Matthew Parin

As this year's Reagan National Defense Forum made clear, we stand in a critical moment for our nation’s defenses. Our latest blog post by Joel Meyer rounds up salient comments on addressing an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape by top defense and national security leaders at the event. Key insights: 🔹 Admiral Samuel Paparo: Autonomous, AI-powered systems are critical for military overmatch. 🔹 General Eric Smith: Advancements in counter-drone tech and troop protection are vital. 🔹 Secretary Lloyd Austin III: Unmanned systems will be the cornerstone of future military strategies. The Forum highlighted the importance of partnerships between defense primes, tech giants, and startups to sustain military advantage. Read our full blog to learn more: https://gag.gl/cd1Cdg. #NationalSecurity #DefenseInnovation #AI Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute

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Glad to see that the bipartisan Modernizing Data Practices to Improve Government Act recently passed out of committee. The legislation looks to optimize how agencies handle data, making it more accessible and efficient. 🔐 According to Pew Research Center, 79% of the public believe they have little or no control over what the government does with their data. Whether it’s unemployment, healthcare or taxes, every interaction with government is an opportunity to build public trust — and that experience starts with data. Read more on the bill here: https://lnkd.in/eS-X7P4p #FedTech #DigitalTransformation #DataManagement Melanie Holmes | Jonathan Benett | Kelly Olson | Brian Chidester

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The DoD is facing a growing personnel crisis — with three of the four major US #military services having failed to recruit enough service members last year. The U.S. Army is taking bold steps to turn the tide, partnering with Salesforce to modernize how they engage with potential recruits. United States Department of the Army replaced their custom #recruiting platform, with out-of-the-box Salesforce capabilities and an agile approach that shortened development time from 2.5 years to 6 months. The new solution simplifies and digitizes the recruitment process while making it easier for the #Army to engage with potential recruits, as well as generate and manage personnel leads in an easy-to-use mobile app. Learn more about this incredible success story, here: https://lnkd.in/eTn4ZqAx

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It’s what I’ve been saying. Tech and AI are crucial components of the battle fields of today and the future. Tech enhanced tactics is real. Booz Allen’s purchase of PAR Govt solidifies that notion. This also highlights the need and benefit of the privatization of key aspects of defense growth and ingenuity.

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Social Media Diplomacy is a more focused approach, Digital Diplomacy is generalized approach. That term was launched by Nathaniel Fick he was selected to lead the U.S. State Department's Bureau for Cyberspace and Digital Policy in 2022. This was written in 2023, This is how New This Conversation is #CreateTheWay #IndustryBuilders https://lnkd.in/egBbs7Ei

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Booz Allen Hamilton recently released their list of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies for National Security, highlighting the forefront of innovation in safeguarding critical infrastructure and information systems. These cutting-edge technologies are the result of researchers and entrepreneurs proactively addressing the evolving threat landscape of cyberattacks. The growing investment in these areas demonstrates a clear recognition of the critical importance of fortifying our digital defenses against increasingly sophisticated threats. Key Takeaways: There are several new technologies to stay focused on going forward, most notably: -AI Accelerator Chips -Generative AI Software Development -High-Density Energy Storage -Post-Quantum Cryptography -Multimodal AI -Space Domain Awareness Tech Key Companies Leading the Way: -Celestial AI -Replit -Anthro -SandboxAQ -Reality Defender -Albedo #cybersecurity #venturecapital #data #datacenter

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Booz Allen Hamilton’s Data Intelligence Framework helps federal agencies move faster and realize the full power of their #data. Learn more about Booz Allen's Data Solutions for federal civilian agencies: www.boozallen.com/data

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Which of these 5 takeaways resonants most with you? Personally, it's - Skills verification acts as a flywheel for internal mobility Without the ability to measure and verify the skills of your people, you do not have the data needed to drive internal mobility. Inferring the skills people might have is not enough - You need to be able to objectively measure skill to verify and understand the level of competence. #skills #talentmobility

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⚠ 15 day countdown to the inaugural AWS Innovate Day: Federal Civilian Government with Scoop News Group, a full-scale experience convening federal civilian leadership and big thinkers, forward leaning industry partners, and AWS executives and SMEs to explore the AI imperative in government. From using AI-based applications responsibly to new levels of human-machine partnerships, dynamic programming will shed light on government's technology priorities, how far the federal government still has to go, and bold examples of what it can look like to get there. Not to late to sign up - see link and agenda below, followed by reception and performance by the band Pool Boys! This is an opportunity for government leaders to hear what GSA, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Amtrak, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and others are using the cloud to support their mission and improve customer experience. Special thanks to our Partners: Intel Corporation, Datadog, Changeis, Inc., stackArmor, ICF, Qualtrics, Booz Allen Hamilton David Levy David Appel Goldy Kamali Jamie Baker Mike Lentine Sunny Kapoor Katie Koehler, PMP, CDFM Victoria Calvert Guy Davis Alla Goldman Seiffert Michael B. Greenwald Ken Zipin Jeff Wright Cameron Chehreh Deep Grewal Mark Valcich Joe Bleich Rebecca Allegar Josh Strosnider Beau Oliver Varun Malhotra Gaurav Pal David Yang

