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This Week in Government Tech Media – December 5, 2025

By Brad Bass /

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us, Congress went back to work this week. Much of the coverage we saw from the government tech media noted legislative activity related to artificial intelligence (AI). There was also big news related to the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense program. You can find details and links to those articles below:

Congressional AI Oversight

Congress tackled an array of AI-related issues this week, ranging from AI-enabled cybersecurity to AI regulations at the state level to the impact of AI on civil rights and the economy:

  • Two bipartisan senators called for immediate federal action after the first documented case of a successful cyberattack using AI targeted 30 entities with minimal human intervention, Weslan Hansen reported in MeriTalk. 
  • Hansen noted in a separate article that Senate Democrats are reviving legislation that would restrict the use of biased and discriminatory AI algorithms affecting Americans’ civil rights. Alexandra Kelley wrote in Nextgov/FCW that Democrats are pushing the bill to counter tech companies lobbying in favor of a moratorium on AI regulations at the state level to be included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
  • But in a related development, Julia Shapero noted in The Hill that House Republican leaders are “looking at other places” to include the measure to block state AI regulatory laws after running into difficulties adding the provision into the NDAA.
  • In Nextgov/FCW, Edward Graham covered legislation to address the impact of AI on the U.S. workforce with bills this week seeking to better understand and assess how growing use of the emerging capabilities will affect the U.S. economy. The bill directs the secretaries of Labor, Commerce and Education to assess what skills workers must have to stay afloat in the rapidly changing labor market, according to a piece by Matt Bracken in FedScoop.
  • In other AI-related developments around the NDAA, Kelley reported in Nextgov/FCW that a bill prioritizing American customers for AI chips was not expected to make it into the final act. But an amendment prohibiting U.S. investment in Chinese technology is expected to be included.
  • Along similar lines, Jane Edwards of ExecutiveGov noted the introduction of a bipartisan bill to strengthen the enforcement of U.S. export controls to prevent U.S.-made AI chips and other sensitive technologies from being smuggled into China and other foreign adversaries.

Hundreds of Golden Dome Awards

The Pentagon took a significant step forward this week in its goal to implement an extensive U.S. missile defense system:

  • Mikayla Easley reported in DefenseScoop that the Pentagon announced 1,014 companies are eligible to compete for work under the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) contract from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to support the Golden Dome missile defense project.
  • Companies selected for work under the SHIELD contract could eventually total $151 billion over 10 years, according to an article by Ashley Roque in Breaking Defense.
  • The list of awardees includes traditional defense firms like L3Harris, BAE and General Dynamics as well as commercial companies, smaller software and hardware shops and consulting firms like Accenture and Booz Allen Hamilton, Courtney Albon wrote in Air & Space Forces Magazine.
  • Covering the announcement for Washington Technology, Nick Wakeman noted that MDA officials are working through 2,463 proposals with more winners as well as protests likely to come.
  • MDA officials emphasized that the announcement was just the “first phase of staggered awards” process and should not be read as an early indicator of requirements for Golden Dome, according to an article by Sandra Erwin for SpaceNews.

Upcoming Industry Events

It appears like a lot of organizations are planning events this week, perhaps in a rush to attract attendees before they take off for Christmas and New Years holidays. Here are several that might merit your attention:

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

Finally, I strongly encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the “Gov & Beyond” podcast featuring a wide-ranging interview with David Smith and Aaron Mehta of Breaking Defense. These two editors share decades of accumulated wisdom relative to covering the Pentagon – and they don’t hold back on sharing their opinions about the department or about the vendors who contact them.

That’s a wrap for this week. Thanks for reading, and feel free to share this with your colleagues. Subscribe to this update on LinkedIn or via the form below.