Latest news with #NationalSecurityInnovationBaseSummit
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pentagon losing cutting edge on weapons innovation, needs 'massive kick in the pants,' say defense leaders
America's defenses will not be able to keep up with its peer adversaries if the Pentagon continues to take years to innovate its weapons systems, experts agreed at a security summit last week. The Pentagon's modernization was given a "D" by the National Security Innovation Base Summit this week, a near-failing letter grade that national security leaders in Congress agreed was a fair assessment. "Progress lives in the private sector, and we're not seeing enough progress in the public sector," said Govini CEO Tara Dougherty. "The department needs a massive kick in the pants in this area, and should be held accountable for catching up in progress to match what is happening among the investor community and among the technology sector." "I think the score is a deserved score, unfortunately," House Armed Services Committee Vice Chair Rob Wittman said. Us Continues To Share Data To Protect Ukrainians Against Russian Strikes, Despite Intel Pause: Sources "The Pentagon is the Ford Motor Company of the 1950s. I mean, they the way they operate, slow, stoic," Wittman explained. "'Let's spend years to write a requirement, then let's spend years to go to a program or record, let's spend years to acquire.' By the time we acquire something, guess what? The threat's way ahead of us." Read On The Fox News App "We want them to reflect the Apple 2025 model." Nowhere is this clearer to defense leaders than in the nation's shipbuilding capabilities. The Navy currently has 295 deployable ships, though its shipbuilding plan calls for that number to be increased to 390 by 2054. The Maritime Security Program, which maintains privately owned, military-useful ships to deploy in wartime, is down to 60 in its fleet. "It's precipitously low. We could not get to where we need to be in the Pacific right now if we needed to," Wittman told Fox News Digital. The issue seemingly keeps President Donald Trump awake at night. John Phelan, Trump's nominee for Navy secretary, quipped during his confirmation hearing that the president texts him late at night, "sometimes after 1 a.m." about "rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?" Phelan added that he has told the president, "I'm not confirmed yet and have not been able to do anything about it, but I will be very focused on it." 'Star Trek Shield' Technology Gets $250M Boost To Knock Drone Swarms From The Sky With High-powered Microwave "We used to make so many ships," Trump lamented during a speech to a joint Congress on Tuesday. "We don't make them anymore very much, but we're going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact." He announced he had establish a White House Office of Shipbuilding. With the Pentagon, "it's process, process, process, not outcomes," said Wittman, who announced he would be co-chairing a defense modernization caucus in Congress. "We're operating off of an innovation cycle right now that, you know, used to be a decade, and it used to be five years. Then it used to be three years, and now it's a year or less innovation cycle," said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. "In Ukraine, they're actually operating off of week-long innovation cycles." Crow said it is up to Congress to give the Pentagon the "kick in the pants" it needs to move faster. "There are simply no demand signals being sent. So that requires a very real conversation about political will, which is actually bipartisan right now on this issue." The Pentagon began work on the F-35 fighter jet 25 years ago, and it is "just now getting into full scale production," noted Wittman. "The capability of that aircraft, the modernization that it needs to keep up with the Chinese threat, it's just not where it has to be." Even the newest F-35s need to be taken back to the assembly line to be fitted with 360-degree motion sensors known as the digital aperture system and the other latest technology in radars, Wittman said. "We're still not going to deliver the current jets coming off the line with technical refresh three hardware and have that software enabled until probably early next year." Under a new DOGE memo, the Pentagon has kicked off a review of its contracting procedures. "Each Agency Head, in consultation with the agency's DOGE Team Lead, shall conduct a comprehensive review of each agency's contracting policies, procedures, and personnel," a memo circulated this week read. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital she worries most about the military being prepared to defend against a cyberattack. "China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are," she said. "It only takes one or two incursions that we don't see coming or that we aren't responsive to, to make an enormous difference here." Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., suggested that the U.S. may need to start thinking about offensive cyber missions. "When it comes to cyber, we've got to change the rules of engagement," he said. "China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they're trying to get into Wall Street, they're trying to get into agriculture." "We're really good on cyberintelligence but we have [rules of engagement] that do not let us do nearly what China or Russia does," he continued. "I don't think it's like taking punches to the face, saying 'can I have another.'" "We've got to be able to allow cyber command to fight fire with fire. I wouldn't even advertise it that much. Just carry a big stick and, get them back." Original article source: Pentagon losing cutting edge on weapons innovation, needs 'massive kick in the pants,' say defense leaders
