Military / Military Law

New Army policy on ‘enabling modern software development’ actually doubles down on some of DoD’s worst dysfunctions, argues Warren Katz, chairman of the Alliance for Commercial Technology in Government, violating the spirit – and perhaps the letter – of the law.

This veteran is being granted a rare opportunity as a law student -- leading a game flyover as a pilot.

The new proposal includes new requirements for contracting officers, ensuring that parties bidding on Pentagon contracts are properly protecting sensitive information.

The policy, spearheaded by the House, will require agreement from the Senate before it stands a chance at becoming law.

In addition, the subcommittee's markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would add 800 Guardians to the Space Force's active duty end-strength, as requested by the service — including establishing a dedicated Space Force legislative liaison.

The main concern is that the right-wing government will cause a break in relations with the US that could impact Washington’s willingness to approve Israel’s annual foreign military financing (FMF) budget, money that the US gives to Israel to spend on American-made defense goods.

'Now is the time to drive the dramatic change necessary to make cyber threats far more difficult and far more costly for our adversaries,' DoD CIO John Sherman told Breaking Defense.

While DoD is interested in the potential of satellite-to-wireless, government, military, and industry officials speaking at Satellite 2023 recognized there also are a number of challenges for military operators.

'And as weird as that sounds, you know, from an industry guy, I absolutely need regulation and enforcement,' said Tory Bruno, CEO of rocket maker ULA. 'Because one bad actor can ruin that entire common environment for all of us.'

Under pressure from local industry and international allies, the Swiss government is considering measures to relax its rules on the re-export of arms.

Thirty-three nations called for a global treaty restricting ‘lethal autonomous weapons.’ But US officials warn that such a ban would be both premature and overly narrow, preferring broader but non-binding ‘best practices’ guiding any military employment of AI.

'China is a major space player and will be a major space player. They are not participating in the global dialogue, and in global information sharing on SSA. That's unsustainable,' said Richard DalBello, head of the Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce.

There may not be an agreement on where airspace ends and space begins, but experts say other questions floated during the balloon saga have down-to-earth answers.

Ready! Aim! Litigate!

France became the ninth nation to publicly join the moratorium — following Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Switzerland, and Australia.

‘I think everyone agrees that if there's a reasonable cost-based argument that paying for use does make sense,’ industry analyst Tim Farrar said. But ‘I think Elon has made that more difficult rather than less difficult because you don't normally negotiate your weapons contracts on Twitter.’

An audit by the DoD Inspector General found that while federal law ‘allows for one of 4 conditions for a prototype OT award,’ Pentagon rules contain ‘no requirement to validate that the contractor met those conditions,’ an OIG spokesperson said.

The McGill space law manual is modeled on other well-known legal manuals that, while not official or legally binding, heavily influence the decision-making of military and government lawyers around the world in planning military operations in other domains.