Five Eyes allies ended their Combined Digital Leadership Summit last Friday with accelerated work on Project Arcadia.
The Department of War announced the successful wrap-up of the biannual Combined Digital Leadership Summit 26.1 event on May 11.
Held in Washington on May 8, the gathering brought together senior digital leaders from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand to advance joint digital warfare.
The summit advanced the operationalization of Project Arcadia in line with priorities set by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Hegseth stressed technological and operational unity with partners as key to global stability.
“The United States is committed to achieving peace through strength,” Hegseth previously declared.
DoW Chief Information Officer Kirsten Davies closed the event. She challenged the group to pursue “peace through technical strength” while praising the delegation’s “fierce dedication” and “unequivocal consensus.”
“The spirit of the Combined Digital Leadership Summit has affirmed a fundamental truth that will define our future success: we can only achieve our goals when we walk together, not independently,” Davies said in her closing address. “The strategic imperative that has galvanized this remarkable unity is Project Arcadia. It is not merely an IT project, but the operational imperative for our time — the digital backbone that will empower our warfighters with the information dominance they need to win.”
The nations linked the Defence Chief Information Officer Forum, Defence Chief Data Officer Forum, and Combined Communications Electronics Board. They pledged to make the Arcadia platform core infrastructure for artificial intelligence operations and command-and-control data flows. The aim: create a unified Common Operating Picture faster than legacy networks allow.
The event closed with a handover ceremony. Davies passed a ceremonial taonga —Māui’s hook— to Australia’s Defence CIO, Chris Crozier, shifting hosting duties for the next cycle.
Davies gave the Australians a sculpted eagle clutching the American flag.
“The American flag in its talons is a reminder that wherever this mission flies next, the United States will be right there with you,” she noted.
Work on Project Arcadia and rapid prototyping will proceed at high speed. Australia hosts the next summit in Sydney this November.
