Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is charging the front lines of the defense-tech boom.
At a company event Wednesday in Washington, D.C., he announced Missionforce, a portfolio of AI agents geared toward the defense and intelligence sectors.
Kendall Collins, Benioff’s former chief of staff and CEO of Salesforce’s Government Cloud, will lead the program. “The goal is simple: to help our warfighters and the organizations that support them operate smarter, faster, and more efficiently,” Collins said in a statement. “There’s never been a more important time to serve those who serve.”
More than $28 billion in venture capital has poured into defense tech this year alone, according to PitchBook. Much of this funding is going to AI, for use in weapons or for more bureaucratic products, like chatbots for Department of Defense employees.
In turn, Silicon Valley founders have flocked to the capital, cozying up to President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Benioff, in particular, has embraced the president. “This has now become a time of great promise for our nation,” the CEO tweeted after Trump’s reelection. “We look forward to working together to drive American success and prosperity for all.”
Missionforce will create products that integrate AI into defense workflows, “supercharging logistics, personnel support, and decision-making to accelerate mission readiness,” Collins said.
The government and military have long utilized Salesforce products. In July, the company won a $100 million contract with the U.S. Army.
But Missionforce marks Salesforce’s entry in a crowded race. OpenAI has had a chatbot designed for government use since January. In the last month alone, Google announced Gemini for Government, which would offer AI products for 47 cents for the first year, and Scale AI won a $100 million contract to provide tools to the Department of Defense.
Salesforce didn’t say whether it would be hiring for Missionforce or where the initiative would be based, although the company has an office several blocks from the White House.