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Frank Kendall: USAF Looking at Potential Military Applications of Generative AI
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Frank Kendall: USAF Looking at Potential Military Applications of Generative AI

Frank Kendall, secretary of the U.S. Air Force and a 2023 Wash100 awardee, has requested the service’s Scientific Advisory Board to examine the potential military applications of generative artificial intelligence, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.

Kendall said he tasked the advisory board to put together a small team to “take a look at the generative AI technologies like ChatGPT and think about the military applications of them.”

He also directed the creation of a more permanent, AI-focused group to figure out how to bring the emerging technology into military operations as quickly as possible.

According to Kendall, there are currently limited applications of ChatGPT and other generative AI for the military.

“I’m looking, and we’re all looking, right? But having it write documents for you, which is what ChatGPT does? [It] is not is not reliable, in terms of the truthfulness of what it produces,” Kendall said.

“We got ways to go, before we can rely on tools like that to do operational orders, for example,” he added.

Frank Kendall: USAF Looking at Potential Military Applications of Generative AI

Kendall is scheduled to speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2023 Air Force Summit on July 18 at the Hilton-McLean in Virginia. Click here to register and hear from other Department of the Air Force leaders about the service branch’s objectives, capabilities and programs for 2023 and beyond.

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CACI Among 5 Companies Chosen to Participate in DON, USSOCOM Joint Threat Warning System Project
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CACI Among 5 Companies Chosen to Participate in DON, USSOCOM Joint Threat Warning System Project

Applied Signals Intelligence, CACI, DRS Advanced ISR, Resonant Sciences and Roke USA have been selected by the Department of the Navy and U.S. Special Operations Command for the Joint Threat Warning System Directional Finding/Omnidirectional Antenna project.

Under the $9.3 million award — which was issued through the Strategic & Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems Other Transaction Authority — the five chosen companies will collaborate to create a direction-finding antenna for joint threat warning systems, NSTXL shared with ExecutiveGov in an email sent earlier this month.

“These early threat warning systems are an invaluable tool for the protection of our nation, and as technological capabilities advance, we must upgrade these systems as well. This helps to protect the safety and security of our nation, our citizens and our infrastructure, said Tony Kestranek, deputy director of S²MARTS.

Joint threat warning systems are designed to pinpoint threats using electromagnetic signals, an important capability for providing military personnel and related organizations with advanced warning and protection. This project has a goal of sharing identified threats with the services, evaluating the direction of arrival of signals and providing this information to those at risk.

Participants in the JTWS Directional Finding/Omnidirectional Antenna initiative will upgrade the most up-to-date commercially available antenna technology to enhance JTWS’ ability to collect, process, locate and exploit Signals of Interest and deliver timely, relevant and responsive threat avoidance information.

When provided, the information collected by the JTWS will help notify both government leaders and the public of potential security risks and enable them to determine the best course of action. The JTWS is also intended to assist the public sector with coordinating responses between government and military organizations while helping them share information.

House Appropriations Panel OKs FY 2024 Defense Spending Bill
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House Appropriations Panel OKs FY 2024 Defense Spending Bill

The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted 34-24 to pass a fiscal year 2024 bill that would fund the agencies and programs within the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.

The FY 2024 defense measure would provide $826 billion in discretionary spending, reflecting a 3.6 percent increase from the FY 2023 enacted level and about $286 million higher than the president’s proposed budget.

Included in the bill is funding for the F-35 and Next Generation Air Dominance program; nuclear triad modernization; and the office of strategic capital to advance the development of emerging technologies for defense applications.

The legislation would allocate funding for the Defense Innovation Unit and service branches to help speed up the acquisition processes.

The measure proposes a 5.2 percent salary increase for servicemembers, earmarks over $9 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and includes security cooperation funding for Taiwan.

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NSF-Backed Study Creates Prototype Method for Supercomputer Energy Efficiency Maximization
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NSF-Backed Study Creates Prototype Method for Supercomputer Energy Efficiency Maximization

A study supported by the National Science Foundation yielded a novel method to significantly reduce the energy needed to control the temperature of photonic chips, a critical component of supercomputers and data centers.

The findings of Oregon State University and Baylor University show promise in boosting energy efficiency in data centers, which account for 2 percent of total electricity consumption in the U.S., NSF said Wednesday.

The performance of photonic chips are optimized through thermal heaters, but they require several milliwatts of electricity per device, according to Alan Wang, a Baylor University researcher who co-developed the method.

Their team was able to reduce the heaters’ energy consumption by more than 1 million times using gate voltage, “which means using virtually no electric current,” noted John Conley, co-author of the study from OSU.

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DOD Could Send Additional Military Aid to Ukraine Based on $6.2B Valuation Error
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DOD Could Send Additional Military Aid to Ukraine Based on $6.2B Valuation Error

The Department of Defense overestimated the value of U.S. military equipment it handed over to Ukraine in support of the latter’s defense efforts against Russian invasion by about $6.2 billion, Axios reported Wednesday.

According to the report, the misvaluation could enable DOD to deliver more military assistance to Ukraine.

Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary at the Pentagon, said DOD uncovered inconsistencies in the valuation of equipment during the department’s oversight of the presidential drawdown authority for the European country, overestimating the equipment by $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2022 and $3.6 billion in FY 2023.

“In a significant number of cases, services used replacement costs rather than net book value, thereby overestimating the value of the equipment drawn down from U.S. stocks and provided to Ukraine,” Singh said Tuesday during a press briefing.

On March 31, she noted that the DOD’s comptroller moved to address the accounting error by reissuing guidance to clarify how to value equipment.

