United States Department of Defense, a state-owned entity headquartered in the US, was founded in 1949 and employs approximately 67,850 individuals. The department's primary function is to provide military forces to protect the U.S. and U.S. interests abroad.
On September 16, 2026, the Pentagon's Chief Technology Officer and Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Emil Michael, argued against the US government acquiring equity stakes in artificial intelligence (AI) firms or imposing new regulations that could slow the industry. Earlier that day, the Department of Defense (DoD) corrected the 8(a) sole-source Justification and Approval (J&A) threshold back to $100 million from $150 million, effective immediately, by issuing Revision 1 to Class Deviation 2026-O0037. This follows the United States military's plan, announced September 15, to invest $500 million in reconstructing and expanding the main port in Koror, Palau, according to official statements from both the Palauan government and the Department of Defense. Previously on September 15, EDUCAUSE responded to a July 2026 DoD request for information on a task force review of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, advocating for more flexible cybersecurity requirements and greater institutional access to DoD compliance resources. On September 14, the Defense Department made a $450 million equity investment in The Elmet Group, a Maine-based domestic tungsten supplier, which the company will use to support a more vertically integrated supply chain and expand manufacturing.
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