Weathering the Storm: How Governments Can Use AI to Build Resilient Communities

In recent years, weather and climate disasters have dramatically increased in frequency and severity, causing devastating social and economic impacts across the United States. In 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 billion-dollar disasters totaling $182.7 billion in damages, reaching a record high over the past five years. In response to this growing challenge, Booz Allen Hamilton tasked this Capstone team with examining how U.S. government agencies can leverage AI/ML technologies to enhance weather and climate resilience.

The project began by examining how governments can leverage AI/ML to strengthen resilience across mitigation, adaptation, and forecasting. However, in light of shifting political priorities under the new administration, the Capstone team narrowed their focus to politically feasible, short-term applications, including weather prediction, disaster response, and energy system management. The analysis unfolded across four phases: (1) Foundational research on weather and climate modeling; (2) Environmental scan of AI use cases; (3) Stakeholder interviews and focused use-case analysis; and (4) policy analysis resulting in actionable recommendations. 

Recent advances in AI for public-sector resilience are being fueled by partnerships between U.S. government agencies and private-sector innovators. These collaborations strengthen national capabilities in weather forecasting, disaster response, and infrastructure management. Drawing on expert interviews and policy analysis, the team proposed six actionable federal recommendations to accelerate this progress. These include expanding open data and computing infrastructure investments, launching interagency pilot funds, and streamlining procurement pathways. Together, these strategies aim to help agencies adopt AI tools that align with missions and can scale effectively within today’s political and budgetary realities.