5 Takeaways from DoDIIS 2026

NGA CIO Mark Chatelain said the agency’s zero trust strategy incorporates identity-based access controls and microsegmentation to better secure data across cloud and on-premises environments.

The agency is also beginning to apply AI to cybersecurity and mission operations, including detecting cyber anomalies, monitoring system performance and providing analysts with automated insights from agency data. The approach reflects NGA’s broader effort to modernize its infrastructure while maintaining human oversight as AI takes on a larger role in intelligence workflows.

Intelligence officials are exploring how AI can improve warfighting capabilities such as intelligence-to-action timelines, targeting and information sharing.

Marine Corps IC4 Director Jeff Hurley emphasized the importance of properly labeling and managing data from the start so it can move securely across domains and support AI-enabled platforms like the Maven Smart System. Coast Guard CIO for Intelligence William White similarly pointed to AI and automation as tools to reduce human bottlenecks in information processing and sharing.

“AI is absolutely an important tool, and it is absolutely going to be the future. I don’t need to spend a million dollars on an AI solution to solve a 50-cent problem,” Hurley said.

DIA Director Lt. Gen. James Adams outlined six capabilities the agency needs from partners to ensure intelligence can keep pace: advanced open-source intelligence, true intelligence convergence through interoperability and common metadata standards, mature zero trust, shared enterprise security services, virtual SCIFs and continued improvements to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System.

DIA Deputy CIO Marc Zuccola explained how the agency is approaching modernization to account for growing volumes of data, securely share information across organizations and give decision-makers trusted intelligence faster as warning times shrink and threats become more complex.

Looking ahead, DIA CIO E.P. Mathew warned that advances in quantum computing and the prospect of “Q-Day” could break asymmetric encryption, potentially exposing sensitive systems to undetectable malware. He said the threat makes current modernization efforts, particularly the transition to post-quantum cryptography, critical to national security.

“If there’s one thing you can remember from this message: we have to get to post-quantum encryption. Our very way of life depends on it,” Mathew said. “This is our digital enigma moment. Dare I say, democracy and freedom are at stake.”

U.S. Strategic Command Commander Adm. Richard Correll warned that the U.S. is operating in an increasingly contested environment as adversaries expand their capabilities across cyber, space, the electromagnetic spectrum, advanced weapons and critical supply chains. At the same time, information warfare, precision strike and AI are reshaping how conflicts are fought.

Correll said maintaining an advantage will require the U.S. to break down data stovepipes, fuse intelligence from across domains and move emerging technologies beyond demonstrations into operational capabilities. AI could give analysts earlier warning, improve sensing and planning, and support faster decision-making, but Correll emphasized that humans must remain responsible for key decisions.

“We have to treat data as a strategic weapon, not a byproduct,” Correll said.

Axonius Federal Field CTO Brian “Stretch” Meyer said defense and intelligence organizations need greater visibility into their environments as they adopt AI, including the ability to identify “unknown unknowns” such as assets with incomplete software or vulnerability data.

Agencies will also need to secure and monitor AI tokens so compromised sessions cannot become a pathway to sensitive network information. With those foundations in place, Meyer said AI could help resource-constrained cyber teams cut through thousands of redundant alerts and give less-experienced defenders additional support analyzing threats, particularly as secure, on-premises AI capabilities become available to the intelligence community.