President Trump announced Sunday via social media that he has appointed Patrick Shanahan the acting Secretary of Defense effective Jan. 1, 2019, succeeding Gen. James Mattis who resigned as Secretary of Defense last week. […]

In a memo dated Oct. 24, Secretary of Defense James Mattis established the Protecting Critical Technology Task Force (PCTTF) to protect the Department of Defense’s (DoD) “critical technology.” The task force will work to prevent the loss of classified and controlled unclassified information–the loss of which is “putting the Department’s investments at risk and eroding the lethality and survivability of our forces.” […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense announced a joint agreement between Defense Secretary James Mattis and VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to work together on the new electronic health records (EHR) systems in both departments. […]

Pentagon officials have been pretty clear about their belief that artificial intelligence is changing the game for military operations, saying that AI will penetrate “every corner” of the Department of Defense, in the words of Brendan McCord, head of machine learning at the Defense Innovation Unit. DoD Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy lists AI among his four most important strategic areas. Defense Secretary James Mattis reportedly pushed for a “whole of country” approach earlier this year as the White House was announcing its Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence. […]

Defense Secretary James Mattis in May urged President Trump to create a “whole of country” national strategy to advance U.S. development of artificial intelligence technologies, shortly after the White House’s announcement on May 10 of a new AI advisory committee–the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence–to advise the White House on research and development efforts across government and industry. […]

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY2019 will head into conference next week when legislators return from the Fourth of July recess. The $700+ billion must-pass defense spending bill has been approved in both the House and Senate, and now the two chambers must come together to reconcile differences in the legislation and re-vote the unified bill before it can land on President Trump’s desk for signing. […]

For the first time in more than eight years, the House Appropriations committee shuttered its doors when it discussed budget issues with top Pentagon brass late last month. […]

The IT Alliance for Public Sector (ITAPS), an IT industry group that represents about 80 tech firms, has asked Congress to shed light on the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud service acquisition plan. […]

The Pentagon has a lot of dogs in the artificial intelligence fight. Now it seems to be setting up shop to get those puppies groomed and ready for the big show. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) Empire just struck back with answers to more than 1,000 questions that vendors posed regarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract. DoD just released its second draft request for proposal after responding to concerns of 46 vendors and two associations. […]

The Pentagon, which is getting within range of being a $2 billion-a-day operation and has more than $2 trillion dollars in assets and liabilities, is notably undergoing its first full financial audit. […]

Members of Congress urged Defense Secretary James Mattis in a letter to incorporate cybersecurity into high school Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) programs. […]