Who Has AI Advantage in US vs. China?

An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle, dubbed Blue Water Maritime Logistics, flies over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, during a demonstration flight Nov. 4, 2020. (US Navy photo)

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Robert Work, vice chair of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, spoke at the Pentagon last week to discuss the commission’s 2021 AI report and how the US stacks up against China, Breaking Defense reports. In the AI field, the US leads in three of six areas with its talent pool, hardware, and algorithms. China is ahead in accumulating data, deploying applications, and integrating different functions. Work said the US does not have a strategy, organizational structure, and resources to win the competition with China for effective implementation of AI. “So the first thing is we have got to do is to take this competition seriously, and we need to win it,” he told reporters, according to DoD News.

Between the US and China who has the largest naval fleet? A Congressional Research Service report from March 2021 says that the Chinese navy was projected to have 360 ships by the end of last year, reports Navy Times. The US fleet has 297 ships, according to the “Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress” report.

DefSec Lloyd Austin spoke with the Philippine secretary of defense over the weekend to discuss China’s recent positioning of “militia vessels” near the Philippines in the South China Sea, reports Military Times. China says those vessels are there to fish.

Military activity in the South China Sea saw a spike over the weekend, reports CNN, as a Chinese aircraft carrier entered the region and a US Navy strike group wrapped up military exercises. The Navy described the US presence there as coordinated strike groups of ships and aircraft carrying out exercises “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” reports Washington Times.

A Pew Research Center survey found that fewer Americans have confidence in President Joe Biden to handle the relationship between the US and China than other foreign policy issues.

SecState Antony Blinken is in Brussels for talks with European and NATO allies about Afghanistan, Ukraine, and other matters, reports The Associated Press. The US is facing a May 1 deadline to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. Several advocacy groups are urging the president to meet that deadline as it “presents the best opportunity any president over the past twenty years has faced to end America’s longest ever war,” reports The Hill.

DefSec Austin held talks with Israeli officials over the weekend, reports Military Times, where he reinforced the US’s commitment to Israel as “ironclad.”

The US and six other countries are adopting a new agreement to better understand the Earth’s changing polar environments, reports C4ISRNET. The other participating nations are Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and New Zealand, according to the Office of Naval Research.

 

 

It’s a little over three months into 2021 and the US Navy has fired four commanding officers, reports Task & Purpose, with the latest being CMDR Kathryn Dawley of the destroyer USS Hopper on April 6. The Navy said it had lost confidence in her leadership. RADM Trent DeMoss, head of Commander Fleet Readiness Centers in Maryland, was removed from his position on April 5, reports Military.com, over a loss of confidence in his ability to lead amid a sexual harassment investigation.

Two former National Security Agency officials have been chosen by Biden to fill cyber positions, reports The Associated Press. Chris Inglis is being nominated as the first national cyber director, and Jen Easterly is being selected to run the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security.

Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, is expected to be nominated as the US ambassador to the United Nations World Food Program, reports The Hill. She would be the first Republican appointee to a Senate-confirmed position.

Fox News reports that Tucson, AZ, Police Chief Chris Magnus is Biden’s choice to lead US Customs and Border Protection.

The Philippines is asking the US for help obtaining COVID-19 vaccinations more quickly, reports Bloomberg.

Coronavirus cases on US bases in Japan and South Korea continue to decrease, reports Star and Stripes, but the US commanders there continue to urge those eligible to get vaccinated.

Speaking Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and current Pfizer board member, said he believes the US vaccine supply will soon outstrip demand, reports UPI.

Regeneron said it wants US approval for its COVID monoclonal antibody cocktail as a preventative treatment after it helped cut the risk of symptomatic infections in households where someone else is ill, reports Reuters.

US Naval Academy officials say this year’s in-person graduation ceremony will be held May 28 at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, reports Navy Times.

The POW/MIA flag is flying again atop the White House, reports The Hill. The prisoner-of-war/missing-in-action flag had been taken off the roof and moved somewhere else on the property during the Trump administration.

Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win golf’s Masters Tournament on Sunday, reports NPR.

Contract:

Verato, Inc., McLean, Virginia (HS0021-21-F-0012), was awarded a $9,126,856 firm-fixed-price task order against HS0021-19-A-0005 for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The task order provides for tri-merge credit reports and credit monitoring services as part of the background investigation mission. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia. This order will be funded with defense working capital funds with $2,281,748 obligated at time of award. The anticipated period of performance is for one year, from May 17, 2021, through May 16, 2022. This requirement was synopsized on the government-wide point of entry website as a small business set-aside on May 1, 2019. As a result, 13 small businesses were solicited and one offer was received, which was then justified in a single source determination. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.