism on it that allowed it to all be done remotely,” said 1st Lt. Aaron Safadi, officer in charge of the emerging technology integration section at TTECG.

Safadi said the robotic goat could enable Marines to stay in cover and concealment while the weapon system approaches its target.

MCAGCC is reportedly the largest Marine Corps base that hosts military exercises to test new technologies, including robotic platforms, augmented reality and artificial intelligence systems.

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Scale AI’s Michael Kratsios: Lawmakers Should Advance Sector-Specific, Risk-Based Approach to AI Regulation
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Scale AI’s Michael Kratsios: Lawmakers Should Advance Sector-Specific, Risk-Based Approach to AI Regulation

Michael Kratsios, managing director of Scale AI and the 4th chief technology officer of the U.S., said lawmakers should ensure that federal agencies implement existing laws to advance responsible adoption of artificial intelligence and “pursue a use case and sector-specific, risk-based approach rooted in high quality testing and evaluation.”

Kratsios, a two-time Wash100 awardee, said at a House Science, Space and Technology Committee joint subcommittee hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. government should harness the strength of the country’s innovation ecosystem to push responsible AI development efforts forward.

He noted that Congress has the opportunity to do that by creating and funding the National AI Research Resource.

“Doing so would create a critical shared research infrastructure, providing expanded access to computational capabilities, high-quality datasets, and educational resources. Access to high-quality training data is the bedrock for developing responsible AI systems,” he said at the joint hearing.

“The NAIRR could serve as a crucial engine to drive the curation and availability of such data across government agencies,” Kratsios added.

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Treasury, OMB Report $320B Increase in FY 2023 Deficit; Janet Yellen & Shalanda Young Quoted
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Treasury, OMB Report $320B Increase in FY 2023 Deficit; Janet Yellen & Shalanda Young Quoted

The Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget reported that the deficit rose by $320 billion, or 23 percent, to $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2023 and that governmental receipts totaled $4.4 trillion, reflecting a drop of 9.3 percent, or $457 billion, from FY 2022.

OMB and the Treasury said Friday the decline in FY 2023 receipts can be attributed to lower individual income tax receipts due to lower capital gains realizations and lower earnings deposits by the Federal Reserve driven by higher interest rates.

Outlays dropped by 2.2 percent or approximately $137 billion to $6.1 trillion due to a Supreme Court decision on certain student loan programs, reductions in COVID-19 relief spending and expiration of the Child Tax Credit.

Federal borrowing from the public totaled $26.2 trillion in FY 2023, an increase of $2 trillion from the previous fiscal year.

The two agencies associated the increase with borrowing needed to finance the deficit and net borrowing related to other transactions.

“The U.S. economy remains resilient despite global headwinds. Previous expectations that the U.S. would fall into recession over the course of 2023 have not borne out. Our economy added over 300,000 new jobs in September and our GDP growth continues to surprise forecasters to the upside, even as inflation has come down significantly since last year,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Under President Biden’s leadership, “inflation is down, job growth remains strong, and unemployment is near record lows—we’ve shown that investing in our nation and achieving meaningful deficit reduction are not mutually exclusive,” said OMB Director Shalanda Young.

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Elementum 3D, RPM Innovations Help NASA Create Aluminum-based Rocket Engine Nozzle
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Elementum 3D, RPM Innovations Help NASA Create Aluminum-based Rocket Engine Nozzle

NASA worked with Elementum 3D and RPM Innovations to build and test a rocket engine nozzle from weldable aluminum using additive manufacturing.

The 3D printing experiment shows promise in the creation of aluminum-based rocket components, whose lightweight, high-strength and high-density features would allow for more payloads to be carried during deep space missions, NASA said Thursday.

The aluminum engine nozzle is part of the agency’s Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution project. Scientists developed a new aluminum variant and employed RPMI’s laser powder directed energy deposition, or LP-DED technology to modify Elementum’s powder used to build the nozzle as a single piece.

Hot fire tests were conducted at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

“This test series marks a significant milestone for the nozzle,” RAMFIRE Principal Investigator Paul Gradl said. “After putting the nozzle through the paces of a demanding hot-fire test series, we’ve demonstrated the nozzle can survive the thermal, structural, and pressure loads for a lunar lander scale engine.”

NASA and its private sector partners will share their LP-DED additive manufacturing process to academic institutions and commercial stakeholders. The novel aluminum is already being examined by aerospace companies as a potential ingredient for satellites and related technologies.

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FDIC Should Develop Plan for Assessing Risks Related to Crypto-Related Activities, New Report Says
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FDIC Should Develop Plan for Assessing Risks Related to Crypto-Related Activities, New Report Says

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Office of Inspector General has called on FDIC to establish a plan with time frames for reviewing crypto-related risks and update relevant feedback processes for reviewing supervised institutions’ engagement with crypto.

The recommendations were informed by an FDIC review, in which it assessed the state of its strategies to manage risks associated with crypto assets, the OIG said Wednesday.

According to the report, the lack of existing guidance on assessing risks associated with crypto activities may deter the FDIC and supervised institutions from making targeted efforts to address risks posed by crypto assets.

If FDIC does not provide financial institutions with timely feedback, the risk of FDIC being viewed as unsupportive of institutions that engage in activities associated with crypto could increase, the report said.

