In 2017, the Defense Department started kicking around a disruptive idea: What if the department buys—not builds—an enterprise cloud? The department initiated a multibillion-dollar procurement for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, which hit legal snag after legal snag until DOD cancelled the project in July. Though JEDI was never realized, experts say the contract's true legacy may lie in what it symbolized rather than what it actually produced.

Critical Update

How the Controversial JEDI Contract Changed the Pentagon

U.S. national laboratories are about to enter the exascale era by turning on supercomputers that can perform a billion billion operations per second. But all hardware needs software, which led the Energy Department to create the Exascale Computing Project—a vast network of some of the nation’s top scientists to create programs to simulate wind farms and nuclear stockpiles, perform precision medicine and more.

How to Develop Apps for Supercomputers that Don’t Exist Yet

In the wake of several high-profile cyberattacks, the federal government wants to shore up the security of its software supply chain. A recent executive order aims to raise the standard of software the government buys based on basic cyber hygiene practices, auditing capabilities, and transparency measures, like requiring a software bill of materials. Two experts explain the merits of some approaches and why there’s no silver bullet.

Do You Know What’s in Your Software?

DevSecOps is enabling incredible accomplishments at the Defense Department—like updating code on a U-2 jet during a live flight. With software factories popping up across the department, Nextgov sought out the story of one program in particular to understand how DevSecOps works at DOD. That program is called Platform One, and though it's been around for less than two years, it already supports major programs across the military services and DOD components. 

What Platform One Brings to the Pentagon’s Software Game

Too often, talk about modernizing the federal government’s technology turns to innovation groups. But the IT systems delivering services to the American people day-in and day-out are built, maintained and updated by career federal employees. Meet two agency software developers: One at the start of their career and the other nearing the end.

The Programmers of Public Service

CRISPR is a gene-editing technology that the world is still figuring out. The tool allows a user to reprogram the DNA of cells in plants, animals and humans but with that comes a slew of ethical and legal questions. Scientists are still exploring potential uses—and they aren’t the only ones. Some individuals experiment on themselves. In this episode, a Food and Drug Administration official and a biohacker share their perspectives on what’s happening now and where things could go.

Disrupting Gene Editing

Inside the government, talk of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs isn’t as taboo as it used to be. This episode of Critical Update offers a glimpse into how the government explores the unexplainable—and whether or not humans are alone in the universe.

Let’s Talk About UFOs

An electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, capable of knocking out all electronics in its area could come in the wake of an atomic blast or, if TV and movies are to be believed, from a small non-nuclear device. But are EMPs a real threat? Experts join Critical Update to weigh in.

Who’s Afraid of EMPs?

The Defense Department has a well-documented interest in bringing artificial intelligence to fruition so human operators can focus on high-level decisions while the tech takes care of the rest. But there’s a significant hurdle: If people don’t trust AI, the technology won’t be useful. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Air Combat Evolution program is not only bringing AI to the cockpit, it’s also figuring out how to measure trust so that AI can be tailor-made for pilots to create a symbiotic human-machine team.

Machine Beat Man in DARPA’s AlphaDogfight Trials. Now What?

Artificial intelligence is already transforming the way government works. But federal agencies face an urgent need to invigorate their workforces with AI-capable talent in order to realize the true promise of this technology, experts say. Dr. José-Marie Griffiths, president of Dakota State University, is a member of the National Security Commission on AI in charge of the workforce line of effort. She also had words of advice for federal workers: read up.

Why Having Artificial Intelligence Talent is a National Security Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic moved a lot of federal employees from agency offices to home offices this year, requiring remote, cloud services so they could keep doing their jobs. But the federal cloud journey has been slow and uneven—so, did COVID-19 actually push more cloud adoption across government? The answer is complicated.

Did COVID-19 Push More Agencies Into the Cloud?

America’s space agency is undergoing a drastic digital transformation set to impact its Earth-based day-to-day operations—and next-level moves beyond the home planet. And, one day, there could even be a “data center on the moon,” according to Ron Thompson, the agency’s chief data officer and digital transformation officer. Steering the unfolding modernization, he offers a front-seat view into what’s to come.

Inside NASA’s Digital Transformation

For more than a decade, federal agencies have been told to adopt cloud computing for a variety of reasons, including improved security. But in a cloud model, vendors and customers share responsibility for protecting data. Federal officials looking to instill more clarity around the roles of cloud-based providers and their government customers could help chip away at one factor that might be affecting adoption of the technology: security officials’ fear of losing control.

The Government’s Cloud Anxiety

Inside the Fiscal Service Bureau’s Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation, almost two dozen Treasury Department officials explore emerging and evolving technologies that could be scaled across the federal government in the not-so-distant future. Adam Goldberg, the acting assistant commissioner of FIT, shared insights on the agency’s blockchain and artificial intelligence projects, how to get buy-in from colleagues, and why co-creation has become a top priority across the office’s pursuits.

What a Treasury Office is Learning from Its Blockchain Projects

NASA’s iconic Apollo program was about landing humans safely on the moon and returning them back to Earth. The agency’s contemporary missions—like Artemis, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon—are focused on one thing: going beyond. The final episode of Nextgov’s Critical Update, Season 6 explores what those forthcoming missions will entail, the evolution of commercial companies’ roles in NASA’s missions, what water ice on the moon could mean for the future of our journeys deeper into the solar system—and more.

NASA’s Big Plans For the Moon and Beyond

Nextgov's Critical Update explores the future of government technology. Each episode, we dive into how the government is using the latest tech and more importantly, you’ll hear from some of the people who are trying to make change possible.

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