Top takeaways from the 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum
Joel Meyer2024-12-12 | 5 min read
Last weekend, the 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum convened the nation’s top national security and defense officials and thought leaders to review what all agreed is the most complex and dangerous geopolitical environment in generations. We face an axis of aggression that is growing closer, joined by their opposition to the United States and the global order that our military underpins. We also face seismic technological change that will affect not only the economic prospects of nations, but also the balance of military power. In an era where Russian aggression is resurgent and conflict in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea becomes ever more possible, ensuring America and its allies retain military advantage to deter aggression and, if necessary, prevail in a conflict that could span multiple theaters, is critical.
Key insights from officials, experts, and industry stakeholders
Experts at the Forum discussed these threats and the military capabilities required to face them:
- Admiral Samuel Paparo, the Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, highlighted the criticality of autonomous systems, powered by AI and carrying cheap sensors, that can be deployed with no regret to create overmatch with adversaries.
- General Eric Smith, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, emphasized the rapid learning they are doing to understand how to defeat enemy drones by reducing the electromagnetic signature of U.S. troop presence to not be sensed, which prevents troops from being targeted.
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III's keynote speech underscored the exponential growth of unmanned and autonomous systems as the cornerstone of future military strategies.
- Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo discussed the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in AI and in ensuring a resilient supply chain for semiconductors and other advanced technologies.
With this focus on the imperative of acquiring and deploying emerging technologies to ensure a strong military posture, it was notable that the Forum included a broad mix of industry stakeholders, from traditional defense primes to hyperscalers to venture-backed startups. This is the very mix that the U.S. military and its allies will need to maintain their advantage. Horacio Rozanski, CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton, argued that industry needs to move more quickly and take more risks as we face the most challenging national security environment in half a century, while Dr. Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, spotlighted the transformative role of AI in defense, positioning the U.S. as a global leader in the AI revolution. He likened AI’s impact to that of nuclear weapons, emphasizing its ability to redefine strategic advantages.
Domino’s role as a strategic partner
Domino’s discussions ranged across the media, defense officials, industry partners, and experts. Our objective was to share Domino’s experience with scaling AI across large, complex organizations in highly-regulated industries, as well as government agencies. The Defense Department continues to evolve and grow its AI programs and Domino has become a key partner in that effort. Recently, the U.S. Navy’s Project AMMO announced its successful deployment of Domino’s enterprise AI and MLOps platform to accelerate the development and retraining of models to be deployed on uncrewed undersea vehicles (UUVs), a leading innovation program designed to enable superiority in the conflicts of the future. This program started with a prototype OTA contract from the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), demonstrating the importance of DIU as a critical pipeline for emerging technologies to make an impact on defense missions.
Domino’s enterprise AI and MLOps platform helps government agencies integrate AI into their missions rapidly, safely, and cost-effectively. Domino makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage AI at scale, on a unified platform. Data scientists, contractors, and collaborators can access on-demand compute infrastructure and commercial and open source data, tools, models, and projects — across any on-premises, GovCloud, and hybrid/multicloud environments.
Shaping the future with Domino
Looking forward, Domino is working closely with the Defense Department to enhance its ability to support warfighters by growing its professional services, integrating capabilities into a single solution, and deploying an adaptable AI governance capability to systematically implement enterprise policies. Domino remains ready to serve.
Joel Meyer is the President of Public Sector at Domino Data Lab where he leads Domino's public sector go-to-market strategy. He has grown and led public sector teams at multiple venture-backed artificial intelligence startups and is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Previously, Meyer served on the Biden-Harris transition team, as the day one Chief of Staff of the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, and as DHS’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Initiatives. In this role, Meyer led efforts to produce DHS’s first Quadrennial Homeland Security Review in nine years, restructure the department’s activities to combat targeted violence, implement the department’s first artificial intelligence task force, and conduct an organization-wide analysis of nation-state threats to homeland security.
