While it may seem like the coronavirus pandemic has taken away many opportunities to meaningfully connect, there are some bright spots for those willing to take advantage – one of those opportunities is the way many conferences that were once regional now have the opportunity to go global, bringing in speakers and participants who may have previously been prohibited by inability to travel or incidental costs. The Intelligence and National Security Summit, co-hosted by AFCEA and INSA is one of those events. The annual conference is 100% virtual this year – but offers just as many opportunities to connect, network, and getting the latest news from the Intelligence Community’s biggest leaders.
ClearanceJobs recently sat down with Larry Hanauer, vice president of policy at the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and Jen Sovada, Chief Futures Officer and Senior Vice President and General Manager of DoD and Intel at Mission Tech. The Intel Summit is 100% virtual this year, and there’s still time to register for the three days of exclusive sessions and networking events taking place September 16-18. Attendees who can’t attend every session will have the chance to watch sessions on demand later.
“We’re going to hear from agency directors, military leaders, CEOs, and other senior industry executives, and a range of subject matter experts from industry academia think tanks and the media,” said Hanauer. “We normally get about 1500 attendees at a big conference center in a normal year, but this year because the event is all virtual and will take place entirely online, we’re able to reach people outside, and we’ll be able to share some insights with people outside of Washington.”
A common misconception is that individuals who are working in the intel community must be located in the Washington, D.C. metro, or perhaps stuck on some forward operating base or CIA facility abroad. But the reality is intel missions are taking place across the country, from Colorado Springs and Huntsville to Tampa and St. Louis.
“This is a terrific opportunity for people inside the beltway and outside the beltway to gain access to conversations about policy, strategy, resources, and other issues that can inform their work and shape helps shape their business operations and their investments,” said Hanauer. “We’ll go over everything from current issues that are in the news to longer term issues that affect national security strategy and also opportunities for industry to enhance their support to their intelligence and defense clients.”
Just a few of the topics that will be covered at the Intel Summit:
- The post-pandemic intelligence community, including new remote work environments and technology advancements enabling classified work remotely on a more broad scale
- The impact of climate change on the national security mission, and how that impacts future contracts and technology investments.
- Russian and Chinese propaganda and disinformation and how the U.S. government is poised to counter it.
- Military intelligence challenges with all six service intelligence chiefs – including the U.S. Space Force.
- Plenary sessions with the directors of NSA, NGA, NRO and DIA.
With so much to take advantage of and all virtually, Intel Summit organizers are hoping many will make this Intel Summit their first.
“You can participate in this anywhere you are in the world without having to pay to travel,” said Sovada. “And so for all of those people that are a part of the intelligence community that are one-offs or they’re in a very small communities of the intelligence community across the U.S. – you have the ability to meet those people and integrate with those people and interact with those people that you might not normally have access to because you live in Huntsville or you live in Colorado Springs, or you’re out in Silicon Valley trying to pull things into the intelligence community from the tech sector.”
