Defense leaders know one thing to be true about the future of warfighting: it will become increasingly complicated as battles are waged in cyberspace.
That probability is what senior-level military, government and industry leaders will be discussing at this year’s flagship TechNet Cyber conference presented by the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International in Baltimore, Maryland.
This year’s theme of the three-day event beginning Tuesday is about “outpacing the threat,” and innovators in the defense technology space will discuss how their tools fit within the military’s goals to align their defenses with the nature of cyber warfare, adapt to rapidly changing environments, and accelerate ahead of global adversaries. All the topics du jour will be on the table, including artificial intelligence, large language models, contested logistics and data strategy.
Knowing future battles will transcend borders and go beyond just physical assaults on adversaries, experts in the U.S. government and industry know the tools of the future must be secure. Knowledge in itself will become an edge in battle. As nations like China seek to advance their use of artificial intelligence for military gain, so, too, are the U.S. and its allies working to understand and leverage this technology in defense of its infrastructure.
Attendees will hear from top officials from the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Joint Force Headquarters, federal chief information officers and chief technology officers, and the service’s cyber commands on the range of multidimensional threats facing their warfighters and the nation.
Registration for interested parties is open here. Here are a few highlights to note.
A keynote address kicks off the event on June 25, during which attendees will hear from Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, and AFCEA President and retired Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence. The two will open the conversation on ensuring resiliency in the defense industrial base.
Other sessions that morning will highlight progress being made on the Defense Department’s sprint toward achieving “target level” zero trust by 2027 with insights from within the Pentagon’s information office itself.
Leaders from the Army will also discuss the role of generative AI and knowledge management in warfare, and several branch officials will come together to talk about the need for establishing an Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy.
The showroom floor will also be open to display the latest technology in cybersecurity from dozens of companies.
But the tools cannot be discussed without also identifying a workforce to use them. An afternoon session on Tuesday will offer a status update on the DoD Cyber Workforce Framework.
For highlights of the conference, follow along at c4isrnet.com.
Molly Weisner is a staff reporter for Federal Times where she covers labor, policy and contracting pertaining to the government workforce. She made previous stops at USA Today and McClatchy as a digital producer, and worked at The New York Times as a copy editor. Molly majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
