Cyberspace Symposium 2020 Is a Huge Success

The chapter hosted its annual Cyberspace Symposium in early February at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This year's event had over 2,000 attendees representing active duty military, government civilians, academia and industry experts, along with 129 exhibitors and 25 sponsors. Every year, the chapter brings together U.S. Defense Department, industry and academia to participate in this national forum to discuss the challenges of cybersecurity, community cyber readiness and digital transformation. This year's focus was "The Future of Cyber-Cyber 2030," with a discussion led by senior leaders such as Lt. Gen. Chris "Wedge" Weggeman, USAF, deputy commander, Air Combat Command; William Marion, deputy chief information officer, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, Pentagon, Washington D.C.; Brig. Gen. Chad Raduege, USAF, director of Cyberspace and Information Dominance and chief information officer, ACC; and Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, USAF, commander, 16th Air Force. U.S. Space Command and U.S. Space Force from nearby Peterson Air Force Base with Maj. Gen. Kim Crider, mobilization assistant to the Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force (USSF) and Brig. Gen. Joseph Matos, USMC, U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM), J-6, also participated. This flight of distinguished speakers highlighted the organizational changes taking place within the cyber community with the stand-up of the 16th Air Force combining cyber and intel assets under the ACC and the creation of a powerful USSPACECOM and USSF to address new threats in the space domain. These significant changes are taking place against a backdrop of rapid modernization and transformation in the digital domain for the Defense Department with the adoption of Agile software development and rapid cyber advances. In addition to three days of keynote speakers and panels, the Symposium provides a full day of cyber training with an opportunity to earn continuing education credits from industry leaders such as Cisco, Elastic, F5, Forescout, General Dynamics, Google, Nutanix and VMware at no cost to participants. Funds raised during the Symposium help the chapter give over $250,000 to the local community in STEM scholarships and teacher grants, as well as donations to other STEM-related activities. We look forward to continuing the momentum of this important event next year on February 1-4, 2021. Mark your calendars!

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