Critical Ops: A DC National Security Hackathon

Categories

Events Calendar, Business & Innovation

Date and Time

• Fri, Apr 17, 2026 - Sun, Apr 19, 2026  5pm - 2pm

Details

Building for National Security Starts Here

​Join 100+ engineers, builders, and operators for the DC National Security Hackathon on April 17–19, 2026 in the nations capital.

​Goal

​Bring together builders, government stakeholders, and investors to work on real-world national security challenges.

​This is about moving from ideas to prototypes to real deployment pathways.

​What You’ll Do

​Work on problem sets sourced from operators across:

• ​🚁 Autonomy & Counter-UAS
• ​📦 Contested Logistics
• ​🛡 Cybersecurity & Critical Infrastructure
• ​🧬 Biotechnology
• ​🤖 AI Agents

​Build anything from software and AI systems to hardware-enabled solutions.

​What You’ll Get

• ​Access to frontier AI tools (OpenAI, ElevenLabs)
• ​Direct feedback from operators and domain experts
• ​A high-signal community of builders
• ​Exposure to venture capital and national security leaders

​Demo Day

​Curious what gets built? Join us on Sunday for live demos and judging.

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