- The Department of War is prioritizing a four-pillar digital transformation strategy for decision dominance, DOW CIO and Wash100 awardee Kirsten Davies said during her 2026 Digital Transformation Summit keynote.
- These four pillars, including an enduring digital foundation, will help the Pentagon deliver agile capabilities from the center to the edge.
- Get more agile technology business opportunities and mission-focused dialogue at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Cyber Summit on May 21!
The Pentagon is prioritizing a four-pillar digital transformation strategy for warfighter decision dominance, department Chief Information Officer and Wash100 Award winner Kirsten Davies told a buzzing ballroom Wednesday at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Digital Transformation Summit.
What Is the Pentagon’s Digital Transformation Strategy?
The four pillars of the Pentagon’s digital transformation strategy are: an enduring digital foundation, building differently, cybersecurity, and upskilling, cross-skilling and partnering.
Enduring Digital Foundation
An enduring digital foundation is about providing the men and women of the U.S. armed forces through resilient connectivity and immense computational power. Davies said the DOW plans to achieve this goal by transforming and scaling its technology ecosystem for interoperability, resilience and security.
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Building Differently
The second pillar, building differently, focuses on delivering agile digital capabilities. She said the department is moving away from slow and monolithic programs and toward rapid iterative delivery of software, software-as-a-service and AI.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity, the third pillar, is the bedrock of the DOW digital transformation strategy. Cybersecurity, Davies said, is not just about defending networks, but also fortifying operational and warfighting technology, and critical infrastructure and the defense industrial base.
Upskilling, Cross-Skilling and Partnering
Lastly, upskilling, cross-skilling and partnering is about providing the workforce with the skills it needs to dominate in the digital age.
This digital transformation strategy, Davies said, will help the Pentagon deliver agile capabilities from the center to the edge, where it is needed. It’s also more than a strategy: it’s the office of the CIO and the Defense Information Security Agency’s unwavering commitment to give U.S. warfighters daily supremacy and decision dominance they deserve on the battlefields of today and tomorrow.
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What’s the Difference Between Digital Transformation and Modernization?
Davies said warfare is evolving and the ability of the U.S. to maintain a decisive technological advantage depends on the work it does with industry. She mentioned a moment from January when she was traveling with Secretary of War and fellow Wash100 awardee Pete Hegseth to SpaceX.
Hegseth discussed how innovation was taking place faster than humans could understand and how the Pentagon needed the entire enterprise to embrace the urgency required for this moment. Davies said she used the term transformation deliberately with her strategy because technological transformation is fast and revolutionary. On the other hand, modernization can be evolutionary, but slow.
