The days when “mission communications” primarily meant voice calls are all but disappearing.

Today, federal missions rely on a constant flow of data, from drone feeds and video streams to situational awareness dashboards and emerging artificial intelligence applications.

As communications become increasingly data-intensive, agencies face a new challenge: ensuring critical connectivity remains available when demand is at its highest, said Casey Muilenburg, senior solutions engineer – public safety at T-Mobile.

“Agencies are shifting from being voice-centric to now being voice and really data heavy — video rich too — and you’re starting to see AI-assisted workflows as well,” Muilenburg said. “Field personnel are relying on drones and video and situational awareness dashboards to be able to complete their missions.”

That evolution is transforming communications from a supporting service into a mission-critical component of mission execution. Legacy networks were primarily designed for voice traffic, but modern government operations depend on moving significantly larger amounts of information in real time.

Few people have seen mission communications fail — and succeed — from as many perspectives as Muilenburg. A military veteran, former emergency response leader and current security executive, he has spent decades helping organizations maintain connectivity during some of the nation’s most challenging incidents.

As agencies modernize their operations, the challenge can no longer be only about extending connectivity. Agencies must ensure mission-critical users maintain reliable access during periods of peak demand. Increasingly, technologies such as 5G standalone architectures and network slicing are helping agencies build communications resilience directly into their mission readiness strategies, Muilenburg said.

The challenge becomes especially apparent during disasters, public emergencies and major events, when thousands of users attempt to access network resources simultaneously. In those moments, coverage alone is no guarantee that communications will remain usable.

“In these situations, you can see congestion,” Muilenburg explained. “There are just too many users. That data is too heavy to be able to analyze it. The congestion is real.”

This reality is leading agencies to think differently about readiness. Rather than focusing solely on network availability, they are increasingly focused on network performance under pressure.

For T-Mobile, one answer lies in leveraging 5G standalone architecture and network slicing to provide prioritized access for mission-critical users. Unlike traditional prioritization models, which rely on tiers of service, network slicing creates dedicated resources that can dynamically expand or contract based on demand, Muilenburg explained.

“We’re actually giving a dynamic network slice that can expand and contract depending on demand, ensuring that everybody that has T-Priority has access to the network,” he said.

> Capacity resilience
Can communications withstand congestion and demand spikes? T-Priority

> Geographic resilience
Can communications continue where terrestrial coverage doesn’t exist? T-Satellite

> Cyber resilience
Can communications remain secure against evolving threats? T-Mobile Security

The capability is designed to help first responders and other mission-critical users maintain communications even during significant congestion.

“We put in rate bit minimums to ensure that even if the network does get congested, the public safety responders are still able to perform their duties and be able to communicate with one another,” he said.

The value of this approach becomes clearest when agencies face the exact conditions they prepare for: large-scale emergencies where network demand is concentrated in a single location.

Muilenburg pointed to the Palisades Fire response in California as a real-world example of why prioritization matters.

“There were over 1,500 responders at Zuma Beach. They were operating off one cell site,” he said. “You can imagine the congestion level.”

Muilenburg said agencies using T-Priority experienced a noticeable performance advantage.

“They were able to see data throughput maintained using T-Priority,” he said. “We saw a lot of people with devices without it that were unusable. Applications would time out. With T-Priority, that just was not happening during that incident.”

Those experiences are shaping how agencies think about communications resilience more broadly. Rather than relying on a single technology or network, many are adopting layered approaches that align with continuity of operations planning.

“They need to look at a layered communications plan,” Muilenburg said. “You want the primary, alternate, contingent and emergency layers there.”

By building communications capabilities across multiple technologies and networks, agencies can continue operating even when one channel becomes unavailable. He also noted the importance of selecting partners that can support emerging resilience capabilities. “Ensuring that you’re working with a partner that has direct to cell connection,” he said, can provide an additional layer of continuity when traditional infrastructure is compromised.

The goal is not simply to prioritize traffic on a network, but to ensure mission-critical communications can persist under a range of conditions. As Muilenburg said, “You want that layered communications plan to ensure that you get the resiliency.”

As agencies prepare for increasingly digital and AI-enabled missions, connectivity itself is becoming a strategic readiness platform. Organizations that combine network prioritization with layered communications capabilities and continuity planning will be better positioned to sustain operations, maintain mission assurance and adapt to rapidly changing conditions, Muilenburg said.

The need is becoming even more urgent as agencies deploy AI at scale. While people often view AI as a software or analytics capability, he argues it is equally a communications challenge because AI-powered operations depend on reliable, high-performance connectivity to move data, generate insights and support decision-making in real time.

AI-enabled missions will generate, consume and analyze significantly more data than traditional workflows, he said. Whether supporting emergency management, intelligence analysis, logistics coordination or field operations, AI systems depend on fast, reliable access to information at the edge, Muilenburg said. That means communications networks have become a critical dependency for the next generation of government operations.

The impact is already visible across the federal government. According to the Government Accountability Office, reported AI use cases across selected federal agencies nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024, while generative AI use cases increased nearly ninefold during the same period.

As agencies deploy AI-powered applications, communications networks must support not only larger volumes of data but also faster decision-making, Muilenburg said. In many scenarios, the value of AI depends on delivering near-real-time insights to personnel working in the field.

That growing dependence on data-intensive applications creates new performance requirements for federal networks. During emergencies or large-scale operations, agencies need communications infrastructure capable of handling sudden increases in traffic while maintaining access for mission-critical users.

“You must have low latency, high throughput utilizing that 5G standalone network,” Muilenburg said.

The challenge is likely to intensify. Industry forecasts suggest AI-driven applications could increase mobile network traffic by an additional 20% to 80% beyond current projections, as organizations adopt more data-rich and interactive tools.

For agencies planning future communications strategies, that means readiness can no longer be measured solely by coverage. It must also account for the network performance required to support AI-enabled operations when demand is at its highest.

Resilient connectivity is becoming a mission requirement. As AI-enabled operations continue to expand, agencies will increasingly depend on networks capable of delivering low latency, high throughput and reliable performance under pressure, Muilenburg said.

“AI is really changing how we’re looking at things, everything from how our network operates to how solutions are deployed out in the field.”

What is network slicing?

Traditional priority systems move users to the front of the line.

Network slicing goes a step further by creating dedicated network resources that can dynamically expand and contract based on mission demand.

“We’re actually giving a dynamic network slice that can expand and contract depending on demand,” T-Mobile’s Casey Muilenburg said.

Potential benefits

• Improved performance during congestion
• Lower latency
• More predictable service
• Dedicated mission capacity
• Support for AI and real-time applications

Explore the communications strategies and technologies shaping the future of federal mission resilience.

Copyright © 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.