Lisbeth Perez

1 week ago | meritalk.com | Lisbeth Perez

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday to spell out the Pentagon’s investments in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and their countermeasures (C-UAS), citing escalating concerns about the threat such systems pose to U.S. forces and critical infrastructure. “UAS, as we’ve seen, [are] extremely powerful,” Sen. Gillibrand said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on June 18.

1 week ago | meritalk.com | Lisbeth Perez

Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll told lawmakers on Wednesday that the U.S. Army will deliver a comprehensive briefing on its sweeping acquisition transformation effort before the end of the month, promising long-awaited details on how the service intends to reshape its future. “We’d be happy to come by any time, but I think very specifically you will have that detail within 10 days,” Driscoll told the committee on June 18.

1 week ago | meritalk.com | Lisbeth Perez

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is looking at how it can integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its Geographic Information Infrastructure (GII), which is a shared sensitive but unclassified platform that provides critical geospatial capabilities across the Homeland Security Enterprise. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) GII serves as a centralized geospatial data ecosystem for Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners.

1 week ago | meritalk.com | Lisbeth Perez

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today about the Defense Department’s (DoD) struggle to recruit and retain cyber talent amid a civilian hiring freeze and unfunded workforce development programs. “I’m very concerned that we are not investing in our cyber professionals,” Gillibrand said, pointing to more than 30,000 open cyber positions within the DoD.

1 week ago | meritalk.com | Lisbeth Perez

A bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening U.S. cryptography research and accelerating the deployment of quantum-resistant encryption cleared the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee last week. The bill now heads to the full House for further consideration. The Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Standards Act, first introduced in May by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and co-sponsored by Rep.