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🚀 **Introducing Our 6-Week Journey into the Future of Data and AI in Federal Civil Health, Defense, and Intelligence** 🌐 Missions across the federal government face a central challenge: how to fully take advantage of the entirety of their agency’s (and the world’s) relevant data to achieve clear situational understandings, bolster decision making, and achieve faster, better outcomes. Over the next six weeks, we will be sharing a series of case studies that showcase how #Data Analytics and #AI/ML programs have driven meaningful outcomes across Civil Health, Defense, and Intelligence communities. Today we spotlight an example of how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expanding Data Science Fluency with a commitment to collaboration and innovation by building and maintaining the Enterprise Data Analytics and Visualization Platform (EDAV). https://lnkd.in/edgVk4xN https://lnkd.in/eUENw8vU

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This article by David Rader and Elaine D. joins the chorus calling for a more coordinated and strategic use of economic statecraft. To meet the current geopolitical moment, this will also require investing in the necessary data and analytical infrastructure to support horizon scanning, decision-making, implementation, after action analysis, etc. Thanks for flagging Zach Beecher.

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This morning, #BoozAllen and Palantir Technologies announced a ground-breaking co-creation partnership to accelerate defense mission innovation and help the U.S. maintain superiority against its adversaries. Our two companies recognize the urgent need for agile, field-ready approaches that help the U.S., and its allies and partners, communicate and coordinate in a complex global security landscape. https://lnkd.in/e5rh3yRc

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Exciting news! Last week we announced a pioneering partnership with Palantir, a software platform and big data analytics mogul. This collaboration will leverage our combined strengths to deliver cutting-edge solutions that address critical national security challenges and accelerate defense missions. Together, we'll push the boundaries of technology, creating a future where AI-infused hardware and software empowers our warfighters and safeguards our nation.

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Check out ATARC's newest White Paper: "How Might We Improve Federal Program Management by Addressing the Gap between the Mission and Mission Support?" written from ATARC's Growing Good in Government (G3i) Working Group. The goal of this white paper is to explore strategies for enhancing interagency collaboration and improving the user experience on this collaborative platform, ultimately leading to measurable improvements in program outcomes. Read here - https://ow.ly/2M6U50TRFUB #data #tech #ATARC #WhitePaper

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From worrying about moonlit ballot boxes in 1922 to today’s AI-driven disinformation, electoral integrity challenges have certainly evolved. As technology advances, so do the complexities of maintaining trust in our democratic processes. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is implementing robust initiatives to safeguard elections, but we information consumers must stay informed and vigilant. After all, democracy thrives on trust—and a little moonlight doesn’t hurt either. #AI #deepfake #elections2024 #electioninterefence #misinformation #disinformation https://lnkd.in/gc5WRA8X

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Recently, I began tracking a list of bills in Congress that have implications for government contracting and technology (if folks are interested, I’ll post my full list, and I would appreciate pointers to any legislation that is not on my radar). One is the SHARE IT Act (https://lnkd.in/eyDX9g6X), introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and Gary Peters. The bill seeks to increase transparency and the sharing of custom-developed code across the government to reduce duplication, cost inefficiencies, and security issues, and to promote transparency and accountability. There are some good things in this bill. One element, if I understand it correctly, is that all custom-developed code should be stored and shared in a code repository, something like Git, GitHub, GitLab, or the like. Believe it or not, there are still government software systems whose code is not maintained in any kind of version control system. Requiring agencies to use sharable version control systems for their code is a good move. The bill also requires that agencies retain ownership of custom-developed code that they create. This is critically important. Agencies that develop code, whether by federal employees or contractors, should absolutely retain the rights to use it and modify it as needed. Software built with public money, regardless of the mechanism by which it is funded, should be code that the government can evolve and change as it sees fit. There are parts of this bill that I’m skeptical about or could be improved. There’s no funding associated with this bill, and while I don’t think a massive amount of money is needed (agencies like U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have open-sourced a fair amount of code just within the context of their existing work), the issue here is largely cultural. Many agencies lack the internal practices or willingness to adopt open-source approaches, and some funding to establish a agency-level Digital Service team could help jumpstart these efforts. Another is the actual benefit in terms of preventing duplication (and the notion of GAO quantifying this somehow; not sure how that would even work). For services we’ve worked on (HealthCare.gov, VA.gov), while there may be elements of architecture or design useful to others, don’t offer much utility in forking those repositories. The code is an expression of good product and human-centered design work, and that’s not something you can simply clone across organizations. It’s also not how software is typically built. Shared problems across orgs tend to have established products, whether closed or open source, available. Problems that require something custom, by definition, are usually not common across organizations. It will be interesting to see how this bill evolves. Focusing on bringing good software development practices to government is something that will create a myriad of benefits across the federal space.

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I was pointed this this posting today by my friend John Wissler (LtGen, USMC (Ret)) about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Strategic Plan for the next 4 years. There were 6 salient priorities that cross the boundaries of parties and departments where frontier technology companies can provide vital aid and support at a #COTS level. Whether its protecting our borders from #forcedlabor, to targeting fentanyl derivatives hidden in shadow companies shipments on their way to cartel recipients- Altana is supporting the plan! Use your data on the offensive to defend your supply chains! #skyhookcrew #fullspectrum #alldomains #supplychaindefense #valuechainmanagement Andrew Keene Aaron Libbey Spencer McCollester

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