Just like old times.
The U.S. government is discussing an executive order to create an AI working group that would bring together tech executives and government officials to examine potential oversight procedures, according to the New York Times.
Dig Deeper
Last week, the Pentagon said it had reached agreements with seven AI companies to deploy their advanced capabilities on the Defense Department's classified networks. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Microsoft, Google and xAI had agreed to give the U.S. government early access to new artificial intelligence models for national security testing. Also, the Hill has reported the White House and the Pentagon are not in agreement on the ongoing fight with Anthropic.
Top Headlines
Riyadh told the White House it would not allow its Prince Sultan airbase to be used for "Project Freedom," the effort to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz that was launched Monday and abruptly paused Tuesday.
Recent Congressional moves on reconciliation have pushed the Pentagon's $350 billion request indefinitely down the road, and raise the specter that a major part of the department's funding plan — vital to ramping up munitions production and the Golden Dome missile shield — might not materialize.
Iran launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as U.S. ships transited the strait. U.S. forces retaliated by targeting the Iranian military facilities responsible for the attacks with no reported damage to U.S. assets.
Among new UAP files released Friday were some interesting accounts from Apollo missions. The Pentagon will be releasing new materials on a rolling basis as they are discovered and declassified, with tranches posted every few weeks.
The Pentagon's Chief Digital and AI Office is eager to expand its deployment of a new task automation platform — the "CDAO Wingman" — that's designed to help defense and military users develop and scale their own digital assistants to offload document-heavy workflows and repetitive, compliance-driven functions.
The transatlantic defense industrial base is among the most capable in the world. Across the United States and Europe, thousands of companies, from precision manufacturers to dual-use startups to research institutes are pushing the boundaries of what is technologically possible. Structurally, the two regions share many strengths: strong engineering cultures with deep scientific talent and a long history of coalition-based cooperation. But one difference often surprises Americans, who lament their own often disconnected system: Europe's industrial landscape is far more fragmented. Dozens of national ecosystems, multiple languages, different procurement cultures and varying regulatory frameworks shape who gets seen and who does not.
Recent requests to industry for their input from DARPA may feed into challenging lines of effort being led by the Defense Autonomous Working Group, who recently saw a massive budget increase proposal for fiscal 2027.
In her first major speech since taking the reins at NGA, Lt. Gen. Michelle Bredenkamp also said the agency has stood up a new Rapid Capabilities Office to speed integration of innovative commercial tech.
The administration's revamp of the Federal Acquisition Regulation has cut nearly a quarter of its content so far, according to a senior officials who say the effort is designed to help shift decision-making power back to the acquisition workforce.
A Government Accountability Office report has found that the Small Business Administration has not consistently met federal requirements to publicly disclose how it uses artificial intelligence, raising concerns about transparency.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – fresh out of the longest shutdown in government history and ready to begin hiring again after shedding staff for the past year – is out with new cybersecurity crisis planning guidance for critical infrastructure organizations.
Sec. Driscoll and leaders from major defense contractors announced May 5 that they will "sprint" to conduct a series of combined Army and defense industry partnered hackathon events to integrate critical military technology systems.
Dig Deeper
The U.S. Army requested $253 billion to boost research and development spending by 12.9 percent. While officials say the extra will allow the Army to "keep a technological advantage," congressional leaders have expressed concern that it could come at the expense of accountability. Read more from Army Times. Meanwhile, the Pentagon hosted its annual Pentagon Labs Day to showcase advanced tech from research around the nation.
Why you should read The MC Post every Saturday morning.
We're bringing back the familiar comfort of unfolding the weekend newspaper and catching up on the headlines, without the tacky popups, scammy ads, or bait-and-switch paywalls that you've come to know and hate. In a world racing toward AI-generated content, The MC Post is curated by people for people. Brought to you by Mission Cultivate—the free networking platform for defense and national security pros. Each week here you'll find the latest in defense and industry to keep you informed ... and more importantly, save you some time. (Subscribe)
Feature Opinions
Experts examine three emerging, much needed technology types through the lens of acquisition reforms to see how they stack up. They are: collaborative combat aircraft; positioning, navigation and timing alternatives to GPS; and counter-drone weapons for small units or vehicles.
Reducing the number of critical technology areas is just one part of the solution. A more important aspect is rethinking the Defense Department's approach to how it funds these critical technologies, argues Julie George, research fellow at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
An Air Force contracting officer says the defense industrial base needs expansion, and demand signals need consistency. Finding the tool that does that by defining operational impact wouldbe "the most consequential near-term contribution Washington's defense analysis community."
