From reactive to ready: How agencies are rethinking public safety technology

Government agencies are shifting from reactive to predictive public safety models by integrating advanced artificial intelligence and digital transformation strategies. During the MTX 2026 event, leaders from DXC Technology highlighted how new tools like agentic AI and zero-trust architectures are enabling authorities to anticipate threats rather than simply responding to them. This evolution is critical for the public safety sector as it seeks to maintain operational integrity and trust while managing increasingly complex geopolitical and cyber threat landscapes.

At the MTX 2026 homeland security event, DXC Technology experts detailed the transition toward intelligence-led operations through the implementation of the Agentic Control Tower (ACT). See Sing Ng, DXC Technology’s Singapore Managing Director, explained that the ACT leverages AI to move beyond basic situational awareness toward predictive insights and decision-making support. Dr. Alex Kokkonen, DXC’s Consulting Partner for Strategy, Advisory & Research, emphasized that successful digital transformation requires embedding governance directly into the development of AI-ready capabilities, ensuring that innovation and security are developed concurrently rather than treating governance as an afterthought.

Cybersecurity remains a foundational element of this shift, with Om Rai, DXC’s Head of Cybersecurity in ASEAN, identifying explainability, auditability, and model integrity as non-negotiable requirements for operationalizing AI. Rai advocated for a zero-trust architecture—a philosophy of continuous verification for every user, device, and data request—to prevent compromised systems from affecting active public safety operations. He noted that agencies leading the sector are treating cybersecurity as a core operational capability rather than a mere compliance activity, focusing on improving detection, response, and recovery times through micro-segmentation and identity-based access.

The rise of agentic technology is further exemplified by the Agentic Security Operations Centre (SOC), which uses autonomous agents to detect and investigate threats at machine speed. According to Rai, these agents can consolidate over 6,000 alerts from disconnected silos into a single unified view, providing immediate remediation strategies to combat analyst fatigue. Looking toward the next five years, Kokkonen stressed that public safety will increasingly depend on these predictive capabilities and strategic partnerships. These collaborations are essential for fostering resilience and genuine knowledge transfer, ensuring that digital ecosystems remain ahead of evolving geopolitical and technological crises.