WASHINGTON — National Security Agency Director Army Gen. Paul M. Nakasone today announced the creation of a new entity to oversee the development and integration of artificial intelligence capabilities within U.S. national security systems.

The AI Security Center will become the focal point for developing best practices, evaluation methodology and risk frameworks with the aim of promoting the secure adoption of new AI capabilities across the national security enterprise and the defense industrial base.

The new entity will consolidate the agency’s various artificial intelligence, security-related activities.

“The AI Security Center will work closely with U.S. Industry, national labs, academia across the [intelligence community] and Department of Defense and select foreign partners,” Nakasone said during a discussion hosted by the National Press Club in Washington.

He added that the unique talent and expertise at the NSA make the agency well suited to support the government’s effort to ensure the U.S. maintains its competitive edge in AI.

U.S. officials have emphasized the increasing role AI is having in shaping the national security landscape and have taken steps to shape the future of the emerging technology.

Nakasone noted the most recent strategies guiding U.S. national security, defense and intelligence emphasize the increasingly consequential role of AI.

In January, the Defense Department updated its 2012 directive that governs the responsible development of autonomous weapon systems to the standards aligned with the advances in artificial intelligence.  In 2020, the department also published its Responsible AI Strategy and Implementation Pathway, which serves as a key example of U.S. leadership in promoting responsible stewardship of the rapidly emerging technology.

The U.S. has also introduced a political declaration on the responsible military use of artificial intelligence, which further seeks to codify norms for the responsible use of the technology.

Nakasone, who also commands U.S. Cyber Command and serves as the chief of the Central Security Service, warned that it is critical the U.S. maintain its leadership in AI as the technology matures.

“AI will be increasingly consequential for national security in diplomatic, technological and economic matters for our country and our allies and partners,” Nakasone said

“Today, the U.S. leads in this critical area, but this lead should not be taken for granted,” he said. “Our adversaries, who have for decades used theft and exploitation of our intellectual property to advance their interests will seek to co-opt our advances in AI and corrupt our application of it,” he said.

He said it is imperative that the NSA sets a clear path forward to address “both the opportunities and challenges of AI as industry rockets forward with innovation.”

“AI security is about protecting AI systems from learning, doing and revealing the wrong thing,” he said.

“We must build a robust understanding of AI vulnerabilities foreign intelligence threats to these AI systems and ways to encounter the threat in order to have AI security,” he said. “We must also ensure that malicious foreign actors can’t steal America’s innovative AI capabilities to do so.”

By Joseph Clark, DOD News

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — In the midst of a modernization effort that is focused on meeting strategic demands, organizations from across the military services collaborated in a joint exercise to improve capabilities to prepare to combat near-peer threats.

The XVIII Airborne Corps is at the leading edge of building the future force of 2030 and beyond through collaboration and innovation to meet these complex global challenges.

America’s Contingency Corps put that on full display during Scarlet Dragon Oasis, an artificial intelligence and data-centric operation that enabled a live-fire target identification and execution exercise from Jan. 23 to Feb. 3, 2023.

This was the sixth iteration of the Scarlet Dragon Oasis, and is a continuation of Project Convergence, in an ongoing series of training operations since 2020 that solely serve to increase the capabilities of warfighting skills across the joint force.

The XVIII Airborne Corps partnered with U.S. Central Command and several commands spanning across all branches of the Department of Defense to enable data-driven predictive models to inform and drive operations. The exercise was held across multiple states, including North Carolina, Georgia, Utah and Florida. They employed multiple platforms across all domains to hit specific targets in a more precise and effective manner.

Scarlet Dragon also enabled service members from across the joint force to improve interoperability by incorporating NATO allies. The exercise focused on sharing data and processing artificial intelligence to increase capacity for each warfighting function.

“We see this as an opportunity to take our joint partners and continue training to solve problems together,” said U.S. Army Col. Joseph O’Callaghan, XVIII Airborne Corps Fire Support Coordinator. “Partners are a crucial part of our warfighting force.”

The exercise showcased each service’s ability to operate in a multi-domain environment aimed to enhance their joint relationship.

From the U.S. Army using Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters in a sprawling gunnery range to the U.S. Air Force providing Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers, Scarlet Dragon demonstrated the accuracy and lethality of targeting using sophisticated technology.

“The Army is able to find the targets with the software, and then passes that information on to us through our joint domain architecture,” said U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Matthew Ping, a tactical air control party specialist. “We pass that information onto Air Force fixed-wing aircrafts, to strike the target.”

The U.S. Marine Corps conducted a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Rapid Infiltration, partnering with the 18th Field Artillery Brigade using their HIMARS.

The sea domain also played a vital part of the Scarlet Dragon Oasis as the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy demonstrated their ability to control and patrol the waters by using the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile displaying their targeting precision.

This exercise was also the first time the U.S. Space Force was incorporated into the exercise, and they provided key elements to the exercise by incorporating the space domain and space range to harness another realm of data centric warfare.

“We are using artificial intelligence to pull all actionable data from a scan, instead of having an extra delay from having a team measure it out,” said U.S. Air Force Maj. Joseph Hamilton, a tactical air control party officer. “We’re significantly cutting the time it takes from detection until the point of the strike.”

The joint force model’s interoperability is crucial to our nation’s warfighting success and the improvement of our technology lies within the people who are the service themselves.

“The ultimate goal is if one person from any service walks out with an idea or concept from here and applies it to their work, and makes it better, then we have won. Plain and simple.” said O’Callaghan.

By SPC Osvaldo Fuentes

Some photos by SGT Erin Conway