The Pentagon is seeking ideas on how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning could be used to accelerate and scale zero trust cybersecurity assessments across the Defense Department (DOD), which was rebranded as the War Department by the Trump administration.
In a request for information (RFI) posted Tuesday on SAM.gov, the department’s Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office (ZT PfMO) said it is exploring how emerging technologies could support “purple team assessments,” a collaborative security evaluation approach that brings together offensive and defensive cyber teams with system owners.
Those assessments are a key component of the DOD’s zero trust strategy, which requires components to meet 91 target-level zero trust activities and 10 acceptance criteria. All DOD IT environments are required to achieve target-level compliance by the end of fiscal 2027. Compliance is validated through a combination of internal and third-party reviews, including purple team assessments that examine how simulated adversaries and defensive cyber forces operate and interact within an IT environment.
The ZT PfMO explained that scaling zero trust assessments across the DOD enterprise while maintaining accuracy and efficiency will require new approaches that rely on automation and advanced technologies.
“As such, the DoD is interested in understanding how emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can be leveraged to automate and enhance the Zero Trust assessment process,” the RFI reads.
According to the RFI, automation, AI, and machine learning could help address the Pentagon’s limited capacity to validate initial zero trust compliance and support continuous assessments.
In the RFI, the department posed a series of questions to industry, including how automation and AI could be used to support purple team activities, identify and prioritize potential attack paths, simulate realistic attack scenarios, and analyze detection and alerting effectiveness. Other questions focus on data sources, barriers to adoption, training data requirements, and emerging trends that could shape future zero trust assessments.
The department also asked vendors to address potential obstacles and points of friction associated with deploying AI-powered assessment tools in DOD environments.
Responses to the RFI are due on Feb. 9, 2026.