Author Archive
Patrick Tucker
Science & Technology Editor

Patrick Tucker is science and technology editor for Defense One. He’s also the author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move? (Current, 2014). Previously, Tucker was deputy editor for The Futurist for nine years. Tucker has written about emerging technology in Slate, The Sun, MIT Technology Review, Wilson Quarterly, The American Legion Magazine, BBC News Magazine, Utne Reader, and elsewhere.
Defense
What Google’s return to defense AI means
More competition in a hot market—and the plain fact that only the Pentagon will set boundaries.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Trump’s ‘Iron Dome for America’ plan would put weapons in space, at a big cost
It’s a Cold War concept for a mission whose threats and tools have long since changed.
- By Patrick Tucker
Artificial Intelligence
How DeepSeek changed the future of AI—and what that means for national security
China’s breakthrough is an opportunity for American companies to build more efficient tools. That will also help the U.S. military.
- By Patrick Tucker
Artificial Intelligence
Industry launches $100B AI-infrastructure effort to keep ahead of China
Oracle, OpenAI focus on data centers as AI race begins to turn on computing power instead of math.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Defense officials hopeful incoming administration keeps funding cutting-edge tech
Amid competing priorities, they pitched dual-use research as key to competing with China.
- By Patrick Tucker
People
‘Extraordinarily dangerous’: Intelligence community insiders warn against Trump’s DNI pick
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has a “history of irresponsibly promoting misinformation,” said one official.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Senators want answers from DOD on quantum sensing efforts
Bipartisan letter wonders whether China’s programs “outstrip the efforts of the United States.”
- By Patrick Tucker
Artificial Intelligence
Can AI predict if a Marine will quit? Corps wants to know
“Retention prediction network” could reveal signs that trainers and recruiters might otherwise miss.
- By Patrick Tucker
Modernization
Could an easy radio fix have prevented the Trump assassination attempt?
“Being able to talk to other agencies real-time certainly would assist in that response,” one official said.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Special operators hope AI can reduce civilian deaths in combat
Automation could eventually turn “trigger-pullers into the experts that can do this,” one official said.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Two programs suggest the Pentagon is getting better at buying technology
The Maven and Collaborative Combat Aircraft efforts display real steps forward, a pair of reports say.
- By Patrick Tucker
Featured eBooks
Emerging Tech
Navy still bullish on lasers but widely-deployed directed-energy ship defense remains years away
Quest gains urgency as enemy drones and missiles get better, cheaper, and more widely used.
- By Patrick Tucker
Emerging Tech
Pentagon planning huge experiment for its connect-everything concept
“We see significant progress,” in opening up DOD data, one observer said. But a bigger, multinational test is coming.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
DARPA wants to use AI to find new rare minerals
With spectral analysis, it’s possible to “tell the difference [between] cocaine that came from one cartel’s area of Colombia versus another.”
- By Patrick Tucker
Cybersecurity
China is seeking ways to disrupt daily American life should a conflict erupt, Pentagon’s IT leader says
The DISA director also wants more transparency from the IT companies it hires.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
How AI is turning satellite imagery into a window on the future
What can a picture from space tell you? “You're likely to have a drought here that might lead to civil unrest.”
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
The US is still falling behind on electronic warfare, special operators warn
New space and low-power solutions are needed to operate against modern jamming.
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
Giant military manta ray drone passes first ocean test
Manta Ray prototype demonstrates propulsion, steering in step toward “real-world operations.”
- By Patrick Tucker
Defense
How digital engineering could produce new weapons faster
“This enables process automation more broadly,” GDIT engineer says of new accelerator.
- By Patrick Tucker
Emerging Tech
New bill would greatly expand Defense Department quantum efforts
Proposed legislation would establish a quantum advisor and a new center of excellence.
- By Patrick Tucker