On April 23, Protect AI, the leading provider of enterprise AI security solutions, announced that it is collaborating with Leidos to strengthen security for AI systems used by U.S. government agencies. The collaboration combines Leidos’ expertise in secure digital transformation with Protect AI’s platform to enhance end-to-end protection against AI threats—including those posed by next-generation agentic AI models.
An agentic model is a type of AI system that is given the autonomy to make certain decisions and take actions without human intervention. These systems can pose risks to government agencies responsible for protecting national security, infrastructure, and other critical systems because they can make decisions that might be influenced or manipulated by outside threats. Leidos and Protect AI aim to deliver full lifecycle security capabilities across the entire AI supply chain for national security, defense, intelligence, healthcare, and civil agencies that align with government standards and enable secure AI innovation at scale.
“As powerful and increasingly agentic AI models emerge, ensuring trust and compliance in government AI systems is more important than ever,” said Steve Hull, Digital Modernization Sector president at Leidos. “The federal government is rapidly scaling its use of AI to support national security and critical infrastructure, and our collaboration with Protect AI increases our ability to future-proof the safety and security of modern software systems.”
“AI security isn’t just about protecting critical data—it’s about securing the entire AI supply chain,” said Leidos Chief AI Officer Ron Keesing. “As agentic AI models introduce new risks, our work with Protect AI aims to ensure agencies maintain control and security while also being able to move quickly. Responsible AI adoption depends on trust, and by integrating Protect AI’s capabilities, we’re strengthening defenses against adversarial threats and helping to ensure AI remains a reliable asset for mission-critical applications.”
By integrating Protect AI’s platform into Leidos’ secure digital transformation initiatives, the firms aim to provide federal agencies with critical capabilities to manage AI risks—from model selection and development to deployment and ongoing monitoring. This includes protection against issues like prompt injection, adversarial manipulation, model drift, and more.
“Government AI systems are attractive targets for adversaries,” said Ian Swanson, CEO of Protect AI. “Our collaboration with Leidos brings full-stack AI security into government environments—ensuring every stage of the AI lifecycle is secure, auditable, and compliant with federal standards like NIST, OWASP, and MITRE.”
Source: Protect AI and Leidos
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