Building a Cyber-Ready Workforce in the Readiness Revolution

Mobile Military Recruitment is Meeting Prospects Where They Are

Military recruiting has become a lot more mobile in recent years, evolving to meet a generation that expects information and opportunities to come to them. Today’s recruiters are spending less time behind a desk and more time connecting with prospective service members at high schools, college career fairs, and community events. While recruiting offices still play an important role, they are now just one part of a much broader mobile military recruitment strategy. In the latest Government Technology Insider podcast, host Matt Langan spoke with Dale Butterworth, Senior Solutions Partner at Verizon, about why connectivity [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/5g-strategies-at-dod-navy-and-ntia-helping-shape-the-future-of-mobility-security-and-mission-agility/] has quietly become one of the most valuable tools recruiters carry into the field. Beyond simple internet access, recruiters need secure, reliable access [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/leveraging-enhanced-mobile-connectivity-to-boost-military-recruitment-a-podcast-with-verizon-and-cradlepoint/] to application information, the ability to validate application information on the spot, deliver immersive demonstrations using emerging technologies, and maintain the same level of capability in the field as they’d expect inside a secure facility.

AI-Driven Acquisition: Keeping Humans at the Center

With accelerating technology refresh cycles, evolving policy expectations, and the pressure to reduce waste and fraud while delivering mission outcomes faster, are transforming government acquisition from a transactional procurement function to a strategic capability. AI-driven acquisition offers agencies a way to address these pressures. Agencies are beginning to integrate AI [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/five-effective-ai-tips-for-federal-agencies-to-drive-real-mission-impact-in-2026/] directly into acquisition systems to streamline the requirements development process, automate research, and reduce administrative burden. These tools can help accelerate timelines and improve efficiency. However, agencies must also support common-sense workforce adoption to keep humans in the loop and avoid the risks of “cognitive surrender,” where users put too much trust into AI-generated outputs. Ben Allen, Vice President of Public Sector Solutions at Appian, joins our host, Lucas Hunsicker, in this episode of the Government Technology Insider podcast to talk about how acquisition modernization is evolving. They explore how the future of AI-enabled acquisition relies on embedding intelligent capabilities into procurement workflows in a way that keeps humans actively involved rather than replacing them.

Building a Cyber-Ready Workforce in the Readiness Revolution

The continual rapid evolution of the cyber threat landscape is making building a cyber workforce more important—and more difficult—than ever. As new cyber threats emerge more quickly and frequently, the “readiness revolution” is pushing cybersecurity readiness toward more active education and the ability to demonstrate skills before a crisis. In today’s episode of the Government Technology Insider podcast, Dan Magnotta, Senior Federal Business Development Manager at Hack The Box, explains how the readiness revolution is changing public sector cyber preparedness [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/technet-cyber-2026-takeaways-modernization-resilience-and-workforce-as-dod-transforms-cyber-strategy/] and what organizations can do to build a cyber-ready workforce. Artificial intelligence [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/doubling-down-on-fundamentals-how-ai-is-changing-and-not-changing-cybersecurity/] (AI), bring your own device policies, and new applications and devices are all expanding the government’s already massive attack surface. The Department of War’s (DoW) cyber workforce needs the skills to defend critical cyber terrain, but they also need the flexibility to shift priorities as threats, targets, and missions evolve.

AI Governance Defines the Next Stage of Federal AI Adoption

In a year defined by acceleration and transformation, 2025 will be remembered across the federal government as the start of artificial intelligence moving from pilot projects to production reality. Agencies are no longer debating whether to use AI; the conversation has shifted decisively to how to deploy it safely, effectively, responsibly, and at scale. On the most recent episode of the Government Technology Insider podcast, host, Lucas Hunsicker, spoke with Steve Boone, Director of Product Marketing at Checkmarx, about what this reframing has meant for government IT teams and what it signals as we move through 2026 and beyond.

Trust, Security, and Procurement: Deploying AI the Federal Way

As federal agencies continue to invest in, and deploy, AI solutions, the physical infrastructure needed to support mission-enabling use cases is top of mind for agency leaders. But the way these solutions will be acquired, implemented, and used significantly impacts the design of AI systems. Trust, security [https://governmenttechnologyinsider.com/technology-innovation-cybersecurity-and-knowledge-management-the-four-essentials-for-todays-federal-government-it-leaders/], and procurement all play a role in the value agencies get from AI and therefore must be considered from the onset. In part one of our podcast series, Michael Montgomery, President of Chenega Architecture and Design Solutions, explained how federal agencies can power and cool the systems enabling AI use cases and capabilities. In today’s episode of the Government Technology Insider podcast, we take a deeper dive into the operational challenges agencies need to keep in mind as they invest in AI.