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Public Comment
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.
Featured Experts
Mark Dubowitz
Chief Executive
- Iran Sanctions
- Iran Human Rights
- Syria
- Iran Missiles
- Iran
- Iran Global Threat Network
- Hezbollah
- Iran-backed Terrorism
- Sanctions and Illicit Finance
- Cyber
- Iran Nuclear
RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery
CCTI Senior Director and Senior Fellow
Edmund Fitton-Brown
Senior Fellow
Bridget Toomey
Research Analyst
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U.S. Secretary of State and Acting National Security Advisor
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President of Taiwan
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Tsai Ing-wen
Former President of Taiwan
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Former Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, U.S. Department of State
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Former President
Overnight Brief: October 13, 2026
Read Full BriefToday In Issues:
FDD Research & Analysis
- "Navi Pillay’s Undeserved Nobel Peace Prize," National Review
- "Between the straits: The world cannot afford to yield to Iran," The Jerusalem Post
- "Hezbollah's miscalculation: Down but not out," Generation Jihad (FDD's Long War Journal)
- "Taliban-Pakistan border clashes continue after Moscow talks end without agreement," FDD's Long War Journal
The Must-Reads
- Abbas postpones Palestinian elections, sets presidential poll for September 2027
- The Free Press's Eli Lake: And the Nobel Prize for Antisemitism goes to. . .
- Iran is fortifying nuclear sites and rallying its people for a return to fighting
- Iran says US response to its proposal to reopen Hormuz was 'insufficient'
- One teen killed, others wounded, after explosion on Israeli school trip near Lebanon border
- US, UK among 29 countries condemning Iranian hybrid attacks, state-sponsored violence in West
- Trump strikes deal with Putin for Russian diesel
- WSJ Editorial: Putin ignores that energy ‘cease-fire’
- Iran-backed militants are tightening the screws on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince
- WSJ Editorial: If the Saudis will fight the Houthis, the U.S. can help
- U.S. sanctions and threatens to dismantle International Criminal Court
- NYT's Bret Stephens: Zohran Mamdani’s moral obscenity