This report is a comprehensive guide to understanding and mitigating the unique risks associated with the rise of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) within critical infrastructure, including the defense sector. The CSI highlights general security considerations for agentic AI, including the inherited risks of large language models (LLMs), increased attack surfaces, increased complexity, the evolving security landscape as the technology matures, and the need to address AI security as part of established cybersecurity paradigms.

Unlike traditional generative AI, which typically requires human validation, agentic AI systems are designed to operate autonomously, making them a powerful tool. This presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant cybersecurity challenges organizations must address to protect national security and critical infrastructure.

“Careful Adoption of Agentic AI Services” outlines risk spaces to consider, including:

•    Privilege Risks: Over-privileged agents can amplify the impact of a single compromise.
•    Design and Configuration Risks: Insecure design and provisioning can introduce vulnerabilities.
•    Behavior Risks: Goal misalignment, specification gaming, deceptive behavior, and emergent capabilities can lead to unexpected or undesirable outcomes.
•    Structural Risks: The interconnected nature of agentic systems increases the attack surface and complexity.
•    Accountability Risks: The opacity of agentic systems makes accountability hard to trace, complicating auditing and compliance.

Securing agentic AI systems requires proactive measures that address risks introduced by autonomy, interconnected components, and evolving capabilities. The report recommends deploying agentic AI incrementally, continuously assessing against evolving threat models, and maintaining strong governance, explicit accountability, rigorous monitoring, and human oversight which are essential for safe and secure operation.

Organizations that use agentic AI services, including those in the defense sector, are encouraged to review this guidance and adopt the outlined cybersecurity mitigations.

Other agencies co-sealing this CSI are the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre), the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the New Zealand National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-NZ), and the United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC-UK).

Read the full report here.

Source: NSA

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OpenClaw has rapidly emerged as a global AI platform capable of researching, writing, coding, analyzing, and executing complex tasks like a highly capable human assistant. As China accelerates institutional adoption, the platform is increasingly part of the strategic landscape in the global race for AI dominance.

OHaaS takes the open-source OpenClaw framework and hardens it in enterprise-grade security and compliance controls purpose-built for regulated industries. Unlike simple chatbots, OHaaS produces persistent AI agents that remember context across sessions, build and deploy custom dashboards and applications, automate complex multi-step workflows, conduct deep research at machine speed, and operate 24/7 on scheduled tasks — all within the customer’s security boundary.

Running on federally authorized and enterprise cloud infrastructure, OHaaS includes the documentation and controls needed to accelerate Authority to Operate (ATO), regulatory accreditation, and internal security approvals, enabling teams to be operational in under 24 hours.

“For years, the U.S. government’s answer to cutting-edge technology has been to wait. Wait for procurement cycles, wait for security reviews, wait for authorization processes that take 18 months while our adversaries deploy in 18 days,” said Nicolas Chaillan, founder of Ask Sage and CTO of BigBear.ai. “China is not waiting. Beijing is actively accelerating OpenClaw adoption and building an AI-capable workforce that will outpace ours if we don’t act. The United States cannot afford to cede the world’s most powerful AI productivity platform to the CCP by default. Our warfighters and government teams deserve access to the best tools in the world, and they deserve them now.”

Source: Ask Sage

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As generative AI rapidly advances, it’s vital for US defense and intelligence communities to harness its power in a trusted, secure environment like OCI. The company’s collaboration with key industry model providers such as xAI brings the latest high-performance models to Oracle’s classified cloud regions at an optimal price. This empowers defense and intelligence customers to run critical missions with access to cutting-edge AI technology, including xAI’s recent Grok 4 and Grok 4 Fast models, which excel at data extraction, code generation, and text summarization, according to the company.

“xAI and Oracle are helping to shape the future of generative AI’s role in running classified government workloads. Through this collaboration, defense and intelligence customers can now experience the extensive capabilities of OCI Generative AI service, driving efficiency by automating processes, generating content, and improving productivity while saving time, money, and resources,” said James Burnham, head of government affairs at xAI.

OCI Generative AI service uses dedicated AI clusters only accessible to the customer in their tenancy. Security of sensitive data is paramount—all data sent to the OCI Generative AI service is secure and private, remaining within the customer’s tenancy. xAI Grok models are hosted on the xAI platform with data processed on zero data retention endpoints, offering an extra layer of protection.