Fox News
10-03-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Pentagon losing cutting edge on weapons innovation, needs 'massive kick in the pants,' say defense leaders
America's defenses will not be able to keep up with its peer adversaries if the Pentagon continues to take years to innovate its weapons systems, experts agreed at a security summit last week. The Pentagon's modernization was given a "D" by the National Security Innovation Base Summit this week, a near-failing letter grade that national security leaders in Congress agreed was a fair assessment. "Progress lives in the private sector, and we're not seeing enough progress in the public sector," said Govini CEO Tara Dougherty. "The department needs a massive kick in the pants in this area, and should be held accountable for catching up in progress to match what is happening among the investor community and among the technology sector." "I think the score is a deserved score, unfortunately," House Armed Services Committee Vice Chair Rob Wittman said. "The Pentagon is the Ford Motor Company of the 1950s. I mean, they the way they operate, slow, stoic," Wittman explained. "'Let's spend years to write a requirement, then let's spend years to go to a program or record, let's spend years to acquire.' By the time we acquire something, guess what? The threat's way ahead of us." "We want them to reflect the Apple 2025 model." Nowhere is this clearer to defense leaders than in the nation's shipbuilding capabilities. The Navy currently has 295 deployable ships, though its shipbuilding plan calls for that number to be increased to 390 by 2054. The Maritime Security Program, which maintains privately owned, military-useful ships to deploy in wartime, is down to 60 in its fleet. "It's precipitously low. We could not get to where we need to be in the Pacific right now if we needed to," Wittman told Fox News Digital. The issue seemingly keeps President Donald Trump awake at night. "China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are." – Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. John Phelan, Trump's nominee for Navy secretary, quipped during his confirmation hearing that the president texts him late at night, "sometimes after 1 a.m." about "rusty ships or ships in a yard, asking me, what am I doing about it?" Phelan added that he has told the president, "I'm not confirmed yet and have not been able to do anything about it, but I will be very focused on it." "We used to make so many ships," Trump lamented during a speech to a joint Congress on Tuesday. "We don't make them anymore very much, but we're going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact." He announced he had establish a White House Office of Shipbuilding. With the Pentagon, "it's process, process, process, not outcomes," said Wittman, who announced he would be co-chairing a defense modernization caucus in Congress. "We're operating off of an innovation cycle right now that, you know, used to be a decade, and it used to be five years. Then it used to be three years, and now it's a year or less innovation cycle," said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. "In Ukraine, they're actually operating off of week-long innovation cycles." "China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they're trying to get into Wall Street, they're trying to get into agriculture…" – Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb. Crow said it is up to Congress to give the Pentagon the "kick in the pants" it needs to move faster. "There are simply no demand signals being sent. So that requires a very real conversation about political will, which is actually bipartisan right now on this issue." The Pentagon began work on the F-35 fighter jet 25 years ago, and it is "just now getting into full scale production," noted Wittman. "The capability of that aircraft, the modernization that it needs to keep up with the Chinese threat, it's just not where it has to be." Even the newest F-35s need to be taken back to the assembly line to be fitted with 360-degree motion sensors known as the digital aperture system and the other latest technology in radars, Wittman said. "We're still not going to deliver the current jets coming off the line with technical refresh three hardware and have that software enabled until probably early next year." Under a new DOGE memo, the Pentagon has kicked off a review of its contracting procedures. "Each Agency Head, in consultation with the agency's DOGE Team Lead, shall conduct a comprehensive review of each agency's contracting policies, procedures, and personnel," a memo circulated this week read. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital she worries most about the military being prepared to defend against a cyberattack. "China specifically is better at cybersecurity than we are," she said. "It only takes one or two incursions that we don't see coming or that we aren't responsive to, to make an enormous difference here." Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., suggested that the U.S. may need to start thinking about offensive cyber missions. "When it comes to cyber, we've got to change the rules of engagement," he said. "China is eating our boxed lunch in the energy area, in our cellular phone infrastructure, they're trying to get into Wall Street, they're trying to get into agriculture." "We're really good on cyberintelligence but we have [rules of engagement] that do not let us do nearly what China or Russia does," he continued. "I don't think it's like taking punches to the face, saying 'can I have another.'" "We've got to be able to allow cyber command to fight fire with fire. I wouldn't even advertise it that much. Just carry a big stick and, get them back."
