Emerging Tech

How VA Gets Innovators to Focus on Veterans’ Challenges 

One event helped a severely injured veteran use a utensil on his own—for the first time in 12 years. 

Emerging Tech

Army Partners with UFO Researchers to Study Active Camouflage and Other Sci-Fi Tech

The partnership will explore metamaterials, quantum communications, beamed energy propulsion and other futuristic tech for use on the military’s ground vehicles.

Modernization

Esper Recuses Himself from JEDI Cloud Contract Review

The Pentagon’s acquisition team will continue its review of bids submitted by Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, as the department’s deputy secretary of defense takes over the process. 

Digital Government

Now’s The Time To Share Your Bold Ideas and Stories

A chance to tell your colleagues across government about innovative approaches you’re implementing.

Modernization

OMB Focused on Trust and Agility in Tech Improvements

Increased agility will help tech officials maximize their IT modernization efforts—and perhaps build more trust in government among the public.

Emerging Tech

Marines Try Using Drones to Bring Blood to Battle

The light unmanned aircraft made hundreds of supply drops during recent Australian live-fire wargames.

Cybersecurity

Russian Hackers Co-Opt Iranian Cyber Tools to Attack 35 Countries, NSA Warns

In a joint advisory, U.S. and British authorities said the Turla group is piggy-backing off the work of Iranian rivals to advance its own agenda.

Emerging Tech

Justice to Require DNA Sampling of Nearly All Detained Migrants

Once collected, the samples will be moved into the FBI’s massive DNA database. 

Emerging Tech

House Committee Votes to Increase Funding for Energy’s DARPA by $2.9B

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee moved a bill to reauthorize ARPA-E with additional funding, as well as new restrictions and oversight.

Emerging Tech

More Wrong Answers Get Quantum Computers to Find the Right One

In quantum computers, generating more errors in a given operation may help reveal the right answer, according to new research.

Emerging Tech

Lawmaker: TSA Should Halt Facial Recognition Programs Absent Formal Policies

The agency said it is working on those policies while the technology is tested through pilot programs.

Cybersecurity

DISA Wants a Pentagon-Wide Identity Management System

The Enterprise Identity Service would let Pentagon officials oversee the access credentials and online activity of every user who touches its networks.

Emerging Tech

Weapons Makers Unveil A Herd of Robotanks—As the Army Worries about Battlefield Bandwidth

The U.S. Army is determined to field a mid-sized combat robot vehicle, but the prototypes are outstripping the datalinks that would connect them.

Emerging Tech

Border Patrol Agents Might Get Body Cameras to Record Interactions With the Public

The agency is also interested in learning how body cameras could be integrated with its facial recognition program.

Ideas

Robots Learn about Feelings and Maybe Plot Their Takeover

So how far away are we from a machine uprising?

Emerging Tech

The Postal Service is Exploring Big Ideas for Small Drones

Unmanned aircraft could transport packages across tough terrains and inform future initiatives to introduce autonomous vehicles.

Ideas

Putting IP Fears to Rest

The government does not need to own the intellectual property for every acquisition.

Emerging Tech

The Endless Aerial Surveillance of the Border

New reports suggest that drone activity at the southern border is spreading to nearby cities, erasing the line between police procedures and immigration enforcement.