WASHINGTON \u2014 A week after Karen Dahut discussed digital transformation and information-technology investments at the Association of the U.S. Army convention, she was back on stage. This time, though, it was on home turf: The Google Public Sector Forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dahut leads Google Public Sector, launched in June 2022 to target government modernization and the tech-centric needs of national security. She previously worked as the president of Booz Allen Hamilton\u2019s<\/a> global defense business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dahut sat down with C4ISRNET on the sidelines of the Oct. 17 forum to discuss her experience with the company, government adoption of artificial intelligence and cloud, and the ever-changing landscape of cyber. Google Public Sector the same day announced it was collaborating with Accenture Federal Services on a cybersecurity center of excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Portions of the interview<\/a> below were edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How is Google Public Sector shaping up a little more than one year after its launch? Who or what have been some of its biggest focus areas?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve spent the last year, really, traveling around, visiting with customers and prospective customers. There are three things they say, resoundingly, that they need and want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One is they need to move quickly. They need to move boldly, and they need to transition out of legacy IT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two is that they need security built in. I don\u2019t know if you saw Mandiant CEO<\/a> Kevin Mandia speak earlier this morning, but the number of cyber incidents are quadrupling, the number of zero-day incidents are just growing extraordinarily, and our public-sector customers are experiencing that and seeing that. They need security built in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, the last thing is that they don\u2019t want to do this by themselves; they need really strong technology partners to support them.<\/p>\n\n\n\t