Army's Autonomy Shake-Up; VA's EHR Costs Raise Eyebrows; CISA Preps Cyber Fire Drills

From the newsroom at MeriTalk, it’s the quickest read in federal tech news. Here’s what you need to know today:

Army’s Autonomy Shake-Up

Reporting live from Association of the United States Army - AUSA : The Army is giving autonomy a major promotion, with plans to transform its Futures Command into the Futures and Autonomous Systems Command (FASCOM) as it pushes to bring autonomous technologies into combat formations. Gen. Christopher LaNeve announced the shake-up today, outlining plans to consolidate five research and modernization organizations under a three-star general. “This goes beyond drones,” LaNeve said. The Army is planning corps-level experiments that will put autonomous systems through their paces across the service’s five corps. Those tests will include autonomous fires, armored reconnaissance, watercraft, obstacle breaching, aerial surveillance, and aircraft teaming. The bigger picture? The Army wants autonomous capabilities fielded by fiscal year 2028, with FASCOM coordinating the research and experimentation to help get them there. The future of Army warfare is getting a little less hands-on.

VA’s EHR Costs Raise Eyebrows

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has some explaining to do after raising its Oracle contract ceiling by nearly $17 billion – and two senior congressional Democrats want to see the receipts. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., are pressing the department over its August decision to boost the electronic health record modernization contract ceiling from nearly $10 billion to a whopping $27 billion without informing congressional oversight committees. The VA previously pointed to “unanticipated complexities” in deploying the system, but lawmakers want specifics, including unredacted contract documents, cost calculations, and communications with Oracle . They're also questioning why the VA may be covering expenses Oracle previously committed to absorb. Add concerns patient safety and an accelerated 2031 rollout, and the scrutiny is mounting. The department has until Oct. 30 to respond. That's a lot of questions for a $17 billion surprise.

CISA Preps Cyber Fire Drills

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) wants critical infrastructure operators to start rehearsing their cyber comebacks, with a new tabletop exercise program designed to help organizations bounce back from cyberattacks. Acting CISA Director Nick Andersen shared the plans this afternoon, saying the exercises will help operators figure out how to isolate compromised systems, restore operations, and keep essential services running when trouble strikes. The program is part of CISA's CI Fortify initiative, launched in May to strengthen resilience against cyber incidents and natural disasters. And the agency isn't going it alone. Andersen said CISA intentionally kicked off the initiative as a Five Eyes conversation to coordinate recovery planning with international partners. His advice? Identify your organization's “crown jewels” and determine which systems absolutely must stay operational. Because when a cyberattack hits, knowing what to save first can make all the difference between a disruption and a disaster.

AI Agents Report for Duty

More news from AUSA coming your way: U.S. Army Cyber Command is giving AI agents more responsibility, expanding its growing AI cyber workforce to help defend, operate, and even attack networks. Lt. Gen. Christopher Eubank said Oct. 12 that the command is building entire teams of AI agents to work alongside human cyber operators, covering jobs from exploitation analysis to network security. What started in April as Task Force Lexington has grown into an effort to map a full AI-powered Cyber Protection Team. Don't worry, the humans are still running the show. Operators check the agents' work daily, retrain them as needed, and decide which tasks can safely run independently. And there's more in the pipeline: The Army expects to announce two Project Griffin awards on Oct. 16, advancing AI systems that can not only spot cyber threats but respond within human-defined limits. The cyber workforce is growing – no new desks required.

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