Nextgov

114 Lawmakers Push to Fund Clean Energy Research

The group wants $500 million for the Energy Department’s advanced research projects agency, which would be eliminated under the White House’s 2020 budget request.

Nextgov

VA Won’t Delay Launch of Private Care Software Tool Despite Reported Flaws

The tech will go live on June 6 even if it’s operating “at 70 percent or 50 percent,” said Secretary Robert Wilkie.

Nextgov

USDA Launches New Features on Farmers.gov

The site’s latest functions will enable America’s agriculture producers to better manage loans and the H-2A visa process.

Nextgov

After CIO No-Show, Congress Not Confident in VA’s IT Shop

The Veterans Affairs Department earned no goodwill when it declined to testify before a House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee.

Nextgov

OPM Is Giving CIOs More Direct Hiring Authority But Plans To Keep A Watchful Eye

The administration has been gathering feedback on giving agency CIOs more power over direct hiring authorities and plans to publish the final rule soon.

Nextgov

Interior Doubled Its Use of Drones in 2018

The agency flew more than 10,000 unmanned missions to survey federal land, monitor wildlife and respond to natural disasters.

Nextgov

GSA’s Investment Team Is Building An Agile Development Contract

The $10 million, single-award contract would assist in developing novel ideas to improve the federal government.

Tech

The Newest AI-Enabled Weapon: ‘Deep-Faking’ Photos of the Earth

Step 1: Use AI to make undetectable changes to outdoor photos. Step 2: release them into the open-source world and enjoy the chaos.

Nextgov

Identity Theft Services Inefficient at Addressing Data Breach Risks, Watchdog Says

The Government Accountability Office also recommended that Congress should reconsider allowing federal agencies how much coverage is appropriate to offer.

Nextgov

FBI’s Long-Awaited $5 Billion IT Services Recompete Goes Back To Draft

The ITSSS recompete is getting a new name, new timeline and new draft solicitation, while the existing contract gets a one-year extension.

Nextgov

DARPA Wants AI to Learn Language like Human Babies

The Pentagon’s research wing is funding efforts to build AI language systems that learn more like people and less like machines.

Nextgov

Without JEDI, Pentagon’s Artificial Intelligence Efforts May Be Hindered

The Pentagon won’t be able to maximize artificial intelligence’s true capabilities without an enterprise cloud solution, something it’s currently trying to contract out.

Nextgov

HUD Sues Facebook For Violating Fair Housing Rules With Targeted Ads

Facebook’s ad system allowed companies to target users based on a number of protected classes, including race, sex, nationality and general interests.

Nextgov

How NARA’s Helping Agencies on the Path to a Fully Electronic Government

Officials are developing ways for agencies to measure their efforts to achieve fully digital records management by the December deadline.

Nextgov

The Pentagon is ‘Absolutely Unapologetic’ About Pursuing AI-Powered Weapons

The controversy surrounding military artificial intelligence is rooted in “grave misperceptions” about what the department is actually trying to do, according to current and former Defense officials.

Defense

The U.S. Military Is Creating the Future of Employee Monitoring

A new AI-enabled pilot project aims to sense “micro changes” in the behavior of people with top-secret clearances. If it works, it could be the future of corporate HR.