The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)is investing in multiple initiatives including the Joint Warfighting Concept (JWC) and Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) to enable coordinated military operations against current and future threats. Because these efforts involve the integration of devices and data streams at the tactical edge, they call for a zero-trust approach to cybersecurity. But achieving zero trust at the edge presents multiple challenges. One path to overcoming these barriers is an automation strategy that enables more rapid and reliable configuration of components and helps achieve data-sharing across echelons with greater security.