Charles Lyons-Burt 
Who Is Scott Ostrowski?
Scott Ostrowski is the vice president of CTO operations at Peraton, where he leads execution of the chief technology officer’s strategy and oversees Peraton’s research and development and technology transfer investments. He manages Peraton Labs and a $235 million portfolio supporting advanced innovation across the company. Ostrowski brings nearly 25 years of technical leadership in cyber operations, data analytics and national security, drawing on experience in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve—where he served for two decades—as well as industry roles at Enveil, Latent AI and Booz Allen Hamilton.
What Does Scott Ostrowski Do at Peraton?
In his role at Peraton, Ostrowski drives technology advancement across federal missions by directing investment priorities, maturing emerging capabilities and accelerating the transition of research into operational systems. He supports mission partners across defense, intelligence and civilian agencies by shaping Peraton’s AI, data, cloud and advanced networking portfolios to meet next-generation requirements.
Ostrowski sat down with ExecutiveBiz for his first Spotlight interview to discuss the emerging technologies shaping great power competition, opportunities for faster innovation across federal and commercial ecosystems and how cloud migration is redefining cybersecurity for national security missions.
Ostrowski also highlights the critical nature of research and development efforts for new defense technologies. This will be the central focus of Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 29. Join the event now if you’re in the industrial base and want to start your year with key insights from top DOD leaders.
ExecutiveBiz: Which emerging technologies do you anticipate will have the greatest impact on our standing in the great power competition in the next few years?
Scott Ostrowski: Expanding on the conversation from my colleague, Tom Afferton, we will continue to see a rise in artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics over the next few years. Autonomous decision-making and speed of action will have the greatest impact on the United States’ position in the global power competition. Operational effectiveness, environmental resilience and the ability to transform raw data into actionable intelligence will increasingly serve as mission differentiators. Contractors, like Peraton, are answering the call to build and modernize systems to meet the next-generation of challenges. Peraton’s AI and data portfolio is made up of analytics and AI platforms that enable faster, smarter decision-making across defense and civilian missions ranging from modernizing the Defense Intelligence Agency’s database to saving billions of dollars for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.
We are also developing a mission-integrated network control to enable real-time, autonomous discovery and configuration of interconnected military networks while supporting on-demand connectivity in the most challenging tactical environments. Efficient and intelligent spectrum management is increasingly required for mission success. As radio frequency bands are auctioned for commercial usage, reducing available spectrum, multidomain operations will continue to demand improved command and control and domination of the electromagnetic operating environment, a.k.a. EMOE, to support dynamic tactical operations.
The greatest opportunity for accelerated tech growth lies in scalable AI and data ecosystems, secure cloud integration and autonomous mission capabilities — all areas where the U.S. can outpace adversaries by coupling innovation with secure, mission-driven implementation. For years at Peraton, we have delivered agentic AI to our customers, and we’re excited to launch disruptive new capabilities in the market next year.
EBiz: Where are you seeing opportunities for accelerated, meaningful tech growth across industry?
Ostrowski: We are seeing tremendous opportunities for tech growth at the intersection of federal research and development, private capital investment and mission-driven innovation. In short, defense tech is cool again. This convergence of funding, innovation and transition pathways through organizations, like DEFWERX and the Defense Innovation Unit, is creating an unprecedented environment for rapid technology maturation.
Peraton is uniquely well-positioned to support this lifecycle from inception to deployment. At the earliest stages (TRL 1–3), our CRAD work in Peraton Labs helps shape emerging concepts and foundational science. As technologies mature (TRL 4–6), our IRAD investments, strategic partnerships and participation in test exercises help validate and operationalize capabilities. Finally, at scale (TRL 7–9), our government customers rely on us to integrate, deploy, and sustain these solutions across complex, mission-critical environments.
With Executive Order 14271 reshaping the dynamics of federal contracting and expanding pathways for commercial technology adoption, Peraton is leaning in to not just deliver technology, but accelerate the transition. As a valued partner to multiple agencies across state and federal government, our goal is to be their tech integrator of choice by making sure the best ideas move rapidly from R&D to the real-world mission impact.
EBiz: What kind of tools and technologies—besides AI—can organizations use to make their data more accessible and understandable?
