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Event
October 1, 2026
2:00 pm
EVENT: Winning the Adoption War: Diffusing AI Across the U.S. Military
The United States leads the world in frontier artificial intelligence. However, cutting edge technology used by a limited number of people is a trophy, not a capability – and the contest with China will not be decided only at the frontier.
If the most sophisticated technology on earth reaches only a fraction of the force, how much advantage does it confer? How is the Pentagon moving from procuring AI to diffusing it across the force? What cultural and organizational changes does an “AI-first” military require? And how does the United States build and keep the technical talent inside government, turning tools into outcomes before its competitors close the gap?
To discuss these questions and others, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) hosts a conversation with FDD Visiting Military Fellow Major Megan “Napalm” Hainline, F-16 instructor pilot and AI leader; FDD Adjunct Fellow Isaac “Ike” Harris, executive director of the Frontier Security Institute; and Leah Siskind, FDD AI Research Fellow. The discussion will be moderated by RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, Senior Director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation.
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Overnight Brief: October 22, 2026
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- "A Buyout for Iran’s ‘Shadow Fleet’," The Wall Street Journal
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- "Navi Pillay: Nobel and Noxious (Translated from French)," Franc Tireur
- "Remarks before the Congressional Ukraine Caucus," Congressional Ukraine Caucus
- "Beyond Encryption: Reducing the Value of Exposed Data," TCIL Technical Note
- "Turkey’s Justification for Military Presence in Syria Doesn’t Hold Up," FDD Policy Brief
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