Why It Matters
Palo Alto Networks Inc. filed its third-quarter 2026 in-house lobbying report on Oct. 16, disclosing work on fiscal year 2027 defense and homeland security appropriations, the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and three AI and cybersecurity bills. The filing puts the company on record before Congress on how federal networks and critical infrastructure should be hardened against cyber threats and governed under emerging AI frameworks, with fiscal year 2027 spending bills still awaiting Senate action.
By the Numbers
The third-quarter filing reports $780,000 for the third quarter of 2026. Five outside firms that each filed in the second quarter, Miller Strategies LLC, American Defense International Inc., Mehlman Consulting Inc., Mayer Brown LLP, and Roberti Global LLC, show no third-quarter report, leaving the third-quarter client total $200,000 below the second-quarter total of $980,000.
The filing names three in-house lobbyists, all former congressional staffers:
- Rob Cooper, senior director, Public Policy and Government Affairs; served in the office of Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI-1).
- Katie Donnell, director, Public Policy and Government Affairs; served in the offices of Reps. Ryan and Thomas E. Petri (R-WI-6).
- Daniel Bleiberg, director, Public Policy and Government Affairs; served in the office of Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV).
Broader Context
The filing covers H.R. 9495, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2027, and H.R. 9310, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2027, both placed on the House Union Calendar in June 2026.
It also covers H.R. 8800, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027, which has passed the House, and S. 4784, which is on the Senate Legislative Calendar. A continuing appropriations law funds the federal government through Dec. 11.
The filing lists H.R. 10362, the Stop Rogue AI Act, which was introduced on Sept. 14, with a stated purpose of establishing AI-agent discovery and security standards. Palo Alto Networks is named among five supporters in the sponsors' release, alongside GoDaddy, Infoblox, AI Policy Network, and Alliance for Secure AI, praising the bill as a basis for safe AI-agent adoption with visibility, monitoring, identity verification, and control.
H.R. 9925, the FRONTIER Act, would create a federal framework for overseeing frontier AI models that pose catastrophic risks, including safety frameworks, independent audits, and civil penalties; it was referred to committee in July 2026 and remains at the introduced stage. S. 5508, the Telecommunications Cybersecurity and Resilience Act, introduced in September 2026, would establish a public-private working group on cybersecurity best practices for telecommunications carriers.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on June 22, directing a federal transition to NIST-approved post-quantum cryptography standards and providing assistance to critical infrastructure owners and operators. In an April 22 letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-6) and Rep. George Whitesides named Palo Alto Networks as a private-sector partner working with Anthropic's Mythos AI model to identify critical-infrastructure vulnerabilities.
The Bottom Line
Palo Alto Networks' in-house filings name Katie Donnell, Daniel Bleiberg and Rob Cooper in every quarter except the second quarter of 2025, when the filing lists only Bleiberg and Cooper. The two House appropriations bills, H.R. 9310 and H.R. 9495, are on the Union Calendar awaiting floor consideration. The Senate NDAA, S. 4784, is on the Senate Legislative Calendar; H.R. 9925 was referred to the House Energy and Commerce and Science, Space, and Technology committees on July 23, 2026; and H.R. 10362 was introduced in September.
Access the Legis1 platform for comprehensive political news, data, and insights
Spot something wrong? Report an issue with this article