Ostrowski: Beyond AI, organizations can tap into a range of transformative technologies to make their data more accessible, understandable and actionable. One of the most powerful tools is digital twin technology, which creates real-time, interactive models of physical systems and enterprise operations. These models transform complex datasets into intuitive visualizations and actionable insights—empowering faster decision-making, deeper understanding and more effective collaboration across the organization.
Peraton is at the forefront of this techvolution with its cutting-edge digital twin technology, powered by proprietary intelligent data fabric and advanced AI capabilities. This enterprise-grade solution delivers real-time operational insights, reduces risk and downtime, and enhances cross-functional collaboration and agility across dynamic market conditions. Building on this foundation, Peraton is pioneering next-generation advancements like intelligent acting digital twins, dubbed IADT, and self-evolving models. These solutions transform digital twins from passive representations into adaptive learning systems that can evolve autonomously and strengthen operational resilience across the enterprise.
Beyond digital twins, Peraton is advancing computational superiority and resiliency by extending processing power and analytics to the edge, ensuring real-time processing and decision-making closer to the source, which reduces latency across diverse environments and devices. Complementing this is our advanced analytics, data governance and privacy-enhancing technologies that ensure data is standardized, secure and actionable. Together, these tools help turn data into a strategic asset, enabling agencies to act on information faster and with greater confidence, which is essential to maintaining U.S. leadership in the global technology landscape.
EBiz: Migrating to the cloud inherently means an increase in digital assets and infrastructure, and a decrease in physical assets. How do you think cloud has changed the cybersecurity paradigm as traditional organizational perimeters expand and even disappear?
Ostrowski: Cloud migration has fundamentally reshaped our approach to cybersecurity from one centered on defending physical and network perimeters to one now focused on identity, data, governance, and resilience. In today’s environment, security can no longer rely on static boundaries. Instead, it must follow the user and the data, wherever they reside.
This shift has introduced a shared responsibility model between cloud providers and federal organizations. Providers can secure the underlying infrastructure, but agencies must protect their own data, applications and configurations. Unfortunately, many high-profile breaches we’ve witnessed in recent years stem from misconfigurations, like exposed storage buckets, which highlights the need for better governance and integrated security from the start.
At Peraton, our enterprise IT and cloud portfolios are built around this new reality. CloudOnyx integrates security across every phase — from strategy, migration and operations — ensuring that mission systems are secure by design. Our enterprise network and identity services embed zero trust principles to ensure that only the right users access the right resources, regardless of their location. And through hybrid and multicloud architectures, we enhance redundancy and resilience by pairing continuous monitoring with adaptive defenses that evolve as threats do.
As traditional perimeters dissolve, the key to national security in the digital era is embedding security into the mission through automation, encryption, real-time threat detection and continuous compliance validation. In this new paradigm, cybersecurity expands beyond an IT function to a mission enabler.
EBiz: What are some of the key barriers that remain in widespread federal cloud migration, and how do you think we can overcome them?
Ostrowski: Federal agencies continue to face a unique set of challenges when it comes to cloud modernization. Data sovereignty and classification concerns remain front and center, particularly for organizations handling sensitive or national security-related workloads. Many agencies also grapple with deeply entrenched legacy systems that make modernization both complex and resource intensive. On top of that, cloud literacy and workforce readiness gaps can slow progress, while procurement and compliance requirements often add layers of complexity that delay implementation.
To overcome these challenges, agencies need to take a pragmatic, security-first approach. Hybrid and multicloud models are proving their worth as an essential part of the mission, enabling owners to migrate at their own pace while maintaining control over sensitive data and ensuring operational continuity. Peraton’s CloudOnyx platform is designed specifically to support this journey end-to-end — from strategic planning and architecture to migration and ongoing operations — helping federal teams minimize transition risk while accelerating mission outcomes.
Equally important is investing in people and processes to address cloud literacy gaps. Strengthening training and cloud enablement programs ensures federal teams can confidently manage and optimize these new environments. Finally, establishing strong data governance frameworks and cross-agency cloud standards will foster interoperability, consistency and trust. These are three key ingredients for a secure, connected digital government that supports national security priorities.
