President's Commentary: Challenges Loom, Opportunities Abound

As 2018 begins, we find ourselves in what may be the most challenging era of our lifetimes. The rapid rise of near-peer competitors, coupled with new and emerging adversaries enabled by advanced technology and science, pose major international security threats.

Government cannot handle these challenges alone. Its organizations simply are unable to keep up with the pace and scope of technological change. As a result, the model for generating creative thought, innovation and research long ago shifted dramatically away from government and toward the commercial and academic sectors.

This backdrop clearly provides tremendous opportunities for AFCEA International to fulfill its key mission of supporting the ethical exchange of information among industry, government and academia. As an international nonprofit association, we are in a distinctive position to facilitate new concepts and ideas for these bodies.

In 2018 and beyond, I am asking each of our chapters, affiliated committees and associated partners to redouble efforts in identifying key problems within the realm of our mission that can be addressed while helping to develop and promote potential solutions. Please take a look at your chapters and ask yourself whether you are focused on the appropriate areas, or are there new opportunities to explore.

Challenge the status quo. Don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself; to develop and continually challenge the assumptions that change brings; to identify the problems you are trying to solve with change; to be creative; to ask difficult questions and ask them again; and to promote discussion and debate about solutions. The goal is to raise the level of intellectual discussion on key international security issues and step away from stale topics. Instead, embrace discussions aimed at generating new pathways within your focus areas. Our mission, with information technology as one of our major core competencies, gives us broad latitude to attack crucial security problems and issues.

In the year ahead, the association will begin shaping the expansion of its presence in the Indo-Pacific region. This isn’t a sprint but a marathon dictated by the “tyranny of distance.” Countries such as India, Singapore and perhaps Vietnam hold potential for joining stalwart presences in Japan, South Korea, Guam and Australia with shared security concerns.

We need your help in this regard. Simultaneously, we will assess new opportunities in Europe and again seek your assistance. I ask that you make a special effort to recruit traditionally underrepresented groups, such as minorities and women. Our goal is an inclusive and diverse membership. We want to bring people with divergent views from government, industry, academia and the military into the association.

A major benefit of membership is mentoring. While we are doing much better in our efforts to bring Young AFCEANs on board, room remains for helping those young people and minorities progress in our association and the broader community. We are not capturing the full value of mentoring across the AFCEA enterprise, and we need to increase our focus on that activity.

Meanwhile, another area of the association continues to move forward. The AFCEA Educational Foundation board of directors has determined that the foundation’s present model represents the appropriate course for now, so the association will stay that course while entertaining ideas on improving its business model. I ask all chapters to focus their resources on supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholarships.

AFCEA is blessed with several functional committees comprising experts in their fields, and we are looking to discover new opportunities for their activism. We also want to explore integrating committee efforts globally. Our chapters should be able to better leverage the thought leadership that comes out of these valuable committees.

This year, AFCEA will be improving its strategic messaging and marketing. I encourage you to visit AFCEA’s website (www.afcea.org) to learn how AFCEA BrandLink can help industry partners move forward. AFCEA’s websites offer great value in terms of communicating ideas and opportunities to members.

Finally, think of AFCEA as a global enterprise that derives its influence and strength from the totality of its membership. We should all be reinforcing and supporting each other for the common good. It’s not by accident that I chose Rudyard Kipling’s quote from The Jungle Book as our slogan: “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.”

With AFCEA’s financial position once again strong, now is the time to begin shaping the future. Many good ideas reside outside of headquarters and may merit inclusion in our plans. Send them forward. The world is changing, and we want to meet the challenges that come with change. AFCEA is well-positioned to do so.