The Department of the Navy is using AI across a range of mission areas. In the intelligence domain, the service is moving AI beyond experimental phases and integrating trustworthy AI into all warfighting functions, Christopher Page, deputy director of OPNAV's Intelligence Division, said on AI GovCast.

Page said data quality depends on agreed-upon terms for modeling adversary and friendly forces. For AI implementation to be effective, he said, the Navy must adhere to a common taxonomy and lexicon, noting that "a cruiser needs to be a cruiser, a rowboat needs to be a rowboat."

He added that the ultimate goal of the Navy's digital transformation is a hybrid fleet. The future force will feature expanded AI use across the department, autonomous systems that require less bandwidth, and integrated operations between manned and unmanned platforms.

AI is at the center of the Marine Corps' digital transformation efforts, from edge communication to cybersecurity. Marine Corps AI Lead Maj. Christopher Clark said AI it must be adapted to the physical and technical constraints of vehicles and equipment used on the front lines.

To tackle these constraints, the Marine Corps is organizing an AI workshop this March to bring together fleet-level problem solvers and industry innovators to identify and experiment with high-value solutions. Using Corps-wide talent, Clark said, USMC can find the best solutions to pressing problems. He added that recent research from a Marine Corps AI fellowship demonstrated that generative AI can perform this task with a 50% increase in speed, allowing networks to be established much faster than through traditional methods.

Clark also discussed the ways USMC is using AI to augment Marines talent, enhance data readiness for mission and reduce the fatigue associated administrative and intelligence work.

The War Department is modernizing its acquisition ecosystem to meet the demands of modern warfare. Designed for speed, the updated approach redefines how the Pentagon manages risk, incorporates feedback and iterates on capability delivery.

Speaking at AFCEA/USNI WEST in San Diego, California, Louis Koplin, the Navy's acting program executive officer for PEO Digital, said the Department of the Navy is focused on delivering capabilities early and often, using technology investment horizons to guide innovation. Iterative development, he said, relies on direct warfighter feedback and embedding operators within development teams.

Koplin added that industry input is shaping lessons learned across the department to address current challenges. Commercial and dual-use technologies, he said, are transforming how the Navy acquires and deploys new capabilities.

As artificial intelligence reshapes military operations at breakneck speed, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is launching an accelerated master's degree aimed at pushing AI-literate officers into the fleet as early as 2027. Speaking at AFCEA/USNI West in San Diego, Capt.

Mike Owen, co-chair of the NPS AI Task Force, said the new program is designed to close a widening gap between the pace of technological change and the Department of the Navy's ability to train personnel to use emerging tools.

Owen said NPS teams are also traveling to major Navy and Marine Corps hubs to deliver AI 101 and prompt-engineering workshops. He added that the rollout of GenAI.mil and increased access to AI models are enabling NPS students to explore the technology more deeply and deliver new capabilities to the Navy.

The U.S. Navy is transitioning to a continuous cybersecurity model, leveraging AI to prevent or significantly mitigate cyberattacks as it shifts from traditional risk management frameworks to the Cybersecurity Risk Management Construct.

Shery Thomas, enterprise IT officer at Navy Installations Command (CNIC), discussed how the transition is unfolding at the command level.

Thomas outlined CNIC's cybersecurity initiatives, including adopting a continuous observability and readiness model. He also addressed cultural hurdles in elevating cybersecurity to a "live" operational status and the steps the command is taking to overcome them.

In addition, Thomas discussed supply chain security and how CNIC is leveraging AI to support autonomous deterrence capabilities. He emphasized the human dimension of technological change, including how new cybersecurity structures impact sailors and civilian personnel at Navy installations and the efforts underway to strengthen workforce awareness and accountability.

War Department components are pivoting away from "exquisite" hardware in favor of agile, low-cost manufacturing methodologies. Part of this shift includes prize challenges like the Naval Postgraduate School's Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge, a non-traditional challenge that emphasizes methodology.

Speaking at AFCEA/USNI WEST in San Diego, California, NPS Director of Research Innovation at the Naval Postgraduate School Kaitie Penry said that the Tactical Missile Innovation Challenge, unlike traditional military contracts that demand a hardware prototype, asks participants for a design methodology. The goal, she said, is to produce missiles at scale using 3D printing and commercial off-the-shelf parts for cost efficacy and scalability.

Penry also said that the challenge aims to replace million-dollar assets with $5,000 alternatives that can be mass-produced, allowing the fleet to maintain a "quantity has a quality of its own" advantage for munitions.

Guest Ty Hughes is a longtime cybersecurity and technology leader in the public sector that champions cyber wellness. He discussed the concept of "AI alchemy" and a "pause, breathe, summarize" framework to help leaders improving clarity under pressure.

He framed cybersecurity not as a technical challenge, but rather as a human system under constant cognitive and emotional load. He discussed how burnout, decision fatigue and constant urgency can degrade security performance long before technical failures might appear.

The Trump administration's July 2025 AI Action Plan calls on National Institute of Standards & Technology to revise its AI Risk Management Framework amid easing federal regulation of the tech.

Martin Stanley, principal researcher for AI and cybersecurity at NIST, joined us at the AI Summit on Jan. 9 to discuss new AI control overlays for the Special Publication 800-53 series and the risks they are designed to address. Stanley explained how these overlays build on existing security controls to help agencies better manage AI-specific threats while aligning with broader federal priorities outlined in the AI Action Plan.

Stanley also explored where agencies struggle to turn AI risk frameworks into operational reality, from governance structures to implementation at the system level. Looking ahead, he shared how NIST expects AI security guidance to evolve as agencies transition from pilot projects to enterprise deployments and what new or updated standards federal leaders should anticipate next.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CIO Bob Costello joined GovCIO Media & Research at its AI Summit earlier this year to discuss how the agency is deploying agentic AI and tackling cybersecurity workforce challenges.

Costello outlined how CISA is integrating AI into operations while prioritizing security, oversight and workforce readiness.

Costello also highlighted CISA's partnership with the Office of Personnel Management on the Scholarship for Service CyberCorps program, which aims to strengthen the federal cybersecurity talent pipeline. He said agencies need new approaches to help employees better understand AI's role and build confidence using the technology in day-to-day work. The conversation also touched on how CISA's agentic AI capabilities are accelerating approval timelines and autonomously taking action to mitigate cyber threats.

Federal government's accelerated use of AI is driving attention toward data infrastructure. Efforts to train models and secure data mean AI is increasing both the volume of data agencies generate and the expectations placed on the infrastructure.

Pure Storage Senior Director of Strategic Federal Programs Doyle Choi focused on what AI and cybersecurity mean for the growing data demands and how he's seeing agencies rethinking storage and infrastructure strategies.

The interview also looks at how agencies are prioritizing infrastructure investments to support AI responsibly to balance speed and innovation with data protection, compliance and sustainability.