Science & Tech

The US Military Is Chopping Up Its Iron Man Suit For Parts

SOCOM’s much-anticipated super suit won’t be here for Christmas.

Threats

Trump: US Will Be Working with Mideast Partners ‘For Many Years to Come’

The president acknowledged that the Islamic State continues to pose a threat even though U.S.-led coalition forces have retaken 99 percent of its territory.

Threats

Federal Agencies Ramp Up Classified Plans to Protect 2020 Elections

The departments of Justice and Homeland Security delivered their joint review of meddling during 2018 to the White House.

Defense Systems

DISA digs into blockchain as a service

The Defense Information Systems Agency is considering adding blockchain as a service to its infrastructure platform.

Policy

Trump Announces Second North Korea Summit in State of the Union

The president stuck to the teleprompter in his 82-minute SOTU speech, the second-longest in history.

Policy

Senior Officials Downplay Trump Plan to Keep Troops In Iraq to ‘Watch Iran’

Some Baghdad watchers say the president’s remarks could imperil the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon’s First AI Strategy Will Focus on Near-Term Operations — and Safety

The document is intended to make commander think through the implications of their new artificial-intelligence tools.

Threats

Lawmakers Tell Pentagon: Revise and Resubmit Your Climate-Change Report

The most recent one didn’t even meet the legal requirements contained in the 2018 defense authorization act.

Policy

Top General in Middle East Says He Wasn’t Consulted on Syria Withdrawal

U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel provided the first public confirmation that the Pentagon was caught by surprise by Trump’s December tweet.

Science & Tech

When Delete’s Not Good Enough: Navy to Burn 2 Tons of Digital Storage

Researchers at the Naval Surface Warfare Center have a lot of classified information stored on digital devices and issued a solicitation to literally watch it all burn.

Defense Systems

Who are the defense innovators among the 2019 Fed 100?

Fully one-fifth of this year's Fed 100 are military personnel or civilian defense employees.

Defense Systems

Pentagon sketches plans for cloud-based office apps

Under the $8.2 billion Defense Enterprise Office Solutions contract, the Defense Department will buy email, content management, file storage, productivity tools, web conferencing, instant messaging, native audio and video and mobility.

Defense Systems

DOD cloud strategy puts JEDI at the center

The Defense Department's strategy emphasizes a cloud hierarchy, with the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud initiative on top and MilCloud second in command, followed by multiple fit-for-purpose clouds.

Science & Tech

The Teams Who Test US Cyber Defenses Aren’t Being Tough Enough: Pentagon Report

Overworked trainers and penetration testers can’t properly simulate the worst real-world threats, leaving operators “overconfident.”

Science & Tech

New DNA Database Allows Far Faster Searches for Pathogen Genomes

For the first time, it’s possible to easily answer a question as simple as: “Have we seen this thing before?”

Ideas

Trump’s Cyber Strategy Is Far Too Optimistic

The director of national intelligence’s threat assessment exposes two of its pillars as convenient fictions.

Ideas

The US Needs a Real Plan to Counter China in Africa

The current toothless strategy won’t prevent Beijing from, say, squeezing supply lines to America's biggest African base.