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's 'Golden Dome' will need Manhattan Project-scale whole-of-government effort, Space Force general warns
President Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome' missile defense project will require a whole-of-government effort on par with the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, according to a Space Force general. "This is on the order of magnitude of Manhattan Project, and it's going to take concerted effort from the very top of our government. It's going to take a national will to bring all this together," Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, told a gathering of defense industry experts on Wednesday. The 'Golden Dome' idea stemmed from Israel's Iron Dome. With the help of the U.S., it employs an invisible boundary that triggers interceptors when short-range missiles are fired toward its territory. But the Golden Dome has proved a more daunting project for guarding the U.S., which is close to 500 times the size of Israel and would likely be threatened more by long-range than short-range missiles. Five Things To Know About President Donald Trump's 'Iron Dome' Plan For America Guetlein said the project will require unprecedented cooperation across the defense and intelligence agencies. Read On The Fox News App "We are in full planning mode," the official said at the National Security Innovation Base Summit hosted by the Ronald Reagan Institute. "We owe an answer back to the White House by the end of the month on what our thoughts are." The Golden Dome would need to protect the U.S. from a range of threats – including hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, advanced cruise missiles. Early detection would rely on space-based sensors that would trigger rapid-response missile interceptors. "It's going to be a heavy lift across all the organizations that are going to be participating. And what we've got to really push back on are the organizational boundaries and the cultures that are going to try to slow us down or to prevent us from working together," Guetlein said. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is "really good at protection of the homeland from an ICBM," according to Guetlein, but they need the Space Force to build space capabilities, and the Air Force and Army to manage counter-drone systems. 'Star Trek Shield' Technology Gets $250M Boost To Knock Drone Swarms From The Sky With High-powered Microwave The National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the U.S.'s spy satellites, also has space capabilities needed for homeland protection. Guetlein said the nation would have to "break down the barriers" between Title 10 and Title 50 of the United States Code, the federal laws that govern the nation's defense and clandestine operations. "Without a doubt, our biggest challenge is going to be organizational behavior and culture to bring all the pieces together," Guetlein said. The Golden Dome would be a major step up from the current Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, which relies on missile interceptors stationed in Alaska and California designed to protect the homeland from a small number of ballistic missiles that could be fired from North Korea. Guetlein said Iran has provided a "real life example" in the Middle East, where U.S. forces helped thwart a barrage of missiles targeting Israel last year. Trump said during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that he would be asking lawmakers to appropriate funds for the project. "My focus is on building the most powerful military of the future," Trump said. "As a first step, I'm asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art, 'Golden Dome' missile defense shield to protect our homeland – all made in the USA." The president claimed that Ronald Reagan had wanted to build such a system, but it wasn't possible given the technology of the time. "Israel has it, other places have it, and the United States should have it, too," he said. "This is a very dangerous world. We should have it. We want to be protected. And we're going to protect our citizens like never before."Original article source: Trump's 'Golden Dome' will need Manhattan Project-scale whole-of-government effort, Space Force general warns
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Venture capitalist says making sure 'killer robots' aren't running around is the 'cost of doing business' in defense AI
Military leaders argue AI has an important role in future warfare. There's been a shift in industry collaboration with the Department of Defense on AI and autonomy. AI in military tech must adhere to ethical frameworks, Snowpoint Ventures' Doug Philippone said. Nobody wants "killer robots," so making sure artificial intelligence systems don't go rogue is the "cost of doing business" in military tech, the founder of a venture capital firm said during a Wednesday discussion of AI technology on the battlefield. "You have to be able to make AI that can work within an ethical framework, period," Doug Philippone, co-founder of Snowpoint Ventures, a venture capital firm that merges tech talent with defense issues, said during the Reagan Institute's National Security Innovation Base Summit. "I don't think anybody is, you know, trying to have killer robots that are just running around by themselves," he said. Philippone explained that companies working in the military technology space that are worth making an investment in must have "thought through those problems and work in that ethical environment." He said these aren't limitations on development. Instead, they're requirements. Autonomous machines tend to cause a certain degree of apprehension, especially when such tech is applied to the DoD's "kill chain." While military leaders maintain that the systems are critical for future warfare, they also pose ethical concerns about what machine autonomy might ultimately mean. The defense-technology space appears to be experiencing a major shift in perspective. Last month, Google reversed course on a previous pledge against developing AI weapons, prompting criticism from some employees. The move seemed to reflect a greater willingness among more tech companies to work with the Defense Department on these technologies. Throughout Silicon Valley, "there's been a massive cultural shift from 'no way we're thinking about defending America' to 'let's get in the fight,'" said Thomas Robinson, the Chief Operating Officer of Domino Data Lab, a London-based AI solutions company. He said at Wednesday's event that "it is just a palpable difference between even a few years ago." There has been a sharp rise in smaller, more agile defense technology firms, such as Anduril, breaking into areas like uncrewed systems and autonomy, spurring a view among some defense tech leaders that the new Trump administration could create new DoD contract opportunities potentially worth hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. Part of that cultural