U.S. military debuts new Task Force Easy to enable drone tech ‘adaptation dominance’

The Pentagon recently established a new task force that’s charged with rapidly iterating and advancing weaponized drones and small uncrewed ground vehicles across the U.S. military. Col. Michael Penn, the Army official who is commanding the team — dubbed Task Force Easy — shed new light on its origin and Defense Department leaders’ overarching vision for it during the annual AUSA conference on Tuesday. “We’re slower, less effective. We don’t outpace our enemy and our threat in how quickly we adapt new technology. So we’re trying to fix that in our task force,” Penn said. Task Force Easy was initiated as DOD personnel have been hustling to solve technical and structural challenges associated with acquiring and deploying affordable drones and other unmanned capabilities en masse for modern combat operations.

Democrats on the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees recently sent letters to the Department of Veterans Affairs and Oracle demanding answers about the increase in the electronic health record modernization contract ceiling. In a letter dated last week, ranking members Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked VA Secretary Doug Collins for several documents related to the increase and answers to 13 questions by Oct. 30. In August, the VA-Oracle EHRM contract ceiling jumped from almost $10 billion to nearly $27 billion without widespread knowledge in Congress — but the VA says Congress was told of the estimated total rollout cost last year. Citing FedScoop reporting, the lawmakers asked for documentation supporting the VA-Oracle EHRM contract modification, including market research and documents explaining the increase and “unanticipated complexities” the VA cited in the redacted modification. They also asked for written responses to questions about how the contract increase happened — including why it did, given that Oracle co-CEO Mike Sicilia told the Senate committee in a 2022 statement that the company would absorb any “performance or workflow” issue costs. The letter also includes several questions about the new EHR’s compliance with federal disability regulations, additional costs and patient safety.

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