Special Report: Nat Sec EDGE 2025

"The 2025 Nat Sec EDGE Conference brought together a diverse coalition of leaders from government, industry, investment, and innovation to confront a shared reality: America's national security advantage is eroding-and our ability to adapt at speed will determine the outcome of future conflicts. Across two days of discussions, senior officials, technologists, operators, and investors delivered a clear message: the U.S. is engaged in an unprecedented strategic competition with near-peer adversaries who are moving faster, with fewer constraints, in an effort to achieve dominance in emerging domains."

"The U.S. needs a new model for national security innovation-one built around speed, trust, integration, and mission-first execution. This means enabling "new primes" that can move at the pace of technology, equipping the defense industrial base with secure pathways to scale, and empowering operators and decision-makers with the tools to bridge policy, procurement, and operational need."

"It also means recognizing that the problem is no longer technological- it's sociological. The innovation exists. The capital exists. The threat is clear. What's missing are the connective tissues: the incentives, partnerships, and trust frameworks that can accelerate solutions from concept to deployment."

Leaders from government, industry, investment, and innovation convened to address an eroding U.S. national security advantage and the imperative to adapt rapidly. Near-peer adversaries are moving faster and with fewer constraints to dominate emerging domains. The U.S. retains an innovation edge but faces slow, fragmented, and siloed acquisition, classification, and risk-management systems. A new model is required that prioritizes speed, trust, integration, and mission-first execution by enabling agile "new primes," providing secure scaling pathways for the defense industrial base, and equipping operators with tools to bridge policy, procurement, and operational needs. The central gap is sociological—missing incentives, partnerships, and trust frameworks to accelerate deployment from concept to fielding.

Read at The Cipher Brief