The Wrap: Wanted – AI Domination; Clean Data Imperative; CISA’s Zero Trust One-Stop Shop

Welcome to The Wrap for Thursday, February 15!

From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in Federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

Wanted – AI Domination

U.S. military officials are saying that nothing less than a dominant position in the creation and deployment of AI technologies will suffice if the U.S. hopes to win the “information fight” that now  underpins armed conflict. That was the bottom-line takeaway from Keegan Mills, the engineering and cyber tech lead at the Marine Corps Systems Command, and the U.S. Navy’s Deputy Chief AI Officer John “Jack” Long, who talked about military AI imperatives at the US WEST conference in San Diego this week. “We have to, have to, have to win the information fight – 100 percent,” said Mills. “If we are going to achieve the prime directive of the National Defense Strategy, which is deterring this fight from happening at all, we have to be dominant in this space. We have to think about the risk of not doing it as the bigger problem to solve.” Instead of getting wrapped up in metrics, Long said that department leadership needs to send a clear message down the line to get AI technology out the door quickly to meet the capability gap. “It goes back to, ‘What risk are you willing to accept?’ I’ll accept a cost overrun or I’ll accept a little bit of something else to get it out there eight months or even 12 months earlier because the most important thing is no longer cost, it’s actually speed,” Long said.

Clean Data Imperative

In a separate address at the US WEST conference, the head of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) talked about the importance of starting with clean data so that warfighters can use simpler processes to break down thorny problems. Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner explained that the job for warfighters may seem like a simple concept — “see, understand, decide, act.” But, he said, “it requires technology to help. Do we have the right sensors in the right places? And it doesn’t matter which domain that you’re talking about – is the right information being collected to then enable decision-makers’ calculus? Does it give them the right information to decide what the best course of action is,” Skinner asked. As part of the call for simpler processes, Skinner called on industry partners for insight into how the military can quickly provide warfighters with “clean data” to gain an advantage in information warfare. “I would offer that the organization or the person or the team that does that the fastest” is the one that’s going to achieve the advantage, the general said.

CISA’s Zero Trust One-Stop Shop

Who are you going to call at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for zero trust security help? In the past, that might have meant reaching out to several places within the agency, but coming soon those resources will be unified in the agency's Zero Trust Initiative that will serve to consolidate disparate zero trust security policy functions into a new single office. The unified office’s agenda will feature expanded training opportunities, further zero trust guidance and playbooks, more collaboration in the Federal and private-sector spheres, and working on maturity assessment methods. Expect the new office to include Sean Connelly, who has been a prime mover for CISA on zero trust policy. Connelly took a deep dive into CISA’s zero trust security efforts in an interview with MeriTalk last December, and also last year previewed the concept of creating a single zero trust office within the agency.

IRS Chief Pledges Security Focus

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel told lawmakers today that the agency’s focus on data security remains a key priority moving forward, among other tech and security steps that the agency is undertaking to improve taxpayer services through ongoing tech modernization efforts. “Data security … is fundamental to what we do in ensuring the public trust,” Werfel said at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. “When I got to the IRS, one of the first things I did in March of 2023 was pull the team together and ask what is the state of our data security environment,” he said, adding, “we have spent the last year working diligently to close those gaps and there is a long laundry list of steps we have taken to completely and dramatically change our environment.” The IRS boss pounded home the message that funding – including $78 billion in supplemental funding through the Inflation Reduction Act for the IRS through 2031 to improve taxpayer services including through tech upgrades – remains crucial for further progress. “That’s why it is so important that the IRS be funded adequately for its operations – not just so that we can answer the phone when people call us, not so that we can keep pace with complex returns – but we need to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our data security [as well],” Werfel said.

Once again, let’s “call IT a day,” but we'll bring you more tomorrow. Until then please check the MeriTalk breaking news website throughout the day for the latest on government IT people, process, and policy. And finally, please hit the news tip jar [with leads, breaking news, or simply your two cents] at news@meritalk.com.