Science & Tech

Why Open Skies Is An Old Fashioned Treaty Worth Keeping

Since 2002, the agreement has helped 34 countries to keep tabs on each others’ militaries, without divulging key secrets.

Science & Tech

Meet the US Air Force's 1st Chief Experience Officer

The service hired digital consultant Colt Whittall to improve the digital tools that airmen use to fix things and fight.

Science & Tech

DHS Used Google Translate to Vet Refugees. Even Google Says That's Dangerous

Immigration officials have been told to vet refugees’ social media posts using Google's online translator. Language experts caution even students against using the service.

Science & Tech

A New Joystick For the Brain-Controlled Vehicles Of the Future

An innovative sensor strip promises a far better way to connect human brains to machines.

Science & Tech

The Intel Community Wants to ID People from Hundreds of Yards Away

Face recognition alone isn't good enough, so a new IARPA program is looking to combine multiple biometric indicators to get good matches.

Ideas

We Can’t Secure 5G Networks by Banning Huawei Gear

The next-generation network simply doesn’t work like the current one. Staying safe will require a new relationship between business and government.

Threats

US Wargames to Try Out Concepts for Fighting China, Russia

Joint Staff-led exercises will test new communications gear and new ideas for getting past “industrial-age” synchronization of forces.

Science & Tech

DHS Seeks Standards for 'Smart City' Sensors, Starting in St. Louis

Public-safety IoT devices promise to help cities dispatch and direct first-responders and other municipal agencies — if the devices can talk to each other.

Science & Tech

US Plans Face Recognition on ‘All Passenger Applications’

Customs and Border Protection is pressing ahead despite a recent backlash to federal law enforcement's use of such technology.

Science & Tech

A Supercomputer Will Help the US Air Force Predict the Weather

The $25 million contract will provide a system that supports the military’s complex weather prediction workloads.

Science & Tech

'Zero Trust' Lab Will Explore the Future of Pentagon Data Security

Once upon a time, U.S. Cyber Command and DISA could act like no one got past their passwords. Those days are over.

Policy

Why Trump Cares About the Pentagon’s Mega-Cloud — and Why That Terrifies Those Who Want It

Breaking up the $10 billion JEDI network project will hurt the U.S. military’s effort to speed data to troops, its fans argue.

Science & Tech

Esper Puts JEDI Contract on Hold for Review

It’s unclear whether the new defense secretary's review will affect the contract’s timeline.

Science & Tech

Facial Recognition is Changing CBP Operations

The tech is freeing up Customs and Border Protection employees—once they learned to trust it.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Will Default To Trusting Other Agencies’ Cloud Security Assessments

DoD, which has had success reusing other agencies’ authorizations, will make reciprocity the rule rather than the exception.

Ideas

ICE and the Ever-Widening Surveillance Dragnet

ICE agents have used facial-recognition technology on state driver’s-license photos, turning a public database into a de facto criminal database.

Ideas

The US Needs an Industrial Policy for Cybersecurity

Government intervention is needed to fend off the steady barrage of attacks on the digital infrastructure of U.S.-based companies and public agencies.

Ideas

US-China Tech Cold War Puts Europe in the Middle

But President Trump and other U.S. officials should seize the opportunity to strengthen transatlantic ties.