Dean Pianta, solutions manager at Adobe Systems Federal, shares his predictions for the future of e-learning, stresses the importance of social learning when training teams, and more during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the National Training and Simulation Association’s iFest 2017 conference in Alexandria, Va.
Sae Schatz, PhD, director of the US Defense Department’s Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative, says US warfighters need to be “lifelong learners” to maintain readiness in an “increasingly volatile” world, discusses ADL’s history and role in training and simulation, and more during an interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the National Training and Simulation Association’s iFest 2017 conference in Alexandria, Va. ADL was a co-sponsor of the event.
The Center for a New American Security’s August 2017 report entitled “The ‘Section 702′ Surveillance Program: What You Need to Know,” co-authored by Adam Klein, CNAS’ Robert M. Gates senior fellow, Madeline Christian, a former technology and national security intern at CNAS, and Matt Olsen, an adjunct senior fellow in the think tank’s Technology & National Security program, dissects the controversial portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ahead of its tentative expiration on Dec. 31, 2017 (barring congressional reauthorization). The report explains how the provision’s surveillance authorities differ from other FISA ones, the scope of potential targeting, how authorized data is collected and more.
On this week’s episode of the Defense & Aerospace Business Report podcast, sponsored by Bell Helicopter, a Textron company, we discuss the US Defense Department’s 901 Report, President Donald Trump’s shifting strategy in Afghanistan, aerospace stocks, how the new movie “Dunkirk” rates in terms of historical accuracy, and more. This week’s guests include Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners, Ron Epstein of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Steven Grundman of the Atlantic Council and Sash Tusa of Agency Partners.
Todd Harrison, the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ defense-budget analysis director, and Gabriel Coll, program manager and research assistant at CSIS’ Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group, discuss the think tank’s Future Years Defense Program tool, which lets users instantly generate graphs that make it easier to compare current and historic budget data, during an Aug. 2, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The tool, co-developed by Coll, Loren Lipsey, Shivani Pandya and Kayla Keller, is available at http://analytics.csis.org/fydpbetaone.
Penn Arthur, CEO and co-founder of Inhance Digital, discusses the proof of concept app the company created for the US Air Force Research Laboratory, which uses mixed-reality technology to help train Air Force maintainers, during an August 3, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at the iFest 2017 conference in Alexandria, Va.
Frank Kendall, former US under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics during the Obama administration, discusses his concerns with the Pentagon’s recent report detailing how to break up his old office into two parts, shares advice for his successor, former Textron Systems CEO Ellen Lord, and more during an Aug. 4, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian. The interview was conducted at Kendall’s northern Virginia home.
Heather Wilson, PhD, Secretary of the US Air Force, says predictability is the service’s greatest need, discusses the proposed FY18 federal budget’s implications for readiness and modernization, announces “the details of a tiered aviation bonus system” designed to incentivize pilot retention “where we need them most,” and more at the Air Force Association’s AFA Breakfast Series: Capitol Hill Edition event on June 5, 2017. The event was held at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington.
Dave Pirozzo, a computer engineer with the US Army Tank Automotive Research, Engineering and Development Center, discusses the center’s efforts to boost vehicle autonomy to increase manpower and keep soldiers out of harm’s way during a June 29, 2017, interview with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at the British Embassy in Washington. The interview was conducted during the embassy’s Autonomy & Innovation Across the Defence, Security and Civil Sectors – Demonstration event.
In “A Blueprint for New Sanctions on North Korea,” a new report from the Center for a New American Security, co-authors Edward Fishman, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Peter Harrell, an adjunct senior fellow at CNAS, and Elizabeth Rosenberg, CNAS senior fellow and director of its Energy, Economics, and Security Program, present a playbook for potential US sanctions on North Korea. “As Congress and the executive branch consider ways to combat the North Korean threat, this report offers policymakers an analysis of the situation, an assessment of the successes and failures of sanctions imposed to date, and options for increasing Pyongyang’s economic isolation,” they write. “With enhanced economic leverage, the United States will be better placed to address North Korea’s destabilizing influence and lay the table for potential nuclear diplomacy.”