UP FRONT.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

Kendall Responds to Former Software Chief's Criticism

* The Air Force's former chief software officer, Nicolas Chaillan, made waves when he resigned via an explosive LinkedIn post where he criticized the service for not investing enough money into new technologies.

"I'm tired of hearing the right words without action, and I called on leadership to 'walk the walk.' That includes funding, staffing and prioritizing IT basic issues for the department." Chaillan said he was underutilized and poorly leveraged by the Defense Department and his concerns fell on deaf ears. "There have been continuous and exhausting fights to chase after funding," he said. "I am just tired of continuously chasing support and money to do my job."

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall responded at a recent press conference: "A lot of the things that he's raising he had brought up before in the context of doing his job as a software advisor. The service has actually been responding to that."

"He has some concerns that I think are being addressed and I'm going to continue to look into that and make sure that they are," Kendall said.

Hicks: Pentagon Ahead of Industry on AI Ethics

* The military's artificial intelligence and machine learning ethical standards are pulling ahead of industry, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said at a CSIS event.

The military's efforts to process huge volumes of data faster must meet a high standard for responsible data practices, she said. Hicks released a memo in May that described five "data decrees" the Defense Department is using to standardize data production. The decrees are part of an effort to ensure "we have responsible approaches, that we're the leader, which I think we are, frankly, even ahead of industry in terms of the principled approach to how we think about applying AI and machine learning in ethical ways."

Read how the Navy is using AI on page 15.

'Trust No One': Not Just a T-Shirt at CIA

* President Joe Biden's Executive Order 14028, "Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity," called for every federal agency to embrace "zero trust" standards.

Juliane Gallina, chief information officer of the CIA, said in a speech at the DSEI confab in London that the agency must embrace the "zero trust" way of...