So I'm often asked, why don't we have more artificial intelligence in the Air Force than we do today?
Something I'm working very hard to change.
Well, one is it's really hard to certify something that changes all the time.
But what isn't well understood in the Pentagon, and I find through the country as a whole,
is that artificial intelligence is very fragile in the face of an adversary.
It's very easy to beat.
And so we need to get into the game more and bring the DEFCON and the hacker community into our world
and give them opportunities to start beating AI ahead of those opportunities being available commercially.
So that's where I'd like to see us go, is into algorithmic defeat.
Because that's the next generation of warfare.
And the earlier we can determine how to make it safe and secure, the better off everyone's going to be.
So I think you'll find that we're good listeners.
So we have ideas. We just talked about AI and potential issues with that.
We're talking about satellites now.
But we're curious what you think.
What are things, whether design flaws we should be thinking about, which can be really portable,
or other types of exploits that might not be on our radar.
So we'd love to just hear your thoughts.
We're going to listen.
And tell us things we don't know.
Or tell us about challenges which are really hard.
Like, a year ago, hacking a satellite felt pretty hard.
But we're there now.
What is a really hard one that you're thinking about, that we can challenge ourselves for, for next year?
Why did you pick Steve Carell for Space Force?
Well, you... I mean, you have to love Steve Carell, right?
I mean, I'm such a huge Office fan.
And so, when that came out, I thought, you know, money just because of that.
But, on the whole, when I get to talk Space Force,
beyond the hype and, you know, the glitz that the public media often shine on it,
it gets really simple to explain.
That, you know, do you think that adversaries will try to take on the military in space,
given we have a ton of communications and navigation satellites?
Satellites of all kinds, whose data we pump to the systems we take into a fight.
Everyone says, well, yeah, of course, no duh.
Well, if we think adversaries are going to challenge us there, then we've got to be ready there.
But fighting in space is going to be really different than fighting in the air, on the sea, or under it.
You know, it's a domain that's governed almost entirely by physics in a way that makes it predictable.
We know where satellites are going to be minute by minute, second by second, on forever, ad infinitum,
unless we decide to move them.
But moving satellites using that precious propellant, that's a big choice in space.
Because there are no gas stations, no place to fill up.
So it is a very different domain.
And we're just here talking about low-Earth orbit constellations, those that are very near the Earth,
that are moving around at 7 kilometers a second.
But GPS satellites are much further out, in what are medium-altitude orbits.
And satellites that do communication and detection are all the way out in geosynchronous orbit.
And though they're moving really fast relative to the Earth, they're not.
They're stationary overhead.
Every one of these is a very different domain governed by apparently different physics.
And that's why we've got men and women getting ready, who are thinking about warfare in space,
and they've got a clean sheet of paper in their hands.
How do we fight in this domain where things are very predictable?
And you can guess what answers are coming to the forefront.
We're going to have to rely on autonomy.
And that means the software that we put is going to be so important to whether we win or lose.
But then that brings you in.
If our software is going to be the cutting edge, and the autonomy it runs on is going to be how we win,
then how do we make it secure?
So I think we went through this period where, at least we as a society, didn't talk a lot about space.
And I'm happy to see that change.
Will talked about all the critical things about space.
Timing, ATMs, GPS, all of these different things.
And that is super critical.
But I guess I bring out my inner kid now, where a couple months ago I sat down,
I have three little kids, and we watched a SpaceX launch.
And there was an excitement there that I feel it's been a long time.
It's been missing from society for a bit.
There's something aspirational, inspirational about it.
And seeing the launch, seeing the landing, talking about space, thinking about the importance of it,
and all the critical things that it does, it excites me for the future.
So I'm excited that we're talking about space.
I still would like to go to space.
I don't think, Will, you've gotten your transporter done.
But with all that being said, I'm really also, until you actually take me to space, I look forward to helping protect space.
Sounds good, Brett.
And aside from just watching SpaceX, just the other day we watched Perseverance and Ingenuity head up.
And so we're really, really excited about the enthusiasm in space.
And Space Force gets to provide most of the rocketry that the entire government and commercial industry uses.
So it's going to be a little while until we beam you to space,
but we've got some excellent works and rockets that can help push you there.
Do you think I could do that training thing in a couple weeks?
Just bang it out?
Let's talk about that next time on Between Two Nerds.
Thanks for coming.
Okay.
So we're really easy. We're on the Twitters. At least I'm on the Twitters. Are you on the Twitters?
I promised Brett that for DEFCON, I would send out my first tweet.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing Will on the Twitters.
Will and I will be in the VRs during DEFCON. You can find us there. We'll be on Twitch. We'll be all over.
And we'll make sure that we leave a link on our HackASAT site.
If you are interested in finding out more about participating in future hacking events with the Air Force or DDS,
we will leave a place for you to find us, for us to contact you.
And we also want to hear your suggestions.
And when COVID is done, if you're in D.C., come to the Pentagon. We'd love to hear your ideas.
So can zombies swim?
I don't know, Brett. I think it probably depends on what movie we're in and whether they knew how to swim before they were zombified.
So I intentionally moved to an island where part of my intent was being zombie safe.
How deep's the water?
Pretty deep.
Did you see World War Z?
I did.
Is it that deep?
It might not be deep enough.
You might need a better island.
Okay.