“These valuation errors in no way limit or restricted the size of any of our PDAs or impacted the provision of support to Ukraine, and while the DOD — while the DOD retains the authority to utilize the recaptured PDA, this has no bearing on appropriated USAI or Ukraine PDA replenishment funding approved by Congress,” Singh added.

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Sen. Chuck Schumer Presents Safe Innovation Framework for AI Policy
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Sen. Chuck Schumer Presents Safe Innovation Framework for AI Policy

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed a new framework that would establish guardrails to ensure safety when it comes to artificial intelligence innovation.

Schumer said the proposed Safe Innovation Framework for AI Policy seeks to encourage innovation while advancing security, accountability, foundations and explainability.

For the security aspect, he cited how foreign adversaries could exploit AI for illicit activities.

“But we also need security for America’s workforce, because AI, particularly generative AI, is already disrupting the ways tens of millions of people make a living,” Schumer said Wednesday during his speech at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.

The senator also suggested a legislative approach that would turn the framework into legislative action.

“Later this fall, I will convene the top minds in artificial intelligence here in Congress for a series of AI insight forums to lay down a new foundation for AI policy,” Schumer said.

He said those forums will address AI innovation, intellectual property, risk management and use cases, national security, workforce, transparency, liability and privacy, among other issues.

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Eric Beightel Appointed Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council Executive Director
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Eric Beightel Appointed Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council Executive Director

President Biden has appointed Eric Beightel, a two-decade environmental and transportation industry veteran, as executive director of the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council.

He will succeed outgoing executive director Christine Harada, who will transition to a new role within the Biden administration in July, the Permitting Council said Wednesday.

In his new position, Beightel will oversee a portfolio of large-scale infrastructure projects in renewable energy, broadband and electricity transmission sectors and work to improve the coordination and transparency of the federal infrastructure authorization process.

Beightel will join the Permitting Council from engineering and construction services firm HDR, where he was associate vice president and national lead for infrastructure policy and environmental strategy.

His government career included roles as a senior environmental policy adviser within the Department of Transportation’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and a policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget.

The Permitting Council was established in 2015 under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act to coordinate the government’s environmental reviews and authorizations for certain infrastructure projects.

US & India Partner to Boost Defense Innovation Collaboration for Startups
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US & India Partner to Boost Defense Innovation Collaboration for Startups

The U.S. and India have launched a strategic partnership to expand the countries’ collaboration to advance defense technology and manufacturing innovations.

The India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem aims to build connections between American and Indian start-ups through various initiatives, including joint prize challenges, roundtable events and mentor-protege programs, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

INDUS-X will launch an accelerator program to give start-ups access to defense commercialization, funding opportunities, business development and product refinement opportunities.

In addition, the program will boost information sharing among Indian and American universities and accelerator partners on their best practices in defense innovation, fielding and commercialization.

The Department of Defense’s Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Indian Ministry of Defense’s Innovations for Defense Excellence will jointly lead the INDUS-X activities.

A senior adviser group will assess the progress of the collaboration’s agenda and make recommendations for future initiatives.

USDA & NASA Extend Partnership to Address Challenges in Food Security, Climate Change
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USDA & NASA Extend Partnership to Address Challenges in Food Security, Climate Change

The Department of Agriculture and NASA have signed a memorandum of understanding to continue their partnership on multiple initiatives.

The two agencies’ collaborative projects include student outreach programs to promote careers in agriculture and science, technology, engineering and mathematics, USDA said Wednesday.

Since 2015, NASA and USDA have been working together on initiatives such as plant-related studies on the International Space Station. More recently, the federal organizations established programs such as Crop-CASMA, an online resource that contains weekly crop progress report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service to inform farmers’ planting strategies.

Scientists from the USDA Agricultural Research Service and NASA are also designing a plant health monitoring system that uses hyperspectral imaging to support plant growth chambers in space missions.

“From ensuring that future generations are able to reach new heights as they pursue careers in STEM and agriculture, to providing producers with critical data and improving global agricultural practices, USDA is honored to strengthen our partnership with NASA,” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack remarked. “We recognize the critical interface between planet-wide food security, climate change, and space, and together we are advancing cutting edge innovation, research, and workforce development to tackle some of Earth’s greatest challenges.”

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Deltek Analysis Looks at Federal Spending on Cloud-Based Big Data Tech in Past 3 Fiscal Years
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Deltek Analysis Looks at Federal Spending on Cloud-Based Big Data Tech in Past 3 Fiscal Years

A new Deltek analysis shows that federal government spending on cloud-based big data technology platforms dropped from $789 million in fiscal year 2020 to $539 million in FY 2021 but rose by 65 percent to $891 million in FY 2022.

Spending of federal civilian agencies on cloud-based big data platforms remained steady in FY 2021 but increased by $116 million the following fiscal year, reaching $553 million in FY 2022, Alex Rossino, an advisory research analyst at Deltek, wrote in the market analysis piece published Wednesday.

Among the top civilian spenders were the departments of Energy and State, recording $68.5 million and $12 million, respectively, in FY 2022.

Following a decline in FY 2021, the Department of Defense’s spending on the technology climbed by 232 percent to $339 million in FY 2022, up from $102 million the previous fiscal year.

Analytics landed the top spot when it comes to the types of big data technologies being procured by agencies in the last three fiscal years, followed by storage and high-performance computing.

“Summing up, if the trend shown for FY 2022 holds, it suggests that spending on cloud-based big data technology will continue rising in FY 2023. Presumably, that means it will continue for the years to come,” Rossino noted.

“This is likely to be the case as quantum computing gets closer to reality,” he added.

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