As the Department of the Air Force prepares to release its own zero trust plan just three months after the Pentagon released a department-wide five-year zero trust strategy, Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger is focused on reducing technical debt and elevating software factories to bring the Air Force into the future. Software factories can play a role in the implementation of the Defense Department’s Joint All-Domain Command-and-Control (JADC2) concept and integration of the recently awarded Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. Knausenberger also discusses her career journey and advice for those interested in working in national security.