Cybersecurity across defense and homeland security agencies is no longer defined by perimeter protection alone. It now hinges on resilience, identity-centric architectures, and the ability to operate through disruption all of which constitute a Zero Trust foundation for cybersecurity. These priorities came into focus during the “Federal Executive Forum Cybersecurity for Defense and Homeland Progress and Best Practices 2026” webinar, where leaders from the U.S. Army, Coast Guard, the intelligence community, and industry came together to discuss how cybersecurity strategies are evolving to meet real-world mission demands.
The panel of speakers included:
- Brig. Gen. Brian Wisniewski, Deputy Commanding General for Reserve Affairs, Army Cyber Command
- Gary Buchanan, Chief Information Security Officer, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- Ryan Bellack, Deputy Director, Infrastructure and Cybersecurity Services, Coast Guard
- Lamont Copeland, Senior Director, Public Sector Solutions Architecture, Verizon Business Group
Army Cyber Command: Innovation Delivered at Speed
Brig. Gen. Brian Wisniewski emphasized how the command’s Technology and Innovation Center is accelerating capability delivery. The Army is transitioning from experimentation to production faster than traditional models allow by pairing operational expertise with industry and academic collaboration.
Wisniewski highlighted tangible outcomes from this approach:
“The cyber development team recently engineered, developed, and implemented a series of tools that are now in production across the DODIN, using agile methodologies to streamline the development and deployment process.” – Brian Wisniewski
By focusing development on agile practices, Army Cyber Command is reducing timelines and deploying tools that directly support daily cyber operations throughout the Department of Defense Information Network.
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Zero Trust Shift Toward Risk-Based Security
Gary Buchanan from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), framed Zero Trust as a return to disciplined, mission-focused access rather than a purely technical exercise. He explained how the strategy allowed for continuous risk awareness across classified and unclassified environments while reinforcing accountability.
“Zero Trust has brought our focus back to the need-to-know philosophy, using technology as an enabler for an assumed breach mentality.” – Gary Buchanan
NGA’s Zero Trust approach, which is currently in its second year of implementation, is eliminating redundant solutions, improving enterprise visibility, and allowing programs to concentrate more on securing operational systems and less on compliance paperwork.
U.S. Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028: Key to Modernization
Ryan Bellack noted that cybersecurity is a key component of Force Design 2028, the U.S. Coast Guard’s roadmap for modernization after decades of underinvestment. To support a larger, more distributed operational force, the Coast Guard is aligning people, organization, acquisition, and technology, rather than treating cyber as a separate IT function.
Bellack emphasized the scale and gravity of that commitment, noting that Force Design “is designed around four different tables,” and that it is supported by “a historic investment of over $25 billion,” which he described as “a huge sum for the Coast Guard.”
Cybersecurity, identity management, and resilient connectivity are increasingly viewed as mission enablers rather than back-office capabilities as the service expands its workforce and more frequently operates in denied, degraded, intermittent, and limited environments.
Verizon Securing Networks at the Infrastructure Level
As threats become more automated and AI-enabled, Lamont Copeland stressed that agencies need to look beyond endpoint protection and focus on network security, including wireline, wireless, and voice services.
He pointed to voice communications as a rapidly growing attack vector, warning that “voice fraud is growing more and more, especially with the rise of AI and deepfakes today.” Addressing these threats, Copeland explained, requires network-level visibility, behavioral analytics, and integration with security operations so attacks can be detected and stopped before they interfere with mission-critical communications.
Cybersecurity as Operational Infrastructure
Cybersecurity is not just a support function operating behind the scenes of federal missions. It has become a key component that enables operations to scale, adapt, and endure under pressure. Leaders across defense, intelligence, homeland security, and industry concluded: identity, resilience, and network intelligence now influence mission execution just as much as platforms or personnel. The focus is on embedding security into an organization’s daily operations rather than just securing systems.
What emerges from this evolution is a more strategic view of cybersecurity that prioritizes continuity, trust, and decision advantage in contested environments. As agencies modernize, expand their workforces and confront AI-enabled threats, cybersecurity is a key measure of operational readiness.