Source: Oracle

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“Today, I’m thrilled to announce that BigBear.ai has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ask Sage, a cutting-edge and fast-growing Generative AI platform for secure distribution of AI models and agentic AI capabilities, built specifically for defense and national security agencies and other highly regulated sectors. Ask Sage already supports more than 100,000 users on 16,000 government teams and across hundreds of commercial companies. It is a turnkey platform that’s in production today, at scale, in the environments that matter most,” said Kevin McAleenan, CEO of BigBear.ai.

“By integrating Ask Sage with BigBear.ai, we are creating what the market has been asking for: a secure, integrated AI platform that connects software, data, and mission services in one place,” continued McAleenan.

“Despite delays resulting from the government shutdown, we believe the potential for new business in the field of border security and defense remains strong, and we expect to see those opportunities, including accelerated spending resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill, to materialize into contracts next year. BigBear.ai remains in a very strong position to benefit from the important task of delivering cutting-edge secure technology solutions to support national defense and the defense industrial base,” added McAleenan.

“Subject to applicable approvals, we look forward to closing the Ask Sage acquisition and continuing to execute on our M&A strategy to drive rapid growth.” said Sean Ricker, CFO of BigBear.ai.

Source: BigBear.ai

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The collaboration will enable the Lockheed Martin AI Factory team to apply generative AI to tackle workloads with greater speed and efficiency, developing safe, secure, and trustworthy AI to advance 21st Century Security solutions across sectors such as aerospace, space exploration, and cybersecurity.

“Collaborating with Google Public Sector to bring Gemini onpremises underscores our commitment to delivering cuttingedge, secure AI capabilities that directly support our missioncritical programs. This initiative equips our engineers with powerful tools—safely and at scale—to accelerate innovation in support of our business and critical missions,” said Greg Forrest, vice president of AI foundations and commercialization at Lockheed Martin.

In the first phase, Google’s generative AI technologies will be integrated into Lockheed Martin’s unclassified on-premise environment, providing Lockheed Martin’s workforce access to Google’s suite of AI tools using Google Gemini on Google Distributed Cloud.

“Our collaboration with Lockheed Martin is a testament to our joint commitment to bringing the power of generative AI to meet the needs of our public sector customers,” said Jim Kelly, vice president of federal, Google Public Sector. “We are proud to take yet another industry-leading step with Lockheed Martin to deploy the most advanced AI tools to support government agencies, while adhering to the absolute highest standards of security and data governance.”

Source: Lockheed Martin

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“AWS’s cloud capabilities combined with Esri’s geospatial expertise empower customers to solve complex challenges through advanced location intelligence,” said Amy Belcher, AWS director, WWPS global ISV sales and GTM. “This strategic agreement will accelerate the development of Generative AI-powered solutions that deliver meaningful business outcomes while simplifying how organizations leverage geospatial data at scale.”

As organizations’ geospatial data needs evolve, this integration allows them to scale operations dynamically, ensuring optimal performance and cost-effectiveness.

“Our collaboration with AWS advances geospatial AI integration for our joint users,” said Jay Theodore, Esri chief technology officer for AI and enterprise technologies. “This agreement will enable customers to integrate AI-enhanced GIS—whether they’re protecting communities, maintaining infrastructure, or responding to emergencies.”

The volume of geospatial data is growing with GenAI tools becoming more accessible, and organizations are seeking more intelligent ways to process and analyze spatial information. Through the new agreement, Esri will accelerate development and interoperability with AWS. This expanded collaboration will focus on developing geospatial AI through new foundation models (FMs), scalable training, and inference architectures; advancing the next generation of ArcGIS AI assistants to improve user productivity; and building agentic architectures that simplify and enhance the user experience.

“Distribution and deployment still remain barriers in the implementation of generative AI,” said Bruno Sanchez-Andrade Nuño, executive director at earth observation data analytics nonprofit Clay. “That’s why our current collaboration with AWS and Esri feels like a breakthrough. Esri’s geospatial AI capabilities enable users everywhere to deploy open data models successfully.”

Source: Esri

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Unlike basic chat assistants, Legion enables permissioned software agents that call approved tools and data, coordinate with one another, and take auditable actions—shortening the Observe–Orient–Decide–Act (OODA) cycle and reclaiming administrative time.

