One groundbreaking development in pathology and cancer detection is the augmented reality microscope (ARM). During a session at Google Cloud Next ’24, experts discussed how the ARM is poised to revolutionize cancer diagnosis. The initiative is a collaboration between the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs (VA), DOD’s Defense Innovation Unit, Google Public Sector and Jenoptik.

The AI-assisted microscope provides not only a view of how AI is increasing the diagnostic accuracy and efficiency of cancer detection but also its ability to operate on edge devices to support medical and other professionals. That allows those professionals to operate locally, independent of internet or cloud connectivity. That’s becoming increasingly critical as the number of experienced healthcare specialists qualified to perform diagnostic evaluations is declining in the U.S.

ARM’s impact also extends beyond individual diagnoses. By digitizing tissue samples and harnessing the power of AI, the microscope eliminates geographical barriers, ensuring that patients everywhere have access to the expertise of top-tier pathologists.

A look at the development process

The genesis of the ARM lies in the recognition of a critical challenge faced by pathologists — the meticulous task of analyzing tissue slides, often numbering in the hundreds, to detect cancerous abnormalities. While traditional microscopes are indispensable, they present inherent limitations in terms of efficiency and accuracy, which are compounded by the sheer volume of data pathologists need to process.

The ARM integrates artificial intelligence (AI) into the diagnostic process. At its core, this device leverages AI algorithms deployed on the edge to analyze digitized tissue samples in real time. This transformative approach enables pathologists to identify potential abnormalities with unprecedented speed and precision, significantly enhancing diagnostic accuracy.

“The job of pathologists is to make sure that what we do is very accurate and that we can identify the disease. We don’t want to make a mistake,” said Dr. Nadeem Zafar, director of pathology and laboratory medicine service at Veterans Affairs Puget Sound. “This is where the technology comes in, and this is why we are so excited about it.”

The development process of the (ARM) also illustrates the power of collaboration. “Here at Google… we don’t just want to incrementally improve things like cancer diagnosis; we want to do it at scale,” said Scott Frohman, head of defense programs for Google Cloud. “And this project enabled us to think and connect and do something good for humanity.”

Current and future impacts

Central to the microscope’s functionality is its ability to highlight areas of interest detected by AI algorithms, providing pathologists with guidance during the diagnostic process. In addition, combining AI-driven insights with human expertise will empower healthcare professionals to make more informed decisions with greater confidence.

“Why I’m so excited about this technology is that it will bring so many experts to your desktop — while in the workflow, while in the flow of time,” Dr. Zafar said. “This is not something you have to learn. As long as you have the software… it will start giving you the heatmap and help detect cancer. So this is brilliant.”

In addition, this endeavor’s success underscores the pivotal role of public-private partnerships in driving innovation and advancing healthcare. Through concerted efforts and a shared vision, stakeholders across government, industry, and academia have made the ARM a reality, with tangible benefits for patients and healthcare providers alike.

“We know that we can’t solve these kinds of problems alone. So the partnership that we have with the government has been fantastic for bringing the subject matter expertise, the data, and the commitment to solving this problem with us,” said Frohman. “And it helps us to do the mission that we have at Google — making information available and accessible during cancer and making the human condition better every day.”

Thanks to AI and edge computing, the ARM promises to redefine the standard of care in pathology, offering new hope in the relentless pursuit of a cancer-free future.

Learn more about how Google Public Sector can help your organization “Kickstart your generative AI journey.”

This article was produced by Scoop News Group and sponsored by Google Public Sector. Google Public Sector is an underwriter of AI Week.

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Ragsdale moves into the role Aug. 14 from technology company Two Six Technologies, where most recently he was vice president for Department of Defense strategy.

Prior to working at Two Six Technologies, he held senior cybersecurity and cyber operations roles at the Department of Defense, including as acting director of defense research and engineering for modernization, where he was responsible for driving DOD-wide innovation.

In the new post, he will focus on leading work to strengthen the cyber workforce across the United States, including through measures announced as part of the White House’s National Cyber and Workforce Strategy, which was announced on July 31.

That document called for collaboration across government, industry and civil society groups to work together to increase the number of cybersecurity workers and urged an overhaul of the U.S. immigration system. The strategy also petitioned Congress to introduce new legislative measures to ensure foreign-born cyber workers that have been trained in America are able to stay in the country.

Commenting on Ragsdale’s appointment, former ONCD Director Chris Inglis said: “Dan is a national treasure whose innumerable contributions to the cybersecurity profession over the course of three decades have inspired my work and thousands of others fortunate to have been mentored by him. His skills, experience, and leadership abilities will be an invaluable resource for the ONCD mission, in particular for the Technology and Ecosystem Line of Effort.”

