Breaking the Huddle: The State of Social Services - Navigating Change to Preserve Critical Programs (Part 3)

Katie Arrington, former CIO for the United States Department of War and current Chief Quantum Evangelist at IonQ joins the show to discuss what makes quantum fundamentally different from AI and why the US-China race for "Q-Day" has no second-place finisher. She explains IonQ's ion-trapping approach, the current fidelity numbers closing in on the 256-qubit threshold, and why quantum's energy footprint could reshape data centers and national resource strategy. Finally we cover why "harvest now, decrypt later" undersells the real threat, why the US needs new incentives (tax relief, capital gains waivers) to out-commercialize China, and her definition of success in the next five years.

The Honorable Victor Dominello, former New South Wales Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government and current CEO and co-founder of the Future Government Institute (FGI) joins the show to unpack FGI's framework for how government evolves, from Government 0.0 through Government 4.0. Together we explore why most governments remain stuck in the "clutter era" of 2.0, and why the leap to 3.0 is a cultural and philosophical shift, not just a technical one. We also discuss why trust, not technology, is democracy's biggest hurdle in the AI era, why humility is the defining trait of leaders driving real transformation, and what citizens will take for granted about government in ten years.

Amita Prabhu, Senior Engagement Manager with Adobe’s Public Sector Digital Strategy Group joins the show to unpack the findings from the 2026 Digital Government Index (DGI)—Adobe’s annual benchmark of digital maturity across U.S. state governments. This year’s report saw AI readiness added to the index as the digital “front door” shifts from traditional search and government websites toward AI-generated answers. Together they explore what that shift means for government agencies competing to ensure residents receive authoritative, trustworthy information—not answers from outdated, third-party, or potentially fraudulent sources. The conversation also examines why overall digital progress is beginning to slow, despite meaningful gains in accessibility, and introduces the idea of “whack-a-mole government”: agencies solving one digital challenge only to create or expose another. Amita discusses the tradeoffs between accessibility and site performance, why point solutions can compound technology challenges, and how integrated approaches can help agencies improve the entire resident experience.

Bill Gemza, Deputy CISO and VP of Cybersecurity and Threat Management at Veeam joins the show to explore the growing gap between cyber confidence and proven resilience across federal agencies. Together they unpack why having a recovery plan isn’t the same as knowing it will work when an attack hits—and how AI is making that challenge even more complex. They discuss the rise of “shadow AI,” gaps in AI governance and visibility, and why agencies need to test recovery capabilities under real-world conditions rather than relying on compliance audits or past performance.

Mike Hurt, Group Vice President for U.S. Public Sector at ServiceNow joins the show to unpack findings from a new research report on AI adoption across civilian and defense agencies. Together we explore what separates a successful AI deployment from a science experiment, detail the governance infrastructure needed to define where AI makes decisions and where humans stay in the loop, and then discuss the importance of storytelling to build internal momentum and drive adoption beyond early adopters. We alsd dig into why only 15% of agencies are deploying agentic AI today and why siloed pilots aren't enough.