As the Department of War increasingly turns to commercial technology to accelerate modernization efforts, Army Director of Strategy and Transformation, DCS, J-2 Andrew Evans is urging agencies and contractors to balance speed and innovation with security and supply chain resilience. His recent comments underscore the growing role commercial solutions play in defense acquisition and the responsibilities industry must meet to support mission success.
To learn more about the Army’s modernization priorities and hear directly from leaders shaping the future force, join the 2026 Army Summit on June 18. The event will bring together senior Army officials with industry for meaningful conversations centered on public-private partnership. Andrew Evans will join a panel discussion examining how AI is transforming the Army today. Seats are limited, reserve yours today.
What Did Andrew Evans Say About Commercial Tech Adoption?
The Department of War is accelerating efforts to modernize its technology ecosystem, and commercial solutions are playing an increasingly important role in helping agencies field new capabilities faster and at lower cost. However, Evans cautioned that commercial technology adoption must be balanced with security, supply chain and workforce considerations.
Recently, Evans discussed how government agencies are evaluating commercial technologies as part of broader modernization and acquisition efforts. He emphasized that while commercial innovation can help the military move more quickly, agencies must remain mindful of potential vulnerabilities associated with commercial products and development environments, according to reporting from DefenseScoop.
“Commercial first is vitally important. It helps us go fast. It also has some challenges,” Evans said, “The challenge with adopting a lot of commercial tech is we don’t really have our hands on the way that’s designed, how your algorithms are trained, how your workforce is embedded and that becomes a concern.”
The discussion highlights the growing importance of demonstrating not only technological capability but supply chain integrity, cybersecurity resilience and workforce trustworthiness as defense organizations increasingly seek to leverage private-sector innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data analytics and software development.
Evans has also emphasized that innovation must become a permanent part of the Army’s culture rather than a temporary initiative. Evans said the Army’s intelligence enterprise is focused on delivering “advantage in decision-making” by helping leaders understand who the Army may fight, where conflicts could occur, when they might happen and what future battles will look like according to Fed Gov Today.
In his role leading strategy and transformation initiatives, Evans is focused on driving lasting change across Army intelligence, connecting modernization priorities with mission requirements and future force objectives.
Despite the challenges, Army leaders are committed to a “commercial-first approach”. Under Secretary of the Army and Wash100 Award winner Michael Obadal said “Through contracting reform [including the push for commercial-of-the-shelf solutions], we have realized efficiencies including an 88% reduction in administration and billions in savings on the removal of pass-through contractual costs by establishing direct-supplier relationships using enterprise contracts,” reported Axios.
Who Is Andrew Evans?
Andrew Evans is a Senior Executive Service leader who currently serves as director of strategy and transformation within the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence. Since taking on the role in September 2025, he has been responsible for advancing the Army’s intelligence modernization agenda, guiding technology transformation initiatives and evaluating investments to improve operational effectiveness across the force.
Evans previously served as director of the Army ISR Task Force where he led efforts to synchronize modernization activities throughout the Army Intelligence and Security Enterprise under a charter established by the secretary of the Army.
His government service follows a two-decade military career as a Special Electronic Mission Aircraft aviator. Throughout multiple assignments and deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Africa and South America, Evans directed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations and supported processing, exploitation and dissemination missions. Before retiring from military service, he spearheaded the Army’s aerial ISR modernization initiatives, helping oversee planning and resource efforts tied to the development and integration of the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, known as HADES.
Where Can GovCons Network With Andrew Evans?
GovCons interested in learning more about Army modernization priorities will have an opportunity to hear directly from Evans during the panel titled From Data to Decision: How AI is Transforming the Army Today at the 2026 Army Summit on June 18.
The event will bring together senior Army leaders like Hon. Marc Andersen and LTG Robert Collins, acquisition officials including Katie Thompson of ACC-APG and industry executives to discuss the technologies and strategies shaping the future force. As the Army continues investing in intelligence modernization, AI and next-generation command-and-control capabilities, Evans’ perspective offers valuable insight into how the service is approaching transformation across the intelligence enterprise.
Register for the 2026 Army Summit to gain insights from Evans and other senior military leaders about the modernization initiatives creating new opportunities across the defense industrial base.
