MITRE at Munich: Accelerating Allied Advantage in a Time of Strategic Challenge

The transatlantic security landscape is shifting fast. Adversaries are integrating, adapting, and fielding capability at speed, and the alliances designed to deter them must do the same. Against that backdrop, MITRE’s Europe and NATO team arrived at the 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC), held Feb. 13–16, not as observers, but as active participants in shaping what comes next.

Widely regarded as the world's premier platform for international security policy, MSC draws heads of state, defense ministers, military leaders, CEOs, and experts to confront the defining challenges of our era. 

This year's sessions zeroed in on transatlantic cohesion, Europe's accelerating defense responsibilities, and the double-edged sword of emerging technologies — issues that align precisely with MITRE's mission and the urgent priorities of our sponsors and partners.

For MITRE, Munich is more than a conference, it is a high-tempo working environment where relationships are built, priorities clarified, and practical pathways to capability can be shaped. Across targeted engagements with NATO, government, allied military, and industry leaders, the MITRE team focused on how to accelerate integration, close seams that adversaries exploit, and bring secure, mission-ready innovation and commercial solutions to operational realities.

"Munich compresses a year's worth of strategic dialogue into a few days," said Keoki Jackson, senior vice president and general manager of MITRE’s National Security Sector. "It's where we can test ideas with the people responsible for outcomes — NATO leaders, national decision-makers, operational commanders, and industry executives — and then turn those conversations into concrete steps to strengthen deterrence and collective defense."

Bilateral Engagements: Aligning Priorities and Accelerating Collaboration

During MSC 2026, MITRE held bilateral meetings with senior leaders from NATO, member nations, and the U.S. These conversations reinforced a consistent message across capitals and commands: speed and end-to-end integration are becoming decisive strategic advantages. Leaders repeatedly returned to the same operational friction points: data-sharing barriers, interoperability challenges, uneven adoption of commercial technology, and the need to connect innovation ecosystems to real capability delivery. They recognized MITRE's role as a trusted, independent partner positioned to help allies integrate faster, reduce time to fielding, and enhance deterrence by ensuring multi-domain operational mission outcomes.

MITRE also continued its focus on boosting allied defense industrial capacity and streamlining acquisition as a member of the Reimagining European Defense and Innovation (REDI) task force. Convened by the Atlantic Council and chaired by former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) Gen. Christopher Cavoli (USA, retired), REDI will provide actionable recommendations to break down barriers to transatlantic defense industrial and tech collaboration, and explore efforts to harness co-development and co-production. 

The REDI roundtable included serving SACEUR Gen. Alexus Grynkewich,​ current and retired NATO Assistant Secretaries General, defense industry CEOs, and national high-level military leaders, and highlighted several realities shaping future force design and acquisition: peer conflict could be global and simultaneous; conflicts will likely be protracted; victory requires innovation at scale; necessary speed means moving from weeks or months to hours; and a seamless data layer is foundational to an AI-enabled force.

The message aligned with MITRE's emphasis on practical acceleration — moving rapidly from concept to fielded capability while preserving security, trust, and interoperability.

MITRE's MSC Panel: A 'Deterrence Reality Check'

A highlight of MITRE's Munich Security Conference engagement was our panel, "Conversation on NATO's Competitive Advantage – Deterrence Reality Check," featuring Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone (NATO Military Committee chair), Lieutenant General Piotr Błazeusz (Polish Armed Forces), and David Appel of Amazon Web Services, moderated by MITRE's Jackson. A recording is available here. 

Panelists agreed future conflict will reward scale, tempo, and integration: sense first, decide faster, and deliver effects across domains and the electromagnetic spectrum. Admiral Cavo Dragone warned that deterrence hinges on speed: "NATO has real strength…but deterrence depends on how quickly we turn those strengths into ready, integrated common power." Discussion focused on closing practical gaps in data sharing and rapid integration — and the "seams" adversaries exploit, highlighted by Ukraine and hybrid threats. LTG Błazeusz pressed for fieldable, affordable "surrogate capabilities," not "gold-plated solutions," while Appel emphasized execution: "We need to collectively move faster…and focus on outcomes."

From Dialogue to Delivery

Munich reaffirmed the scale of the challenges ahead — and the opportunity and responsibility MITRE and our partners in industry and government have to help translate a shared vision into execution. 

As Jackson concluded, "The work doesn't end in Munich. The point is to carry this urgency back into programs, partnerships, and deliverables — so that the Alliance can move faster, integrate smarter, and race ahead in this rapidly evolving security environment."