10 Federal CIOs say AI, cybersecurity and tech modernization are the top priorities
Agency tech leaders are optimistic about the government’s ‘enterprise mindset’ but caution more leader support needed to modernize IT infrastructure and achieve priorities Artificial intelligence (AI) is the top priority for 2026 in federal technology circles. That’s the main finding in a new report – Tech Tonic: FY26 Federal CIO Forecast – by MeriTalk. The second annual report is based on a survey and interviews with 10 chief information officers (CIOs) who lead technology for 10 different federal agencies. Cybersecurity and risk management were the top priorities in the same report last year, which forecasted FY25. While cybersecurity is still a clear priority, it fell to third place for FY26, trailing AI and infrastructure modernization. This year’s report did not name the CIOs included in the study. However, last year’s report did and it was a ‘who’s who” list that included CIOs from departments including Labor, Treasury, Agriculture, Transportation and […]