Caroline Hyde

It is because we've been talking about how technology intertwines with defense and how it all aligns here in Washington.

We were at the Hill and Valley Forum, Ed, and it held a spotlight really on defense tech in the age of AI.

But NSIB data shows just how early that shift still is.

While Pentagon spending on defense tech has more than doubled from about $1.8 billion in fiscal year 2023 to $4.3 billion for fiscal year 2025, it still makes up, get this, less than 1%.

total contract dollars.

Here to discuss more on this is Rachel Hoff, policy director at the Ronald Reagan Institute, which issued the report.

And it's stark warnings, basically.

You not only highlight how little in the grand scheme of things money is going to defense tech for all the amount that we talk about it, but you also try and outline ways in which it could be adopted faster.

First and foremost, why do we get so much excitement about defense tech?

Why is the VC community pouring in money when the end client isn't putting money in as much?

I mean, the reporting that Ed and team and women continue doing, Andril now looking at an overall market cap of $61 billion, raising another $4 billion.

And yet we're just talking that less than that is how much has been directed towards defense tech from the Pentagon.

What are your policy prescriptives to get the government even more comfortable with aligning that money?

I want to talk about talent for a

And his point was talent is a real issue.

And that's why in many ways they've got this novel way of training people up because there's a huge retirement block that's about to come.

No, but what's so great about your national security, basically an innovation-based report card, is it reads like a school report.

And you're saying talent base, D plus in America.

Yeah.

Do we need more?