Can AI Beat the Pentagon’s Bureaucracy?
ChinaTalk Jordan Schneider
Accenture Federal Services’ Chief AI Officer Garrett Berntsen argues that adopting AI in U.S. national security depends less on model access and more on redesigning institutions, workflows, and decision chains like those built around the U-2 program. He points to the U-2 still being in service after its Cuba overflight success during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis as evidence that procurement and analysis systems matter as much as the technology itself. The focus shifts toward experimentation plus “forcing functions” in budgeting and incentives, and toward fixing core business data and update policies so AI can operate at operational tempo rather than only in isolated missions.
Why it matters
Garrett Berntsen was last seen on ChinaTalk in his role as Deputy CDAO at the State Department.
