Welcome, to Critical Ops: A DC National Security Hackathon
This event is hosted by Georgetown's McDonough Military Alliance, MBA Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital Club, students from Johns Hopkins University, students from George Washington University, In-Q-Tel, Squadra Ventures, and VCinDC.
Presentation oder:
- aegis-swarm
- Matching Industry Solutions to Military Capability Gaps
- Guardian Angel
- SeaForge
- Aegis
- Aegis Strategic Command
- enel (edge-network environment lattice)
- Resilient Drone Swarm Search
- Project Hail Mary - Combat Medic AI Companion
- Signal Atlas
- Acorn
- JARVIS
- Swarm Navigator
- Sentinel
- Aurora
- RedString
- ViewPilot
- Boom.
- VulcanMind
Requirements
Requirements
For this hackathon, we’ve curated problem themes directly from the US Military, industry partners, and government officials.
Building for National Security Starts HereJoin 100+ engineers, builders, and operators for the DC National Security Hackathon on April 17–19, 2026 in the nations capital.
Full website: http://dcnatsechackathon.com/
GoalBring 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 DoWork on problem sets sourced from operators across:
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🚁 Autonomy & Counter-UAS
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📦 Contested Logistics
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🛡 Cybersecurity & Critical Infrastructure
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🧬 Biotechnology
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🤖 AI Agents
Build anything from software and AI systems to hardware-enabled solutions.
What You’ll Get-
Access to frontier AI tools & Datasets (OpenAI, Meta, and ElevenLabs)
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Direct feedback from operators and domain experts
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A high-signal community of builders
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Exposure to venture capital and national security leaders
Curious what gets built? Join us on Sunday for live demos and judging.
AgendaFriday, April 17, 2026
Kick-off Day
15:00 - 16:30 - Post-Conference Reception (Georgetown University)
17:00 - Doors open, Check-in, Networking (National Innovation Quarter)
18:00 - Welcome by Organizers, Overview of Hackathon
18:30 - Presentation of Problem Statements
19:00 - Meta Workshop Presentation
19:30 - Fireside Chat - Advice for Presentations
19:50 - Team Formation, Open Networking, Start of Hacking
21:00 - Venue closes for the evening
Saturday, April 18, 2026
Hacking continues all day
09:00 - Mentor Office Hours Begin
(Mentors, operators, and sponsors available throughout the day)
Sunday, April 19, 2026
12:00 - End of Hacking
Demo Day (Open to Registered Visitors)
12:30 - Project Demonstrations & Judging
14:00 - Award Ceremony
14:30 - Closing & Networking
Discord With More Information Coming Soon
Prizes
1st Place Overall Winner
To be announced
2nd Place Overall Winner
To be announced
3rd Place Overall Winner
To be announced
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Sam Koralnik
Georgetown University
Judging Criteria
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Technical Execution (40%)
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Impact (25%)
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Creativity (15%)
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UI/UX (10%)
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Pitch Quality (15%)
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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