According to the Department of Commerce-backed cybersecurity labor market tracking website CyberSeek, there are currently more than 663,000 cybersecurity jobs open across the country. 

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VA spokesperson Randall Noller confirmed details of the degraded service, which occurred on Monday and Tuesday and affected all locations using the electronic health record (EHR) system.

“Changes made by the Department of Defense (DOD) had the unintended consequence of interrupting services that provide connectivity to the network,” Noller told FedScoop. 

“This caused long intervals to display items or respond to “button” clicks. While the Oracle Cerner systems were not “down,” users experienced issues in response times and connectivity to the EHR,” he added.

The VA worked with DOD and Oracle Cerner on configuration changes to resolve the issue earlier this week, according to Noller. Details of the network connectivity issue were first reported by The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

The Oracle Cerner EHR system is a key platform used by doctors to access the medical records of current and former military personnel. It is being rolled out at the VA as a replacement to the open-source Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) health information system.

It has attracted controversy since it was deployed at certain VA hospitals in 2020 — including at the Mann-Grandstaff VA medical center in Spokane, Washington.

A report published last year by the VA’s watchdog found that at least 148 veterans were harmed at a health center in Spokane, Washington, during the agency’s rollout of the health records system

Data published by FedScoop in August revealed nearly 500 incidents when the system was partly or completely unusable between Sept. 8, 2020, and June 10, 2022.

Lawmakers from both parties in the past year have repeatedly called out major issues with the cost, transparency and reliability of the VA’s electronic health record (EHR) system rollout that have seriously put veterans’ lives at risk.

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Aeyon, which has worked as a contractor for the Defense Department and civilian agencies related to financial management and tech modernization, will work with seven of the ten NASA centers during a contract period of up to eight years.

“This milestone contract affirms that agencies continue to turn to Aeyon for our ability to unlock financial management efficiencies at scale by standardizing key processes, consolidating financial contracts and ensuring auditability,” said Sunny Singh, President and CEO of Aeyon.

The NFSS contract is part of a multi-year initiative to streamline NASA’s procurement of its product service lines.

The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract was awarded by NASA to MM Technologies, a joint venture between Aeyon company Manufacturing Technical Solutions and Virginia-based small business MDW, Aeyon said in a statement last week.

The NFSS contract will be managed out of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The contract began on December 1st with a 90-day phase-in period, followed by a two-year base period, and three two-year option periods. 

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Orvis will oversee the decentralized Federal Statistical System, ensuring the government has high-quality, actionable data to inform policy decisions around issues like the pandemic, inflation, employment and education.

Her appointment comes after the role at the Office of Management and Budget remained vacant for more than two years.

OMB reposted the chief statistician job opening in October, after failing to fill the position when Nancy Potok left in January 2020 and missing deadlines for two Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act regulatory actions as a result.

“I am committed to ensuring the quality, integrity and objectivity of federal statistics and information used in decision making across the public and private sectors,” Orvis said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the leaders of the Federal Statistical System, including the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, as well as other key stakeholders in both the public and private sector.”

Orvis will chair a number of committees, facilitate discussions on governmentwide data standards, serve as the U.S. statistical representative in international forums like the U.N. and drive implementation of the evidence act.

She previously served as director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Suicide Prevention Office.

“She’s an expert in statistical methods and appropriate data collection, who understands how data and evidence can inform policy to improve how government serves the American people,” said OMB Director Shalanda Young in a statement. “And as someone who has led development, implementation and evaluation of vital programs at the Department of Defense, she has invaluable experience to be a leader in the evolving Federal Statistical System.”

As of Oct. 8, OMB had yet to require the timely provision of data assets, identify legal exemptions, establish standards compliant with the Privacy Act, or establish a transparent request process — in accordance with the Evidence Act. OMB also hadn’t issued a past-due regulation requiring statistical agencies to ensure timely dissemination of information, accuracy and objectivity in their activities, and preservation of public trust through confidential and exclusive statistical use of responses.

The chief statistician role is at the level of branch chief, but Nick Hart, president of the Data Foundation, has suggested elevating it one level up to deputy associate director.

“The position is critical to ensuring objective and reliable government statistics and protecting trust in government statistics,” said Kathy Ensor, president of the American Statistical Association, in a statement. “Given its importance, I urge OMB to strengthen the position — which has become even more important since the Evidence Act of 2018 became law — so the chief statistician is better equipped to fulfill her many important roles.”

