DoDIIS 2026 Insights

Send the right data to the right person at the right time, in a secure, discoverable, interoperable and actionable environment. 

Whether or not you attended DoDIIS this year, that was arguably the defining takeaway from the event's senior leaders and conference sessions.

For vendors and reseller partners, this message is significant. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and other Intelligence Community (IC) agencies are not simply looking for more tools. They need secure, integrated environments that help analysts, operators, mission owners and decision-makers move faster without increasing risk.

The sessions at DoDIIS this year reinforced several major themes reflected in the IC's continued push to modernize how data, identity, security, acquisition and mission outcomes work together.

Connectivity Is King

DIA and other defense intelligence organizations operate in an environment where information is globally contested, adversaries are rapidly adopting AI and autonomous technologies and battlefield decisions increasingly depend on timely access to trusted data.

Leaders also emphasized that the operating environment is becoming more connected. In the commercial world, single-purpose devices have largely converged into smartphones. DIA views that type of integrated access as an indicator of where technology is heading. Within the IC, however, increased connectivity must be balanced with content security, identity management, auditing and mission-specific access controls.

For vendors and partners, this creates opportunities around secure connectivity, encrypted communications, resilient networking, tactical edge capabilities, secure mobile access and highly available systems. Solutions that provide secure access across environments while maintaining strict controls over who can access specific data, and under what circumstances, will be highly relevant.

Data Discovery, Inventory, and Content Security Are Foundational

Data inventory, discovery, classification, labeling, and automated patching are also likely to remain important areas of investment. DIA and other agency officials discussed the need for environments in which sensitive data can be located, categorized, secured and shared appropriately.

Agencies are working to build data environments that can locate sensitive content, support information discovery, and ensure the right data reaches the right person. This is especially important as the IC works with open-source intelligence, diverse collection sources, and information spanning multiple intelligence disciplines.

These environments require common terminology, secure information-sharing mechanisms, interoperable metadata, and tools capable of sorting, organizing, tracking and retrieving information across mission domains.

This creates opportunities in offering data catalogs, data fabric architectures, automated discovery and classification tools, metadata management, secure knowledge management and AI-enabled search capabilities.

Zero Trust and ICAM Remain Critical

Zero trust remains one of the most important security priorities for DIA and the broader IC. DoDIIS leaders placed particular emphasis on the intersection of zero trust architecture and identity, credential and access management (ICAM).

ICAM extends beyond individual products and technical capabilities. It also encompasses culture, policy, governance, and operational consistency, and DIA officials continued to emphasize they are working to move away from disparate systems and inconsistent approaches that can create security risks. One key effort is the development of a master user record that could help standardize identity management and clarify who granted access, why that access exists, and whether it remains appropriate.

Defense and intelligence agencies will need interoperable, standards-based ICAM solutions that integrate into broader zero trust architectures. Relevant capabilities include identity governance, privileged access management, continuous authentication, access auditing, policy enforcement and integration with AI-enabled workflows.

And, as AI becomes more embedded in intelligence operations, ICAM strategies will also need to account for machine identities, AI agents and automated workflows.

AI Is Complex

AI was another major theme across the event, but the message was nuanced. IC officials are exploring AI as a way to improve decision-making while preserving critical thinking, analytic rigor, and human accountability.

Potential use cases include threat detection, incident response, anomaly identification, open-source intelligence organization, data translation and decision support. At the same time, agencies recognize that AI introduces new operational, security and governance risks.

One concern raised by officials, however, was the potential for AI systems to operate with greater autonomy, increasing the need for stronger governance, continuous monitoring and meaningful human oversight. Deepfakes, AI-driven automation and adversarial manipulation are already contributing to a more contested information environment. Data translation also creates risk when meaning, context or classification boundaries are altered.

These challenges create opportunities for vendors and partners offering secure AI solutions, responsible AI governance, model monitoring, AI security, content provenance, synthetic media detection, automated threat detection and human-in-the-loop decision support.

Secure-By-Design Environments

Another resounding message was that agencies do not want disconnected products. They are seeking secure-by-design environments that meet IC standards, integrate with existing systems and support mission workflows from the outset.

NGA's cloud discussion during the conference reflected this priority clearly. Agencies need solutions designed with security as a foundational requirement, along with industry support to incorporate security earlier in the development and implementation process.

DIA is seeking prototypes that are secure, scalable, interoperable and mission-ready. Plug-and-play capabilities will matter, but only when they can integrate into existing architectures, comply with applicable standards and support modular open systems.

Acquisition Outcomes

DIA's acquisition transformation discussions also carried important go-to-market implications. Agency leaders described a movement toward faster acquisition models, broader use of Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs), portfolio-based management, enhanced requirements development and outcome-based approaches.

Based on the conference discussions, OTAs could play a larger role in IT pilots because they can support problem-based solicitations, milestone-based payments, faster industry responses and more flexible acquisition processes.

A consistent message accompanying the acquisition reform discussion was that vendors and partners must connect their capabilities to mission outcomes, measurable improvements and operational use cases. Engagement outside formal acquisition cycles, including industry days, technical exchanges and problem-framing discussions, may also help companies identify requirements and shape potential solutions earlier.

Culture and Workforce

Several leaders emphasized that many modernization challenges are not purely technical. Agencies will also require improved cyber incident reporting, clearer processes, stronger oversight and greater workforce readiness.

Adoption challenges often arise as a result of legacy processes, even as technology changes rapidly. Modernization efforts must therefore address the people, policies and governance structures surrounding new technologies.

This creates opportunities for enablement training, change management, implementation support, governance design, cyber reporting playbooks and workforce development.

Priorities for Industry

For vendors and partners, the DoDIIS message was clear: the market is moving toward secure, interoperable, and outcome-driven modernization. The most relevant solution areas for future opportunities include:

• Secure connectivity and resilient communications
• Data discovery, inventory, cataloging and classification
• ICAM and zero trust architecture
• Automated auditing, compliance and cyber incident reporting
• Secure-by-design cloud and infrastructure modernization
• AI-enabled anomaly detection, open-source intelligence management and incident response
• Modular open systems that integrate with existing environments
• Portfolio-aligned delivery models and rapid pilots supported by OTAs
• Workforce enablement, governance, and adoption support

Helping DIA and other IC agencies build trusted environments in which data, identity, security, AI and mission workflows reinforce one another will be paramount.

As DIA prepares to refresh its strategy (slated for late 2026), modernizes enterprise systems, expands its use of rapid authority to operate processes, and moves toward portfolio-based acquisition, vendors and partners have an important role to play. The companies best positioned to compete will be those that can demonstrate trust, interoperability, speed and measurable mission impact.

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About the Author:
Susanna Patten is a senior manager on the TD SYNNEX Public Sector Market Insights team covering tech trends across the Public Sector. Susanna has over 15 years of experience in public sector IT procurement. Her responsibilities at TD SYNNEX Public Sector include driving market intelligence asset production, ensuring the quality and relevance of deliverables from the Market Insights team, and aligning these insights with sales opportunities.