Science & Tech

DOD’s Top Scientist Shoots Down Airborne Lasers for Missile Defense

What’s needed, Griffin says, is more research into how to use weapons of various strengths in other kinds of combat.

Ideas

China is a Serious Issue, Not a Campaign Meme

'Beijing Biden' is a baseless political smear, trivializing one of America’s most complicated challenges.

Policy

Pompeo Defends Firing Of State IG

Charges that the dismissal was retaliatory are “patently false,” he says.

Defense Systems

Army eyes Kessel Run model to boost software capabilities

The Army's chief technology officer, William Robinson, said the service is planning to emulate the Air Force's model to improve computing at the edge.

Defense Systems

Pentagon reassigns COVID policy response lead

The Defense Department’s chief for industrial policy, Jennifer Santos, who has been leading the organization’s production strategy for supplies needed to fight COVID-19, has been removed from her post.

Defense Systems

Why security clearance needs may dip as teleworking grows

Bill Evanina, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said the intel community’s carte blanche need for top-secret security clearances may dwindle due to expanded telework abilities.

Defense Systems

DOD lands major contract for war-fighting AI

The Defense Department used one of the General Services Administration's government wide contracts to get AI for future warfighting capabilities.

Defense Systems

U.S squeezes Huawei on chip design

An export rules change will limit the Chinese telecommunications company's ability to use U.S. gear and software to make semiconductors abroad.

Defense Systems

Air Force aims to make secure mobile identity management the norm

Jason Howe, the Air Force's chief technology officer and chief cloud architect for manpower, personnel, and services, said the pandemic has exposed DOD's need for better mobile security.

Science & Tech

What Google’s New Contract Reveals About the Pentagon’s Evolving Clouds

For one thing, it disproves fears that the massive JEDI contract meant one company would get all the work.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon's $800M Effort to Embed AI In Decisions in 'All Tiers'

That's the goal of a five-year task order from the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to Booz Allen Hamilton.

Policy

Senate Intel Panel Advances Ratcliffe Nomination In Party-Line Vote

The former Texas prosecutor is a deeply controversial pick for the nation’s top spy.

Ideas

The Pandemic’s Geopolitical Aftershocks Are Coming

Western capitals aren’t just worried about the risk of a resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Ideas

Trump Is Attacking the Final Safeguard Against Executive Abuses

The president has defied Congress, and gummed up cases in court. Now he’s firing the inspectors general.

Science & Tech

How AI Will Soon Change Special Operations

A new SOCOM office is pursuing tools to understand and influence populations, clear rooms with robots, and spot new forms of jamming.

Ideas

The State and Federal Data on COVID-19 Testing Don’t Match Up

The CDC has quietly started releasing nationwide numbers. But they contradict what states themselves are reporting.