Presented by Red Hat & Carahsoft
Michelle Davis, Senior Director for DOD Solution Architecture at Red Hat, believes the future of government modernization begins with recognizing that data is the ultimate weapon in the digital age. Speaking at the Google Public Sector Summit, she explained why open, hybrid architectures and federated AI approaches are critical to national security and mission success.
“The best thing agencies have done is recognize that data is king,” Davis said. “It’s the most important weapon we have, and the demand for it is only increasing.”
She described how data now lives everywhere—on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge—and must be accessible securely across all those environments. “We can’t afford to centralize everything,” she said. “Instead, we have to bring AI processing to where the data lives. That’s the concept of federated AI—keeping raw data in place while sharing insights across systems.”
That approach, Davis said, allows agencies to maintain sovereignty and integrity of their data while enabling real-time collaboration across domains and partners. “Every coalition partner, every branch of service, every nation has its own data sovereignty,” she said. “Federated AI respects that while still enabling shared decision-making.”
She warned that government cannot continue the pattern of “bolting on” solutions after the fact. “We’ve spent decades patching and layering technology,” she said. “Now’s the time to design from a clean slate—with scalability, interoperability, and security built in from the start.”
Open standards and hybrid cloud architectures, she argued, provide that flexibility. “They allow us to access, process, and protect data wherever it resides,” Davis said. “That’s how we get the maximum impact from AI.”
She also highlighted a cultural dimension to modernization. “Technology isn’t the problem—culture is,” she said. “We have plenty of tools. What we need is a trained, confident workforce that’s encouraged to test, experiment, and fail fast.”
Training and continuous learning, she added, are critical to ensuring that technology investments translate into real mission advantage. “You can’t innovate without an environment that supports hands-on learning,” she said. “The faster we create spaces for experimentation, the faster we advance.”
For Davis, modernizing data strategy isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about resilience, interoperability, and readiness. “Bandwidth is a luxury,” she said. “Knowing what data is relevant, where it lives, and how to move it securely will define success in an AI-driven world.”
Key Takeaways
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Data is the most critical strategic asset for government and defense missions.
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Federated AI keeps data secure while enabling collaboration across systems and partners.
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Cultural change—encouraging training, testing, and learning—is essential for sustainable innovation.