5 Takeaways from the 2026 Federal Cloud & Data Forum
As AI accelerates cloud adoption and data-driven transformation, federal agencies are rethinking their data strategy and how they manage, secure and scale their information ecosystems. Federal technology experts discussed some of their strategies for how cloud, edge and hybrid data solutions are powering AI innovation and enabling smarter decision-making across government.
VA is making data more accessible to proactively serve veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is improving data quality and interoperability to better anticipate veterans’ needs and reduce administrative burdens. VA CDO Lisa Rosenmerkel said the department is making information accessible across programs, reducing the need for veterans to repeatedly provide the same information when accessing health care and benefits.
Rosenmerkel emphasized that data quality remains critical to generating reliable insights amid adoption of artificial intelligence tools. Improved data sharing could also help the department proactively identify benefits and services veterans may be eligible for rather than requiring them to seek out those resources themselves.
“We ask veterans the same question too much,” Rosenmerkel said. “We should be able to share foundational information like that, so that you don’t need to do that.”
Agencies are rethinking AI infrastructure, costs and oversight.
Federal agencies are developing flexible AI architectures to integrate emerging capabilities into enterprise workflows while managing rising costs and security risks. Joe Croghan, associate director of informatics at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the agency is building a shared software platform that allows developers to quickly integrate AI into existing systems and adapt to evolving technologies.
GAO Director of IT and Cybersecurity Kevin Walsh emphasized that agencies must apply existing cybersecurity and compliance requirements to AI while addressing new accountability challenges as autonomous systems take on more complex decisions.
“One of the challenges we have is that things are changing so fast. This platform environment helps us pivot for that. If we let people build applications from the ground up, usually by the time they’ve built the application, it’s obsolete,” Croghan said.
NASA and CBP are expanding data sharing to support AI adoption.
NASA and Customs and Border Protection are modernizing data infrastructure to expand access to information and support growing AI capabilities. NASA Acting Chief Data and Super Intelligence Officer Kevin Murphy said the agency is working to make internal data accessible through APIs to accelerate research and engineering efforts, including missions supporting lunar exploration and advanced aircraft development.
CBP CDO Michelle Zebrowski said the agency is similarly expanding its API infrastructure and cataloging datasets to improve information sharing across its geographically dispersed operations.
“You can’t have super intelligence or artificial intelligence without a really good data ecosystem. If you don’t have that, then you can’t do the things that we need to do at NASA,” Murphy added.
AI is driving the need to streamline cloud adoption and security processes.
Federal agencies are modernizing cloud management and contracting processes to accelerate adoption, improve spending visibility and strengthen security. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services developed its Cloud Fusion Toolkit to help manage more than 1,800 cloud provider accounts and $275 million in annual spending. The toolkit uses AI to recommend cloud providers, forecast costs and identify potential savings.
Meanwhile, the Navy reduced cloud onboarding timelines from 45 to 60 days to just one to two weeks through streamlined contracting under the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract. The Marine Corps is also accelerating software delivery through its Operation Stormbreaker platform, which automates security scanning and compliance checks to reduce lengthy authorization processes while maintaining security.
“You cannot separate software from warfare anymore,” said Dave Raley, chief digital business officer for Operation Stormbreaker at the Marine Corps.
Government cloud and data efforts are hyper-focused on mission delivery.
Federal agencies are expanding cloud capabilities and data analytics to improve operational efficiency, strengthen cybersecurity and generate new mission insights.
The National Institutes of Health is developing an Integrated Data Platform to break down data silos and connect clinical, genomic and research datasets, and the Defense Intelligence Agency is also exploring automation to process millions of open-source intelligence data points.
“We have data sets, for instance, that have tens of millions of data points in them. No person can do anything with them, right? We need systems that can help us process that, and that’s one thing we’re working on as well,” said Eric Miller, DIA’s senior advisor for open source intelligence.