The first Cyber Mission Force troops will be ready by Sept. 30, National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael S. Rogers said. […]

Six hundred people have registered for the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity Multi-View Stereo 3D Mapping Challenge, which was announced on July 1. The Mapping Challenge invites people to submit 3-D maps created from IARPA’s vast data sets, most of which come from satellite images.

The National Security Agency is working on possibly developing software to respond to digital acts of war, NSA Director Adm. Michael S. Rogers said this week at MeriTalk’s Federal Forum in Washington, D.C. That software could help the United States respond to cyber incidents to turn the situation in its favor.

In 2008, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center invited 16 companies to discuss information sharing and collaboration. Today, the DC3 partners with 400 companies to share information. Maintaining relationships with partner companies was an important subject at the Federal Forum 2016’s panel on Information Sharing and Next-Gen Defense.

Due to its relatively new and complex nature, there is no straightforward method for categorizing a cyberattack as a digital act of war, according to witnesses at a House Oversight Committee hearing.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will launch two satellites to monitor weather and temperature patterns around the globe, but the agency is concerned about potential issues including data gaps following the expiration of previous satellites.

The Department of Defense needs to improve its data about cost saving and streamlining opportunities, according to a June 30 Government Accountability Office report.

The recent upgrade to the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Big Data Platform (BDP), projected to release in August 2016, will give cyber operators and analysts with a need to run custom analytics on specific data sets access to increase ad-hoc query capabilities and enable faster identification of cyber threats.

The key to digital success and development in all levels of government is a strong and dedicated team of leaders, according to Deloitte’s director of government innovation William D. Eggers. “It really does rely on different levels of leadership,” Eggers said in an interview with MeriTalk. “Where you don’t have that leadership, it becomes much more difficult.”

An e-book published to coincide with World Oceans Day hopes to bring together researchers, government agencies, students, and technology to better the understanding of the world’s oceans. “If the oceans need help, then the entire planet needs help,” said Dawn J. Wright, chief scientist at Esri and editor of the second edition of Ocean Solutions, Earth Solutions.

Privacy advocates launched a new website Monday called end702.com that urges Congress to allow a controversial section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to expire at the end of next year. Fight for the Future and a coalition of public interest groups are encouraging Congress to let Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of […] […]

The National Science and Technology Council calls for more modern science and technology capabilities in national security in its report, titled “A 21st Century Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for America’s National Security.”

Politics and blame stand in the way of Federal IT modernization, according to comments made at the House Oversight Committee’s hearing on legacy IT systems. Congressmen said they were disappointed and baffled over the degree of outdated technology in Federal agencies, some in mission critical systems.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced a significant expansion of the Pentagon’s Silicon Valley-based experimental technology unit, including dedicated funding pipelines, a new partnership leadership structure, and plans to stand up a second unit in Boston.

Content management company Box unveiled its Box for Government initiative, which brings together different product suites designed for government and enables agencies to work remotely, collaboratively, and with an assurance of security. Box for Government has already received a FedRAMP Provisional Authority to Operate (P-ATO) from the Defense Information Systems Agency.

There seems to be no middle ground in the Internet surveillance versus privacy dispute. The two sides found little to agree on at a debate hosted by the Hudson Institute. David Rivkin, a constitutional law attorney, said government surveillance “has to be indiscriminate. … We have to surveil more.”

The size of the digital universe will grow to 176 zettabytes by 2025 – leading to a future of machine learning. James Harris, CTO, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Jason Matheny, Director, Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, joined Defense One on a live webcast on how the future of digital information will intersect with the future of intelligence collection and analysis.

The Defense Department likes to hit its targets. So you can imagine the frustration that the department’s chief information officer, Terry Halvorsen, must have experienced when he realized that he wasn’t even going to come close to reaching the Federal mandate to close at least 40 percent of the department’s data centers by 2015.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence plans to hire its first chief information officer to take charge of IT programs across the ODNI’s 20 component offices, particularly the effort to retire legacy IT systems and migrate users to the cloud.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter is considering recommendations for a major reorganization of the Defense Department that would make U.S. Cyber Command a full combatant command similar to the U.S. European Command or the U.S. Special Operations Command.