The FDIC intends to respond to the recommendations with corrective actions by Jan. 30, 2024.

NIH to Implement Simplified Grant Review Process; Lawrence Tabak Quoted
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NIH to Implement Simplified Grant Review Process; Lawrence Tabak Quoted

The National Institutes of Health is revising its grants review framework to focus its assessment on the research applications’ scientific merit and reduce reputational bias in grantmaking.

NIH said Thursday the revised review framework will evaluate applications received on or after Jan. 25, 2025, based on three criteria: the importance of research; rigor and feasibility; and expertise and resources.

The first two criteria will be scored using a common scale while the third factor will be evaluated for sufficiency and not given a numeric score.

“Studies have shown that consideration of reputation of the institution or investigator in the grant review process could affect assessment of scientific merit, potentially giving reputation greater weight than other factors,” said Lawrence Tabak, acting director of NIH.

NIH is developing a timeline, policy rollout and training to support the implementation of the simplified review process.

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NSA Cybersecurity Information Sheet Pushes for Zero Trust Security in DOD Devices
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NSA Cybersecurity Information Sheet Pushes for Zero Trust Security in DOD Devices

A new cybersecurity guidance from the National Security Agency is calling on network defenders of the Department of Defense, Defense Industrial Base and National Security System to implement zero trust security on their information technology devices.

NSA on Thursday published an information sheet recommending device security assessment and enhancement through zero trust principles including real-time inspection, remote access protection and patch management.

The cybersecurity information sheet, or CSI, discusses the device pillar of the ZT framework, which ensures that hardware that is within an environment or connecting to resources undergoes strict location, enumeration, authentication and assessment.

An organization’s registered IT hardware and software should be inventoried along with their versions and patch levels. They should also be part of acceptance testing and deprovisioning before retirement.

Agencies must regularly check their devices’ compliance to internal policies and general standards, and update their configuration and firmware versions if necessary, NSA said. Obsolete encryption could lead to easy accessibility and subsequently data breach.

The CSI is also applicable to non-government organizations that could face threats from sophisticated malicious actors, according to NSA.

DOD Urged to Follow Ukraine’s Tech Deployment Strategy for Replicator Program
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DOD Urged to Follow Ukraine’s Tech Deployment Strategy for Replicator Program

Several witnesses at a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing have urged the Department of Defense to follow the example of Ukraine in deploying low-cost, commercial unmanned aerial systems and autonomous technologies to guide its Replicator program, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

The panelists agreed that Ukraine’s success in using various commercial drones to deter Russia and inform decision-making is a good example of technology proliferation that DOD could copy for its new initiative.

“What we’re seeing there is that the proliferation of commercial technology is influencing an agile acquirer and the Ukrainians are being very agile in this and pulling together various commercial technologies to achieve military significant means,” said Bill Greenwalt, a nonresident senior fellow at American Enterprise Institute.

The Replicator program aims to deploy attritable, autonomous technologies and capabilities across multiple domains within the next two years to stay ahead of adversaries like China.

In September, Kathleen Hicks, deputy secretary of defense and a three-time Wash100 awardee, said the new initiative will use existing funding, programming lines and authorities to “accelerate production and delivery at scale.”

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Lockheed Martin Selected To Support National Cyber Range Complex Charleston
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Lockheed Martin Selected To Support National Cyber Range Complex Charleston

Lockheed Martin has received a task order award from U.S. Army Contracting Command – Orlando to provide realistic environments that will allow for the training of the Department of Defense Cyber Mission Force and the testing of DOD acquisition programs.

Work under the contract – awarded on behalf of the Test Resource Management Center and Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation – will benefit Joint Base Charleston’s National Cyber Range Complex – Event Planning, Operations and Support site, which works to cyber-harden naval and special operations platforms and enhance their resilience, Lockheed said Thursday.

Lockheed Martin Cyber & Intelligence Vice President Tish Rourke said the NCRC Charleston facility provides technical infrastructure that helps the cyber community address various threats.

“It enables real-world, domain-tailored cybersecurity training to keep our cyber professionals ahead of threats with 21st Century Security solutions across the country,” Rourke added.

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Space Force Progressing Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve Program; Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, Gen. Chance Saltzman Quoted
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Space Force Progressing Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve Program; Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, Gen. Chance Saltzman Quoted

U.S. Space Force officials said the service is close to completing a plan to build a commercial space reserve meant to assure military access to commercial satellites in the event of a conflict, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, said the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve program focuses on “doing the planning and the expectation management before you actually need the capability.”

It would “pre-work the contract vehicles, stating how we would get access to services rapidly if we needed to, so that when the crisis occurs, we don’t then start the contracting action and we’ve already done a lot of that legwork,” according to Saltzman.

Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander of Space Systems Command, said Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, a four-time Wash100 awardee, has greenlighted the initiative. Funding for CASR, he added, would be sought in the 2025 and 2026 budgets.

“We’re hoping that it will be rolled out by the administration this fall,” Guetlein said of the CASR program.

With CASR, the Space Force will make agreements with companies to make sure the U.S. government has priority for remote sensing, satellite communications and other related services during national security emergencies.

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