“Chat has been a great on‑ramp for AI, but agents will be the real force multiplier for the Air Force and the Department of War,” said Ben Van Roo, co-founder and CEO of Legion Intelligence. “Like drones in Ukraine have changed the physical landscape of war, thousands of agents will soon augment workflows across a variety of use cases—from kill chains to staff officers. Our focus is enabling that future, with the software and tooling to build and manage the agentic future.”

Through allow‑listed connectors and data gateways, Legion is designed to embed alongside legacy maintenance, personnel, planning, and operations applications, engage data applications and alerts (e.g., Dataminr), work across productivity (SharePoint, Teams, Jira), and interoperate with systems of record (e.g., Oracle, Palantir)—with row/column controls, provenance, and end‑to‑end audit.

Source: Legion Intelligence

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The Army Enterprise offering, hosted on Azure Government, provides DoD-wide access to Ask Sage’s comprehensive product suite, enabling military teams, government agencies, and contractors to securely adopt Generative AI at scale. With funded consumption, any DoD entity can immediately use the platform’s capabilities, accelerating mission-critical operations across the defense ecosystem.

“This milestone represents a transformative leap in the Department of Defense’s ability to harness the power of Generative AI securely and at scale. By combining Ask Sage’s cutting-edge Generative AI capabilities with Microsoft’s trusted Azure Government platform, we are empowering the DoD to accelerate mission-critical operations, enhance decision-making, and drive innovation across the defense ecosystem. This is just the beginning of what Generative AI can achieve for our nation’s security and operational excellence,” said Nicolas Chaillan, founder and CEO of Ask Sage.

The IL5 tenant unlocks innovative capabilities for the DoD, enabling secure adoption of Generative AI across all branches, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and other defense agencies. By leveraging Ask Sage’s platform, teams can accelerate software development, automate cybersecurity testing, streamline acquisition processes, and enhance data analysis—all while maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance.

Azure Government, the first hyperscale cloud services platform awarded DoD IL5 Provisional Authorization, provides the secure foundation for this deployment. With FedRAMP High and IL5 compliance, Azure helps ensure that Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and National Security Systems (NSS) are protected under stringent security standards.

“Artificial Intelligence will play an ever-increasing role across a range of national security operations,” said Leigh Madden, vice president, national security at Microsoft. “Our collaboration with Ask Sage to deliver innovative generative AI capabilities across the Army enterprise will enable our Soldiers to do more, faster and with greater insights than ever before. We are honored to support this critical mission.”

Source: Ask Sage

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“Encrypted Guardrails close the final mile of AI security,” said Rohit Valia, founder and CEO of Tumeryk. “Organizations can now innovate with GenAI, confident that every token, from retrieval to response, is both policy-aligned and cryptographically protected. This is a game-changer for highly regulated sectors.”

Enterprises racing to adopt large language models (LLMs) face twin pressures: delivering business value while safeguarding sensitive data and complying with strict privacy laws such as GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, and the forthcoming EU AI Act. Traditional guardrails monitor model outputs but leave the underlying data flows exposed. The Tumeryk + DataKrypto solution addresses this gap by encrypting every stage of the AI pipeline—including vector embeddings, foundation models, tool-calling prompts, and guardrail policies—thereby hardening the entire attack surface and preventing data exfiltration, prompt injection, and model manipulation.

“DataKrypto is proud to partner with Tumeryk to set a new standard for secure AI adoption. Together, we are delivering a solution that unites advanced privacy-preserving technology with trusted, enterprise-grade infrastructure. This collaboration empowers organizations to deploy secure, scalable AI workloads—even on their most sensitive data—without ever compromising privacy or performance,” said Ravi Srivatsav, CEO of DataKrypto. “By integrating with Tumeryk’s innovative controls, DataKrypto now ensures that every aspect of the AI model—from encrypted computation to operational security—remains fully protected against extraction and misuse.”

Source: Tumeryk

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SeekrFlow is the complete software infrastructure to build, train, validate, and deploy generative AI models and AI Agents—simplifying the full AI lifecycle into a single solution. It is the AI factory for critical infrastructure across enterprise markets, including supply chain, telecommunications, defense, and intelligence, enabling secure and scalable AI in environments where mission success demands the highest standards. Seekr drives innovation with multimodal foundation models purpose-built for remote sensing, geospatial, and earth observation, helping government agencies extract actionable intelligence from imagery and sensor data at scale.

The company generated over $18 million in revenue for 2024 and expects to be cash flow breakeven in the next 12 months. Seekr has over 30 customers and serves 100,000+ end users.

Source: Seekr

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