In this 2015 photo, Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. Paul Selva testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C.

In this 2015 photo, Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. Paul Selva testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C. Associated Press / Pablo Martinez Monsivais

DIUx Wins Support — and More Cash — from Trump’s Pentagon

The vice chair of the Joint Chiefs touted an effort to track North Korean missile launcher, while the military’s new weapons buyer called it a good model for developing and acquiring capabilities.

Not all national security problems have technical solutions, and certainly not most things about the conundrum Pyongyang poses for U.S. policymakers. But there’s one aspect of the North Korean situation that the military thinks it can solve with new technology, and to do it, they’re embracing the Obama-era initiative that connected the Pentagon with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and startups.

The U.S. needs better tools to track North Korea’s missile launchers, Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told lawmakers Tuesday.

“I’m reasonably confident in the ability of our intelligence community to monitor the testing, but not the deployment of these missile systems,” he said during a confirmation hearing for his reappointment.  “Kim Jong Un and his forces are very good at camouflage, concealment and deception.”

To supplement existing surveillance and detection systems, the Pentagon has started working to develop a constellation of small commercial satellites, enhanced with algorithmic processing and machine learning, that could monitor North Korea and other hotspots around the world.

“This initiative will allow the department to leverage less-expensive radar-imaging satellites to fill gaps in space-based reconnaissance,“ Selva said in written testimony. The U.S. government’s more expensive, advanced satellites are needed to focus on specific targets, but the cheaper commercial satellites could provide the “capacity and broader focus for countrywide patterns of life that, in turn, can provide indications and warning.”

That technology is being developed through a pair of initiatives at the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, an office started under then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter to woo the tech community. It got off to a shaky start, but now oversees a portfolio of 20-plus contracts and last year expanded to Austin, Texas, and Boston. And its work on the satellite constellations has earned the office a mid-year boost to its funding.

Last week, DIUx Director Raj Shah told Pentagon leaders that the office had been burning through its cash to direct funds to those key programs, Selva said.

To keep them and the rest of the office running, “we have a reprogramming proposal, that is in staff as we speak, that will address the balance of their requirements for this fiscal year,” he said. “We actually put tremendous demands on the defense experimental unit.”

Those demands may only grow. During her own confirmation hearing later that day, Ellen Lord — President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee Pentagon acquisition — said that the department should better use DIUx, the Strategic Capabilities Office, and rapid fielding offices.

“We don’t need the traditional long requirements process for many of the capabilities the warfighter needs,” Lord told lawmakers. “If confirmed, what I would do is make better use of all of the different offices and capabilities...We have enough authorities to do so, we just need to implement.”

Congress has been less convinced. Last year, lawmakers inserted a provision into the 2017 authorization bill that withholds one-fifth of DIUx’s funding, including one-quarter of its operations and maintenance funds and three-quarters of its R&D money, until the Pentagon answers various questions about its mission and operations, according to a report by Federal News Radio.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.