Author Archive

Patrick Tucker

Science & Technology Editor, Defense One

Patrick Tucker
Patrick Tucker is science and technology editor for Defense One. He’s also the author of The Naked Future: What Happens in a World That Anticipates Your Every Move? (Current, 2014). Previously, Tucker was deputy editor for The Futurist for nine years. Tucker has written about emerging technology in Slate, The Sun, MIT Technology Review, Wilson Quarterly, The American Legion Magazine, BBC News Magazine, Utne Reader, and elsewhere.
Defense

The Pentagon’s ambitious AI plans look less and less like ChatGPT

The military needs tools that can structure data, deliver insights, and be trusted.

Defense

Space Force will look at how to hack targets from space

“We're laying the groundwork for starting to figure that,” said the leader of Space Operations Command.

Defense

Soldiers can now steer robot dogs with brain signals

A small sensor tucked neatly behind the ear allowed soldiers to mentally guide robotic quadrupeds.

Defense

How the Pentagon mobilized to support tech startups after bank failure

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank presents the Defense Department with warnings—and opportunities.

Defense

Pentagon looking to make sure SpaceX doesn’t abandon them in war

Spooked by the company’s new limits in Ukraine, military leaders are mulling new types of contracts.

Defense

DOD's new data king is skeptical of AI ‘pixie dust’

A more unified approach to data collection will enable bottom-up tools and capabilities

Defense

Ukraine is getting nervous about Elon Musk

Kyiv is looking for alternatives to Musk’s Starlink internet terminals and worrying about rising misinformation on Twitter.

Defense

The U.S. military is buying electric jet-ski robots

Tests will see whether battery-powered personal watercraft can help with search-and-rescue

Defense

U.S. soldiers offer a virtual help desk for Ukraine fighters

U.S. maintenance specialists communicate via encrypted chatrooms to help Ukrainians modify and repair weapons.

Defense

U.S. trails China in key tech areas, new report warns

Ex-Google, DOD leaders paint dire picture unless U.S. organizes to win technology races.

Cybersecurity

Iranian hacker group posed as journalists to hunt dissidents

Group spent weeks trying to fool specific targets with intricate appeals—including U.S campaign staff.

Cybersecurity

An experiment showed that the military must change Its cybersecurity approach

The Defense Department’s current “checklist” approach can’t keep its networks safe.

Defense

Space runs on open source software. The U.S. Air Force is fine with that

Commercial space players don’t have the same security concerns as the Pentagon, but that doesn’t mean they can’t share code.

Defense

Marines look to a future where more authority, intel moves to the edge

Commandant sees empowered battlefield commanders, and new support roles further from the front lines.

Defense

More reality checks could help keep DOD programs on time and on budget, GAO says

The Pentagon has long espoused “knowledge-based acquisition,” but doesn’t insist on it.

Cybersecurity

White House sounds alarm on threat from quantum computers

New directive orders the government to work with industry on security that can stand up to tomorrow’s quantum-powered decryption tools.

DHS manipulated report on Russian election interference during the Trump administration, watchdog says

A 2020 report to state and local governments was delayed and altered, a new IG report finds.