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This Week in Government Tech Media – December 12, 2025

By Brad Bass /

The government tech media continued the steady drumbeat of news related to artificial intelligence (AI). The news came from a variety of sources: the White House, Congress, the Pentagon. Highlights from the past week as well as links to those articles below:

A New AI Executive Order

The White House issued an executive order (EO) this week, which drew attention mainly for its aggressive stance against state government AI regulation. This isn’t the last we’ll be hearing about this issue, but here’s the initial take from the reporters focused on government tech:

  • Wired, a mainstream tech publication that often dives into government tech issues, noted that the EO creates a Justice Department task force to challenge state AI laws and directs the Commerce Department to pull future broadband funding from states that pass “onerous” legislation, according to a piece by Makena Kelly and Maxwell Zeff.
  • Covering the news for Nextgov/FCW, Alexandra Kelley reported that the EO also calls for federal leaders to begin preparations for a uniform federal AI policy framework.
  • Miranda Nazzaro noted in FedScoop that the EO could impact hundreds of state laws and represents a “significant win” for those at AI companies who have argued that a patchwork of state AI regulations hampers innovation and competitiveness.
  • Eyragon Eidam wrote in state government publication Government Technology that the order could create challenges for states like California that have already begun to establish AI guardrails to protect residents.
  • In Capitol Hill-focused publication Roll Call, Allison Mollenkamp reported that the EO “is almost certain to be challenged in court.”

AI Advances at the Pentagon

In general, the biggest Defense-related news of the week was the House’s approval of the $900 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Members of the government tech media noted a couple of provisions in the bill related to AI. Another big story pertained to a broad push to put agentic AI into the hands of literally millions of defense workers. Here’s a roundup of some of those stories:

  • The Defense authorization bill includes language that would require Pentagon leadership to form a new panel to look at the military implications of artificial general intelligence and other advanced AI capabilities, according to an article by Jon Harper in DefenseScoop.
  • Nuray Taylor wrote in SIGNAL Media that the bill authorizes $145.7 billion to field innovative new technologies such as AI, quantum computing, autonomous systems, space-based capabilities and directed energy systems.
  • In his coverage of the NDAA for Nextgov/FCW, Edward Graham reported on a directive for the Pentagon to explore the use of AI to support the mental health of military personnel. 
  • Graham’s colleague Natalie Alms reported that the bill omitted authorization for the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Modernization Fund and quoted a GSA spokesperson asserting that, “Without reauthorization, the administration’s priorities around shared services and AI adoption will falter.”
  • In other AI news from the Pentagon, the department launched a major push to get military personnel, civilian employees and contractors to use generative AI capabilities, located on its own website (GenAI.mil), Stephen Losey wrote in Defense News.
  • Lisbeth Perez noted in MeriTalk that Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government will be the first capability available on the site, an application officials said will support experimentation and streamline daily operations for service members, civilians and contractors.
  • Pentagon Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael announced the project at the DefenseTalks conference, stating that, “For the first time ever, by the end of this week, 3 million employees, warfighters, and contractors are going to have AI on their desktop, every single one,” Brandi Vincent reported in DefenseScoop.
  • Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. wrote in Breaking Defense that Michael wants to apply AI not just to Pentagon business processes but also for intelligence analysis and even “warfighting” functions like logistics planning and combat simulations.
  • Covering the news for Defense One, Patrick Tucker noted that this move followed a reorg that brought the Defense Innovation Unit, the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office and other units together under Michael’s purview in a bid to accelerate deployment of AI and other technologies.
  • Looking to the Air Force, the service has put out the word that it wants to deploy a cloud-based, AI-powered “digital sandbox” as a hub to generate and run wargames at speeds of up 10,000 times faster than real time, Michael Peck wrote in Defense News.

Upcoming Industry Events

After a major uptick in events this week, we can expect things to slow down beginning next week and then pick up in January. But there are still a few near-term events you might want to check out in the coming week:

If you would like your event included in this list, please fill out this form.

If you haven’t already, have a listen to the latest episode of the “Gov & Beyond” podcast to hear our interview with David Smith and Aaron Mehta of Breaking Defense. They cover everything from current trends to the Pentagon’s recent media requirements.

That’ll do it for now. I’ll be back next week with another roundup. You can subscribe to this update on LinkedIn or via the form below. Thanks for reading!