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Infrastructure Resilience Vital for Homeland Security

Conference will focus on emerging trends and technologies protecting the nation’s physical and cyber spaces from adversaries.

Homeland Security 2023

Securing critical infrastructure is becoming progressively complex with ties to numerous assets, systems, networks and geographic distributions. End-to-end coordination between federal, state and local agencies is vital in safeguarding the nation.

The inaugural Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Conference, to be held July 17-19 in Atlanta, will focus on emerging trends and technologies protecting the nation’s physical and cyber spaces from adversaries.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works tirelessly to strengthen infrastructure security and resilience by generating greater understanding and action across a partnership landscape.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads the effort to enhance resilience by bringing resources to citizen’s fingertips.

“AFCEA is continuing to expand its reach, bringing homeland security, supply chain protection and cybersecurity discussions to the federal, state and local stakeholders in a forum to discuss policy, common issues and possible solutions,” said conference chair and AFCEA Homeland Security Committee member Col. Kathy Swacina, USA (Ret.).

The forum will give academia, industry and the DHS an opportunity to facilitate crucial discussions to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure.

“The conference is your chance to bring your products and solutions right to the decision-makers,” Col. Swacina continued.

For Col. Swacina, the trending topics of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are of interest. “I think we need to get policy and ethics defined for AI/ML being developed now, before we start using this technology just for the sake of using it,” she told SIGNAL Media.

Smart cities will also play a role in the July event in a conversation with Christian Lowry, senior risk analyst at the national risk management center at CISA. “I think we have not had a good discussion around ‘smart cities’ when it comes to our nation’s infrastructure,” Col. Swacina added. “Aspects of smart city/bases have advantages as a cohesive mesh of enhanced features of connectivity and communication … something worthy of further study.”

Several of the event’s sessions have been approved by CompTIA, GIAC and/or CertNexus as continuing education for cybersecurity certification maintenance and others are still being reviewed. Sessions may also support (ISC)2, National Contract Management Association (NCMA), Project Management Institute (PMI), GAGAS and Defense Acquisition Workforce continuing education and/or certification maintenance requirements. To view approved sessions, please refer to the CE flyer for this event.

AFCEA’s Continuing Education (CE) program is designed to support cybersecurity certifications related to U.S. federal government requirements.

“I personally invite you to take advantage of this opportunity to network with your peers, learn about the latest trends and technologies, and share your expertise with other homeland security professionals,” said AFCEA Homeland Security Committee Vice Chair Daniel E. Turissini. “Most importantly, help AFCEA foster strong communication between our very diverse nationwide homeland security professionals.”

The lineup of expert speakers includes:

Keri Farley, special agent in charge, Atlanta Field Office, FBI
David Mussington, executive assistant director for Infrastructure Security, CISA
Kate Nichols, deputy regional director, Region IV, CISA
David Patrick, chief acquisition executive, CISA
Diane Sabatino, deputy executive assistant commissioner, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Gretchen Stewart, chief data scientist, Public Sector, Intel
Rear Adm. John Vann, commander, U.S. Coast Guard Cyber Command
Colt Whittall, chief experience officer, U.S. Air Force