Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. — The Defense Intelligence Agency opened the 2026 DoDIIS Worldwide conference Aug. 10 in Tampa, Florida. Its theme, “DIA Next: Intelligence Technologies for Battlespace Lethality,” signaled that DIA’s leadership is driving operational intelligence innovation at mission speed. The conference launched a renewed, concerted effort by the Agency to integrate cutting-edge technologies from American industry directly into intelligence systems that warfighters depend on for operational advantage — following the example set by the U.S. Department of War.
The reoccurring theme from the speakers quickly became clear: We must develop innovative, integrated and secure technologies that deliver intelligence to combatant commanders at the speed of operations.
DIA Chief Information Officer E. P. Mathew opened the conference emphasizing the importance of modern technological infrastructure. He used the analogy of an out-of-date iPhone to demonstrate why the Agency cannot be complacent about updating our equipment, characterizing legacy systems as technical debt that slow the delivery of intelligence to warfighters.
“Innovation cannot overcome technical debt,” Mathew said, emphasizing that new capabilities cannot be built on top of legacy models as that leaves room for exploitation.
DIA Director Lt. Gen. James Adams further drove home the message that adversaries are using our outdated technology against us, saying, “Our competitors are betting they can out-build, out-integrate, and out-field advanced technology faster than we can.” He explained adversaries are using systems to identify patterns, connect signals and deliver insights at machine speed.
Adams laid out his vision and the goal of the conference: to develop technology that is integrated, interoperable, secure and built to operate at the speed combatant commanders require. He described the Agency posture toward innovation, “When you partner with DIA, you’re joining an organization committed to responsible innovation at scale.”
The director described six areas where DIA is leading defense intelligence innovation through collaboration with industry, across government and with foreign partners: open-source intelligence, true intelligence convergence, zero trust, security as a service, the virtual SCIF, and JWICS — the secure intelligence network that DIA manages for the Intelligence Community.
“Let technology handle the routine work so our people can focus on the analysis and judgment only humans can do,” he explained.
He detailed how each capability directly enables warfighter support:
Open-source intelligence requires systems that sort, validate, connect the data and turn unclassified intelligence into a force multiplier.
True intelligence convergence requires collaboration across the separate intelligences — the director called for “a data fabric built for real interoperability, a common language and metadata standards, so a GEOINT tag means the same thing a HUMINT system that reads it.”
Zero trust is critical in the current digital battlespace, and the Agency must safeguard the most sensitive data from the very beginning. Breaches must be detected quickly, and adversaries defeated at the perimeter.
Security as a service postures DIA as a provider with inherent security capabilities, not starting over with each new mission. The defense enterprise the Agency services requires identity management, encryption, monitoring and access control as cloud native services — not add-ons.
The virtual SCIF brings the security of a physical vault to the front and is built on zero trust principles that the IC and DoW requires, enabling collaboration.
Finally, improving JWICS, the global secure intelligence network, is an ongoing process that improves performance and reliability of a critical component of national defense.
2026 DoDIIS Worldwide is an annual conference hosted by the Defense Intelligence Agency that brings together industry, government and military leaders to explore the latest advances and enhance collaboration — ensuring the warfighter is supported with the best solutions to meet their immediate operational needs. Learn about opportunities to partner with DIA on our NeedipeDIA or Office of Small Buisness Programs pages.
###
DIA’s mission is to provide intelligence on foreign militaries to prevent and decisively win wars. DIA officers are united in a common vision — to be the indispensable source of defense intelligence expertise for the nation. For 64 years, DIA has met the full range of security challenges faced by the
United States. DIA intelligence officers operate around the world, supporting customers from forward-deployed warfighters to national policymakers.