shift has spurred concerns around "revolving doors" of military officials heading to the venture capital tech realm after retirement, creating possible conflicts of interest. US military leaders have increasingly prioritized the development of AI capabilities in recent years, with some arguing that whichever side dominates this tech space will be the winner in future conflicts. Last year, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the US is locked in a technological arms race with China. AI is crucial, he said, and "China is moving forward aggressively." The Air Force has been experimenting with AI-piloted fighter aircraft, among other AI-enabled tools, as have other elements of the US military and American allies. "We're going to be in a world where decisions will not be made at human speed," Kendall said in January. "They're going to be made at machine speed." Certain areas of armed conflict, including cyber warfare and electronic warfare, are likely to be dominated by AI technologies that assess events happening at unimaginably fast speeds and unimaginably small dimensions. That makes AI a top investment. During Wednesday's discussion, US congressional representative Ro Khanna of California expressed support for a proposal from 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, which called for shifting 15% of the massive Pentagon budget to advanced and emerging tech. As the nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth committed to prioritizing new technology, writing that "the Department of Defense budget must focus on lethality and innovation." He said that "technology is changing the battlefield." But ethical considerations remain key. Last year, senior Pentagon officials, for instance, discussed guardrails put in place to calm fears that it was "building killer robots in the basement." Understanding exactly how an AI tool's algorithms work will be important for ethical battlefield implementation, Philippone noted, and so will understanding the quality of data being absorbed — otherwise, it's "garbage in, garbage out." "Whether it's Tyson's Chicken or it's the Department of the Navy, you want to be able to say 'this problem is important," he explained. "What is the data going in?" "You understand how it flows through the algorithms, and then you understand the output in a way that is auditable, so you can understand how we got there," he said. "And then you codify those rules." Philippone said the opacity of some AI companies' proprietary knowledge is "BS" and a "black box approach" to technology. He said that companies should instead aim for a more transparent approach to artificial intelligence. "I call it the glass box," he said. Understanding how the inner workings of a system work can help avoid hacks, he said, "this is really important from an ethics perspective and really understanding the process of your decision in your organization." "If you can't audit it," he said, "that leaves you susceptible." Read the original article on Business Insider
Fox News
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump's 'Golden Dome' will need Manhattan Project-scale whole-of-government effort, Space Force general warns
President Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome' missile defense project will require a whole-of-government effort on par with the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, according to a Space Force general. "This is on the order of magnitude of Manhattan Project, and it's going to take concerted effort from the very top of our government. It's going to take a national will to bring all this together," Gen. Michael Guetlein, vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, told a gathering of defense industry experts on Wednesday. The 'Golden Dome' idea stemmed from Israel's Iron Dome. With the help of the U.S., it employs an invisible boundary that triggers interceptors when short-range missiles are fired toward its territory. But the Golden Dome has proved a more daunting project for guarding the U.S., which is close to 500 times the size of Israel and would likely be threatened more by long-range than short-range missiles. Guetlein said the project will require unprecedented cooperation across the defense and intelligence agencies. "We are in full planning mode," the official said at the National Security Innovation Base Summit hosted by the Ronald Reagan Institute. "We owe an answer back to the White House by the end of the month on what our thoughts are." The Golden Dome would need to protect the U.S. from a range of threats – including hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, advanced cruise missiles. Early detection would rely on space-based sensors that would trigger rapid-response missile interceptors. "It's going to be a heavy lift across all the organizations that are going to be participating. And what we've got to really push back on are the organizational boundaries and the cultures that are going to try to slow us down or to prevent us from working together," Guetlein said. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is "really good at protection of the homeland from an ICBM," according to Guetlein, but they need the Space Force to build space capabilities, and the Air Force and Army to manage counter-drone systems. The National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the U.S.'s spy satellites, also has space capabilities needed for homeland protection. Guetlein said the nation would have to "break down the barriers" between Title 10 and Title 50 of the United States Code, the federal laws that govern the nation's defense and clandestine operations. "Without a doubt, our biggest challenge is going to be organizational behavior and culture to bring all the pieces together," Guetlein said. The Golden Dome would be a major step up from the current Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system, which relies on missile interceptors stationed in Alaska and California designed to protect the homeland from a small number of ballistic missiles that could be fired from North Korea. Guetlein said Iran has provided a "real life example" in the Middle East, where U.S. forces helped thwart a barrage of missiles targeting Israel last year. Trump said during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that he would be asking lawmakers to appropriate funds for the project. "My focus is on building the most powerful military of the future," Trump said. "As a first step, I'm asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art, 'Golden Dome' missile defense shield to protect our homeland – all made in the USA." The president claimed that Ronald Reagan had wanted to build such a system, but it wasn't possible given the technology of the time. "Israel has it, other places have it, and the United States should have it, too," he said. "This is a very dangerous world. We should have it. We want to be protected. And we're going to protect our citizens like never before."
