The defense industrial base is a critical partner in advancing the DOW’s national defense priorities. To accelerate industry participation, the DOW has launched the Golden Dome Hub as a practical digital entry point for organizations that want to contribute to the Golden Dome Initiative.

Over the last few years, AI has been the hot topic of conversation in SLED IT. We’ve seen AI move from theoretical to actual implementation. SLED agencies are now deploying AI across a wide range of use cases including citizen services, workforce productivity, document processing, case management, fraud detection, and analytics and decision support, among others.

Kirsten Baesler, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, made clear in an August 2026 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) that technology certainly plays an important role in education. At the same time, vendors and partners need to increase transparency and shoulder accountability with schools regarding student success and outcomes.

This year, the DOW has made official its priority to advance its AI dominance across all branch services by “becoming an AI-First warfighting force.” AI technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing, and computer AI-vision are being integrated into military operations to improve decision-making, enhance efficiency, and increase autonomous capabilities. Most revealing, however, are the DoW’s budget requests for AI investment, setting the trend for implementation.

Federal quantum policy is shifting from long-term research planning to implementation and readiness. There have been several recent actions taken, including executive orders, strategy updates and new initiatives, to strengthen U.S. leadership in quantum technologies and post-quantum cyber resilience. Quantum is becoming a priority in federal IT modernization, cybersecurity, procurement and national security. 

The Quantum Threat and The Need for Change

Quantum computing is introducing a newer cybersecurity risk with the potential to undermine encryption methods that are currently considered secure, reducing their effectiveness against future threats. For federal agencies and national security systems, this is critical as they rely on cryptography to protect data, identities, software and communications. The risk is not theoretical for planning purposes.

Reshaping Federal Logging Requirements 

As of late May, 2026, logging requirements for federal agencies will shift from a volume-driven mindset to a risk-based logging approach. The previous logging requirements published in 2021 via OMB Memo M-21-31 have been rescinded with the publication of OMB’s latest memo M-26-14, calling the logging of cyber incidents across federal agencies to include both Continuous Event Monitoring (CEM) and Threat Hunting, Investigation, Response and Forensics (THIRF).

At this year’s Red, White and You conference, our market intelligence team detailed the ins and outs of what we’re seeing across the public sector. Throughout the sessions, one theme became clear: while success in the public sector market used to rely heavily on institutional knowledge and long-standing relationships, agency buying cycles, and slower opportunity development, the market this year looks different. It’s faster, calling for more efficiency, innovation and cost-optimization.

On a typical day in 2024, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) reported the military health system (MHS) encountered 164,000 patients and 205,000 procedures across military hospitals and medical clinics globally. Assuming this pace continues throughout the fiscal year, MHS is estimated to have managed 60 million occurrences in FY25. The sheer volume of data generated across the MHS is immense. Optimizing this data is critical for clinicians and healthcare providers to support the health and readiness of service members.

In June 2025, Texas signed the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act into law, outlining statutory requirements for the state’s use of AI. In response to this, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) released an updated Artificial Intelligence Strategic Plan in January 2026.