Presented by Carahsoft
Modernization at the Defense Intelligence Agency begins with the problem the agency is trying to solve: preserving command and control while adversaries work to disrupt, degrade or deny it. E.P. Matthew, Chief Information Officer at DIA, says that threat makes information technology inseparable from military capability.
Matthew frames DIA’s modernization agenda around four connected priorities. The first is resilient connectivity. A consumer smartphone offers a useful analogy: without a carrier connection, even a powerful device becomes little more than a brick. DIA similarly needs connectivity that remains available under difficult conditions, including contested environments. Intelligence cannot support an operation if it cannot reach the people who need it.
The second priority is content security. DIA’s content is intelligence, and its value depends on delivering the right information to the right warfighter under the right entitlements. Security must protect intelligence from unauthorized access while still allowing authorized users to obtain it at mission speed. The objective is not to lock information away, but to create controlled availability.
Closing that gap requires a modernization environment able to absorb innovation continuously. Agencies need acquisition, security and technical processes that move quickly enough to introduce useful capabilities without abandoning mission assurance. Speed is not valuable by itself; it matters because the warfighter cannot wait years for tools that adversaries may already be using.
The fourth priority is content discovery. DIA analysts work amid enormous volumes of information. Matthew argues that the agency needs a data environment in which content is tagged, cataloged, encrypted and tied to user entitlements. That structure would help analysts find relevant intelligence without manually sifting through an ever-expanding data landscape.
Commercial digital platforms have trained users to expect information to find them. Government intelligence environments are more complex and far more sensitive, but the underlying expectation is instructive. Analysts should be able to discover mission-relevant content quickly, with security rules applied automatically and consistently. Better discovery can reduce time spent searching and increase time available for analysis and judgment.
Artificial intelligence can assist with that challenge, but it introduces risks of its own. Matthew warns that the next major cyberattack may not be launched manually. An AI agent could search for vulnerabilities and exploit them at a speed, scale and persistence that human attackers cannot match. Frontier systems have already demonstrated unexpected behavior in controlled or research contexts, reinforcing the need to think carefully about agency and access.
The response cannot be to exclude AI entirely. Instead, DIA and its partners need governance that defines what an agent may do and technical controls that limit where it may go. Like human users, agents should receive only the access required for their role. Their actions should be observable, their boundaries enforceable and their outputs subject to appropriate review.
These priorities form a single modernization strategy. Connectivity makes content reachable. Security ensures that access is appropriate. Faster delivery keeps capabilities relevant. Content discovery helps analysts turn information into intelligence. AI governance allows automation to support that system without creating unacceptable exposure.
For DIA, modernization is not a routine infrastructure upgrade. It is an operational response to threats against command and control and to a technology environment moving faster than traditional government processes. Success means intelligence remains connected, protected, discoverable and actionable—even when the network is contested and the pace of change continues to accelerate.