Markham will take over at agency’s west branch in St. Louis, assisting with the integration of NGA’s activities across the western United States. According to an NGA press release, Markham will oversee the NGA Operations Center, the Office of NGA Defense, the Office of Expeditionary Operations, an NGA leadership at the three National Reconnaissance Office Aerospace Data facilities.

“I know [dual-hatting] is a departure from past practices, but I strongly believe it reflects how the position and our leadership structure has evolved,” Cardillo said. “[Brett] knows the mission, the workforce and the community.”

Prior to this appointment, Markham served as the agency’s director of analytic operations in the analysis directorate. Over the course of his 28 year naval career Markham served in various analytic, staff and leadership positions that included five strategic deterrent patrols, three carrier deployments, and service at three Combatant Commands and the Joint Staff. Markham also served as the deputy director of intelligence for North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern command.

The ARA San Juan and its sailors went missing Wednesday, Nov. 15, after departing the city of Ushuaia and following a series of naval exercises. The submarine reported a technical breakdown and had to re-navigate to the Mar Del Plata, making its last reported contact near the Argentine coast.

However, a lack of contact with the sub necessitated involvement from NASA and the U.S. Navy as well as eight nations, including Brazil, South African and the United Kingdom.

On Saturday, Nov. 18, the U.S. Navy’s Undersea Rescue Command deployed two independent rescue assets including a Submarine Rescue Chamber that can rescue six people at a time while reaching depths of 850 feet. It also offered a Pressurized Rescue Model that submerges up to 2,000 feet for docking and mating with a submarine settled on the ocean floor.

The Navy also has the ability to deploy unmanned underwater vehicles that use sonar technology for searching out targets. The New York Post showcased the Bluefin 12D as one such vehicle, and cited its ability to run for 30 hours at a depth of around 5,000 feet.

NASA’s prime asset in the search for the San Juan is a P-3 Orion patrol plane, which was originally introduced in the 1960s as an anti-submarine surveillance craft. The plane employs a magnetic anomaly detector, or magnetometer, a gravimeter for analyzing small gravity fluctuations, and infrared cameras and sensors that are traditionally used measure ice thickness.

The Argentine military had previously detected what they thought were communication attempts from the submarine via seven satellite messages. However, Argentine navy spokesman Enrique Balbi indicated that said messages turned out not to be from the San Juan.

Now DoD is doing something about it.

A memo signed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense earlier this week, establishes the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT) “to accelerate DoD’s integration of big data and machine learning.”

The goal of the team is to create actionable intelligence from the wealth of data collected from the myriad sensors in the field.

AWCFT’s first task is fielding technology to augment or automate PED for tactical unmanned aerial systems and mid-altitude full-motion video in support of the anti-Islamic State group campaign.

Shanahan, during his remarks before an industry group earlier this year, described a vignette in which the former undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics visited Baghdad, Iraq, and observed video from a tactical UAV. Upon asking who was performing its PED, the answer was no one was, Shanahan said, adding that Frank Kendall, the former official, was not too happy about that.

The new AWCFT effort “will help to reduce the human factors burden of FMV analysis, increase actionable intelligence, and enhance military decision-making. AWCFT will: 1) organize a data-labeling effort, and develop, acquire, and/or modify algorithms to accomplish key tasks; 2) identify required computational resources and identify a path to fielding that infrastructure; and 3) integrate algorithmic-based technology with Programs of Record in 90-day sprints,” deputy secretary Bob Work’s memo noted.

Work was behind the so-called third offset strategy, in which artificial intelligence will play a critical role in future warfare concepts, strategy and tactics.

“As numerous studies have made clear, the Department of Defense must integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning more effectively across operations to maintain advantages over increasingly capable adversaries and competitors,” his memo said. “Although we have taken tentative steps to explore the potential of artificial intelligence, big data, and deep learning, I remain convinced that we need to do much more, and move much faster, across DoD to take advantage of recent and future advances in these critical areas.”

Shanahan described a “Go Big Project,” to immediately inject industry’s best technologies in artificial intelligence and deep learning. DoD can take care of the “processing” and “dissemination” portion of PED, Shanahan said. It’s the “E” in “exploitation” — the analyst’s time of looking at a video for 12 hours a day to see if the white pickup truck left or entered the compound — that the department needs help with. A machine can watch for the pickup truck, he said.

This does not mean getting rid of analysts, Shanahan said, but rather getting analysts onto analytical duties, or think about problems that are presented rather than watching full-motion video.

The AWCFT effort will also consolidate existing algorithm-based technology initiatives related to the Defense Intelligence Enterprise. These mission sets include artificial intelligence, automation, machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision algorithms.

The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence will oversee the AWCFT, with the director for Defense Intelligence (Warfighter Support) serving as its director.

The team will report directly to Work providing monthly updates, the first of which is due by May 1, 2017.