Two years after creating the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to jumpstart AI development, the Defense Department is increasingly looking at how to train people to use that technology. The Pentagon is working on an overarching strategy to educate all DOD personnel on how AI could factor into everything from business and human resources software to combat systems, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Sept. 9 at an AI symposium run by the department. The Pentagon is launching multiple other education and global outreach initiatives to familiarize people with responsible development and ethical use of a game-changing technology.

The U.S. military plans to withdraw more than 2,000 troops from Iraq this month, leaving about 3,200 troops in the country to continue advising Iraqi forces and targeting the remnants of the Islamic State group. U.S. Central Command boss Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., speaking in Baghdad, said the move comes as Iraqi forces have made “great progress.” McKenzie did not clarify if the troops would return home or shift to other bases within the area of responsibility. “This reduced footprint allows us to continue advising and assisting our Iraqi partners in rooting out the final remnants of ISIS in Iraq and ensuring its enduring defeat,” McKenzie said.

The House and Senate fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act conference report is not likely to come together until after November’s election, once intense political rivalries subside, the House Armed Services Committee’s ranking member said. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) told the Defense News Conference on Sept. 9 that even though the House version was unanimously passed in committee and received a “strong” vote on the floor, its differences will not be worked out for months because of “the times we are living in.” Thornberry pointed to the provision in the House bill and Senate bills that would require the Pentagon to rename bases that bear the names of Confederate leaders, a measure President Donald J. Trump has said he would veto and one Thornberry acknowledged comes with highly partisan emotions. “I don’t know how that will come out in conference, but I do think we are in a time where neither party is rewarded for compromise and coming together and getting things done,” Thornberry said.

The Space Force is drawing up a strategy for its satellite communications enterprise that will govern how it uses a growing array of military and commercial technologies to connect the armed forces. As space assets become a greater priority in the Joint Force, officials want to ensure satellite signals and hardware can weather electronic and physical attacks to continue getting messages through. A new strategy would build on the SATCOM vision paper released earlier this year.

Industry moves to mitigate the initial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic mean the full impact has yet to be felt, Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen M. Lord said Sept. 9 at a Defense News virtual conference. Reduced efforts over the past six months will soon be felt in missed deliveries and progress payments, and the Pentagon wants to collect all these impacts and consider them wholesale before providing up to $20 billion in mitigation assistance sometime in early 2021, Lord reported.

The Air Force has to change the way it thinks, trains, and ultimately fights, including shedding a “geographical mindset,” to win the new wars of the information age and maximize the value of combining cyber capabilities, electromagnetic warfare, and information operations. That was the takeaway from a pair of panels featuring service leaders at this week’s Billington Cybersecurity Summit.

On March 23, the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual Nuclear Deterrence Series event featuring Scowcroft Group Principal Frank Miller. At a time when nuclear modernization programs are accelerating around the world, proposals to recapitalize the U.S. nuclear arsenal are at the forefront of debates over defense spending. Miller will share his insights into the prospects for U.S. nuclear modernization programs and the value of nuclear deterrence in today's competitive security environment. The think tank will post event video on its website and YouTube page after the live event.