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It is the latest product by the technology giant to receive approval under the federal security program in recent months, including its admin console, cloud identity, identity and access management and virtual private cloud systems.

Google Workspace is the company’s suite of cloud-based collaboration tools, including Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive and other applications. Workspace was formerly known as G Suite.

The high authorization was granted by the Joint Authorization Board (JAB), which is the governing body for the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and includes leaders from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and General Services Administration.

Every cloud service provider (CSP) working with federal agencies must seek approval under FedRAMP. Each CSP is assigned a rating of either low, moderate or high.

In addition, Google has also received impact level four provisional authorization (IL4) from the Department of Defense for Google Cloud. The designation has been awarded by the Defense Information Systems Agency and allows controlled unclassified information to be stored and processed across key Google services.

Organizations, including those in industries such as financial services and healthcare, are required to adhere to the IL4 designation.

Google Workspace is the latest product from a cloud provider to receive the authorization. In September, VMware received a FedRAMP high authorization designation for its VMware cloud product.

Cloud providers can obtain FedRAMP authorization either directly from the JAB, or through sponsorship by a specific government agency.

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The deal, signed Monday, should result in a new system dubbed “MyTravel” that will manage the full range of the department’s travel expenses and operations by fiscal 2025. The system will replace the legacy Defense Travel System (DTS) which has received poor user ratings and the department appears eager to replace, according to the contract document.

“The Government requires a secure, efficient, and effective commercial travel solution to book travel, provide travel fulfillment service, manage travel-related expenses, and initiate travel-related financial transactions,” the contract award states.

The system will cover travel across the globe, the document states. By replacing DTS with a software-as-a-service system, the DOD hopes to be able to maintain a modern system that keeps pace with tech changes. The DTS office was launched in 2006, but recently the system has faced poor reviews from users. The contract award states DTS is a “legacy system that continues to incur technical debt through poor usability, low customer satisfaction and improper payment of travel entitlements.”

The system design was sparked by a cross-functional team of staffed by the CIO’s office and the now-defunct Chief Management Officer’s office, which was dedicated to increasing business efficiencies.

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The report from the Defense Critical Supply Chain Task Force points to protecting DOD’s supply chains as a critical but overlooked defense objective. The task force’s leaders Reps. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., said the supply chain disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic was a motivator behind the investigation into how DOD buys its critical supplies, including tech, during war.

“Last year, we all saw how the shortages of PPE cost American lives. We struggled to get things like masks and gloves for our healthcare workers, and it was obvious that our supply chains had failed,” Slotkin said.

For tech, like the microchips that power everything from computers to weapon systems, many of the base materials come from abroad. Some, like rare earth elements, come mostly from China — a situation that could snarl supply chains for DOD if it ends up in a war with the country.

“Throughout the pandemic, U.S. adversaries like China weaponized supply chain vulnerabilities in a way that threatened Americans’ health and security,” Gallagher said. “Our Defense Critical Supply Chain faces similar weaknesses that, if exploited, would impair our ability to compete with our adversaries and respond to crises. This problem will not age well.”

One of the key recommendations for how to work with allies to reshore critical tech capability supply chains is to use the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB) Council and create an international council. The councils should be used as forum to coordinate industrial policy among allies, the report recommends.

“The NTIB is an underutilized forum and should be leveraged to shape policy and partnerships with allies,” the report states. “To reduce reliance on adversaries and expand partnerships, the NTIB will need to help shape global policy.”

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According to court documents, Amazon is seeking the disclosure of additional internal communications from the Department of Defense — including emails and Slack messages — which lawyers representing the government say cannot be disclosed because of national security concerns.

Both the U.S. government and contract winner Microsoft were seeking to expedite the case schedule. Lawyers for the government said its implications for national security also merit that the case be fast-tracked, while lawyers for Microsoft say it should be sped up because of the large financial losses the technology giant stands to accrue. The company declined to comment further.

Under the schedule put forward by AWS, the cloud services company will file a renewed motion to complete the administrative record by June 18. The U.S. government and Microsoft will then have until July 9 to respond, and Amazon will have until July 16 to file another reply.

It represents the latest stage in the legal challenge, which was launched by Amazon after the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract was awarded to Microsoft in 2019.

Pentagon officials have previously indicated that they may be willing to drop the cloud computing project, which has been slowed by the litigation.

In March this year, a federal judge refused a request by the DOD to dismiss much of Amazon’s case, and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks said the department would review the project.

In a statement to FedScoop, a DOD spokesperson said: “We are aware of the Court’s decision relating to the protest; however, it does not affect the DoD’s commitment to establish an enterprise-wide cloud capability.”

AWS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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