Emerging Tech

The Government Wants A Handheld Synthetic Drug Detector

NIST and DARPA are looking for pre-market products that can identify synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Modernization

Amazon Web Services Announces Secret Cloud Region For CIA

The company is able to host government data in the cloud at unclassified, sensitive, secret and top secret classification levels.

Policy

IT Modernization Bill Heads to President

Congress passes the Modernizing Government Technology Act as part of the defense authorization bill.

Digital Government

Bid Protests Decline in 2017

Contractors filed fewer contract protests for the first time since 2013.

Policy

Congress May Be Making the Pentagon Amazon's Next Big Customer

Though lawmakers revised the so-called "Amazon amendment," only a small number of companies could provide the government with an e-commerce site.

Digital Government

The Pentagon’s Spending Data Doesn’t Add Up

The DATA Act was supposed to create financial transparency, but a watchdog found plenty of inaccuracies.

Artificial Intelligence

Three-Star General Wants Artificial Intelligence in Every New Weapon System

The department's Project Maven uses machine learning to go through drone video feeds but that's just the beginning, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan said.

Digital Government

Neil deGrasse Tyson, Google Leaders Pitch Pentagon on Internal Accelerator

In the Defense Innovation Board’s fifth public meeting, members from the private sector discussed four potential recommendations for the Pentagon.

Digital Government

Pentagon Extends Commercial Health Records Pilot to Fourth Site

The system will be tested at one of the largest military hospitals on the West Coast.

Cybersecurity

Pentagon to Scrub Kaspersky From Defense Systems Following DHS Ban

The Defense Department is following a DHS directive to remove the Russian anti-virus from its systems but it’s not clear if the software was there in the first place.

Digital Government

Mattis Opposes Splitting Defense CIO Duties

The defense secretary’s letter also objects to a requirement that the Defense Department notify other nations before responding to cyber threats.

Digital Government

Could the Senate’s Plan to Speed Up Bid Protests Backfire?

A shorter timeframe to review contracting disputes could put significant stress on the Government Accountability Office.

Modernization

Microsoft Cloud Can Now Host Classified Pentagon Data

The Defense Department will be able to send data that requires a secret-level security clearance to view to the company’s cloud.

Digital Government

A New Social-Media Simulator Is Helping US Troops Train for Hybrid War

The program harvests and remixes real tweets to generate a convincing online environment for wargames large and small.

Digital Government

NDAA Heads to Floor and Kaspersky Heads to Washington

And in the defense authorization bill's 104 amendments are tech and cyber changes for civilian agencies too.