Our picksCollective cyber-defense; multibillion-dollar cloud; military AI, and more

DHS floats ‘collective defense’ model for cybersecurity (Derek B. Johnson, FCW)
The upcoming White House national cybersecurity strategy will empower the Department of Homeland Security to more forcefully respond to cyber threats directed at the private sector and critical infrastructure entities, according to agency chief Kirstjen Nielsen.

Flood of U.S. citizenship applications increases wait times, anxiety (Miranda S. Spivack, Reveal)
Immigration advocates are concerned that the slowdown is deliberate, a move to “suppress the vote” of these potential citizens.

Defense Department is pursuing another multibillion-dollar cloud (Frank Konkel, Defense One)
This cloud is focused on collaboration and business tools.

Climate change will make California’s drought-flood cycle more volatile, study finds (Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times)
The threat to aging dams and flood-control networks will increase. The wildfire threat will grow more extreme.

Report: Many feds don’t believe the hype about emerging tech (Jack Corrigan, Nextgov)
Techies love the tried and true.

The promise and peril of military applications of artificial intelligence (Michael C. Horowitz, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a moment in the national security space. While the public may still equate the notion of artificial intelligence in the military context with the humanoid robots of the Terminator franchise, there has been a significant growth in discussions about the national security consequences of artificial intelligence. These discussions span academia, business, and governments, from Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom’s concern about the existential risk to humanity posed by artificial intelligence to Tesla founder Elon Musk’s concern that artificial intelligence could trigger World War III to Vladimir Putin’s statement that leadership in AI will be essential to global power in the 21st century.

CIA releases Morell memo clearing Haspel on destroyed tapes (Cipher Brief)
The CIA is defending its deputy director Gina Haspel – Trump administration nominee to lead the agency – against charges that she erred when she wrote a cable to CIA employees, instructing them to destroy tapes of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques used on post-9/11 detainees. The CIA on Friday released a declassified memo of former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell’s internal investigation of Haspel, and her then-boss Jose Rodriguez, who headed the agency’s clandestine service.