Worth a listen
Tim Brennan, president of the Center for Procurement Advocacy, discusses acquisition policy and outlines the key procurement priorities for this year's National Defense Authorization Act. In particular, he addresses the growing split between the Department of War's acquisition authorities and civilian agency acquisition authorities and sees an opportunity this year to narrow the gap.
Editor's Notes
There's a very interesting Government Accountability Office Report out this week. They convened a panel of experts (and a former MC Post guest editor!) to examine issues related to federal agencies' use of AI with small businesses and SBIR/STTR programs. What they found should sound familiar, especially to every small business that is employing AI to bridge team capability gaps and stay competitive. AI is synonymous with potential. Potential to go faster. Potential to save money. Potential to find the needle in the haystack. Or, as the report points out and common sense reinforces, potential to misinterpret incomplete data. Small businesses are especially susceptible to the risks because they simply do not have the institutional buffer to recognize AI error. It's a paradox of size. As you grow large enough to do so, and your need to automate decreases. If you've been a reader of this section of The MC Post, you know I represent what I would call the "cautiously optimistic" wing of the AI futurists. There is no denying the direction we are headed or the seemingly unlimited potential to do good for people, organizations and the general welfare, but especially in this nascent stage of implementation — when we have such a limited understanding of how outputs are being generated — we need to center humans in any process. That means seeing AI as a tool, not its own end. That's exactly what the GAO report recommends in the form of human reviewers to be inserted at key decision points armed with context. Especially in the realm of contracting, the possibility of AI unconstrained by human input can lead to a purposeless waste of institutional effort. Our team's own Jerry Ramey wrote about this for Federal News Network last year, describing a possible future where the SBIR/STTR submission process devolves to a point of AI generated content itself being reviewed by AI. Insisting that we view AI as a tool that requires human intervention allows us to grow with it. Consider Ramey's example. A company employing AI to write a proposal is worse off if all it has to do is click a button to generate content and then submit. What was in the document? Can the submitter speak to how their solution meets the government's needs? AI that can sift through the opportunities and pull the human in for context and decisions is certainly superior, both is output and outcome. As the GAO report calls for, let's let the bots do what they're good at, namely "reducing staff burden, saving time, improving fraud prevention, and enabling analysis of large volumes of information". That last one is particularly relevant to this week's original content from Katrin Mayrhofer, who writes that the problem of visibility is all the more complex as we look to technology development across the Atlantic. Surely any solution that identifies emerging technology opportunities among complex and unique industrial ecosystems and then aligns with real needs and funding sources will require the broad kind of visibility only AI can provide. So, as I said before, I am indeed optimistic about where we're headed as long as we can keep our heads on straight about it!
In the Weeds
Europe's surge in defense spending represents a once-in-a-generation strategic opportunity to restore deterrence and improve real fighting power. Allies must shift their mindset: Ukraine is no longer a perpetual aid recipient — it is a valuable net contributor to allied security and therefore should be integrated into NATO's force-planning, logistics, and procurement systems. Read more in an in-depth report published this week.
Happening on MC
If you're not on Mission Cultivate, here's just some of what you're missing.
Opportunities
Event Conversations
Continue Reading
Federal agencies are entering a critical implementation phase of the Federal Acquisition Regulation overhaul, as officials push to replace compliance-heavy procurement processes with more flexible, mission-driven approaches.
SBIR/STTR program offices released 98 topics in the first 24 hours after President Trump signed the reauthorization bill. Now there are hundreds of topics across the Army, Air Force, Navy and other civilian agencies.
.avif)
In one of the stranger press conference moments of recent memory, when asked about the potential use of "kamikaze dolphins" by Iran, Sec. Hegseth said "I can't confirm or deny whether we have kamikaze dolphins, but I can confirm they don't, ultimately."
This year's iteration of the U.S.-Philippines bilateral exercise known as Balikatan saw the implementation of several new weapons, including HIMARS, one-way attack drones, 105-millimeter artillery.
Sources said recent personnel changes and reversal of a reorganization effort launched by Cao's predecessor, John Phelan, have left some officials "in shock."
FREE, GovCloud-Secured Networking Platform for Defense and Industry
Mission Cultivate is the free, discreet networking platform for Defense and Industry. Find the others in national security and collaborate on the solutions warfighters need in one space.
See Mission CultivateHeads up: MC is only for verified users in Defense/War & NatSec. Users include gov, industry, academia, vc, and more. Only available to US, NATO, or select major US allies.
