Artificial Intelligence

DARPA Thinks Insect Brains Might Hold the Secret to Next-Gen AI

They’re small, efficient and capable of basic reasoning, and researchers want artificial intelligence tools to do the same.

Emerging Tech

Air Force Turns to GSA Pilot for DevOps Platform

The Air Force is using GSA’s Commercial Solutions Opening pilot program to speed through the acquisition process.

Digital Government

Defense Companies Starting to Feel Effect of U.S. Government Shutdown

Firms working for NASA, DHS, and other shuttered federal agencies are taking hits to their cash flow.

Artificial Intelligence

Pentagon Seeks a List of Ethical Principles for Using AI in War

An advisory board is drafting guidelines that may help shape worldwide norms for military artificial intelligence — and woo Silicon Valley to defense work.

Digital Government

America, Meet Your (Acting) Secretary of Defense

With no military experience and just a year and a half in government, the former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan has yet to develop a foreign-policy vision of his own.

Digital Government

Editor’s Favorites of 2018

As we say goodbye to 2018, Nextgov's executive editor revisits some of our most impactful and important stories from the previous year.

Digital Government

Your Favorite Stories of 2018

Nextgov readers have great taste and according to our most-read stories of 2018, that includes a hankering for the administration's major tech policies and a touch of scandal.

Digital Government

Hard-Nosed Pentagon Negotiator Removed From Job; Racked Up Huge Travel Costs

Shay Assad also backed a controversial plan to slow payments to defense contractors.

Modernization

Pentagon Completes First App Migration to MilCloud 2.0

The Defense Department is beginning to move applications to its milCloud 2.0, its next-generation on premise cloud solution.

Modernization

Pentagon to Connect Experimental Background Check App To Other Systems By Year’s End

The Defense Department is testing its nascent app on 1,000 security clearance applicants ahead of an October deadline to take over all investigations work.

Digital Government

The Pentagon Doesn’t Know All the Software on Its Networks—And That’s a Problem

The Defense Department faces “unnecessary” risk without a complete software inventory, according to the agency’s inspector general.

Cybersecurity

Poor Security Could Leave U.S. Defenseless Against Missile Attacks

The details of the nation’s ballistic missile defense system are vulnerable to inside and outside threats, the Defense Department inspector general found.

Digital Government

Amazon Intervenes in Oracle’s JEDI Lawsuit

A judge ruled that Amazon Web Services has standing in Oracle’s case against the Defense Department regarding its massive cloud contract.

Cybersecurity

The Biggest Password Mistakes of 2018

The federal government made the list this year.

Ideas

The Divide Between Silicon Valley and Washington Is a National-Security Threat

Closing the gap between technology leaders and policy makers will require a radically different approach from the defense establishment.

Digital Government

Pentagon to Take Over All Security Clearances in Nine Months, Officials Say

The move will mean absorbing the National Background Investigations Bureau and its 2,000 employees.

Modernization

GAO Dismisses IBM’s JEDI Protest

With the U.S. Court of Federal Claims addressing a similar case, the Government Accountability Office dismissed IBM’s protest.

Artificial Intelligence

Pentagon Needs a Faster Buying Process to Adopt Artificial Intelligence

The Defense Department needs a startup mentality for the emerging tech, agency CIO Dana Deasy said.

Emerging Tech

The Grim Future of Urban Warfare

New technologies are making war even more horrific.

Modernization

Oracle Takes JEDI Case to Court

After a failed bid protest effort, Oracle has taken its issues with JEDI to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.