Secretary Hegseth’s January 12, 2026, speech and the DOW’s press release frame AI as the first major proving ground for this unified innovation and acquisition model at “wartime speed.”

Taken together, these actions demonstrate the intent to establish an execution model that prioritizes speed, competition among small accountable teams, broad data and compute access, modular open architectures and new AI evaluation criteria with direct implications for how government contractors and industry design and deliver solutions, structure intellectual property (IP) and data‑sharing terms, and engage with the DOW. These DOW actions build on the Trump Administration’s previously announced governmentwide policies and initiatives related to AI, including Executive Order (EO) 14179, Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation memorandum and Driving Efficient Acquisition of AI memorandum – which was summarized in a previous Holland & Knight alert – as well as the White House’s announced AI Action Plan. The DOW’s three memoranda establish a dense set of programmatic directives –  from AI “Pace‑Setting Projects” and data platform restructuring to a unified CTO‑led innovation ecosystem that will drive near‑term changes in how the DOW sponsors, funds and fields capabilities, which could result in changes in how lawmakers develop defense acquisition policy, including funding priorities.

Read on Holland & Knight »