AFCEA’s Western Conference and Exposition starts tomorrow, featuring an array of high-level speakers, including the three sea service chiefs. The theme of the conference this year: “Lower Budgets and Higher Demands: How Do the Sea Services Strike the Right Balance?”
The three-day event, taking place in San Diego, also gives industry an opportunity to showcase offerings that will have an effect on all areas of current and future sea service operations.
C4ISR & Networks will bring ongoing coverage of the event from open to close. Check this page for regular updates, and look for special daily e-newsletters highlighting each day’s coverage.
The conference’s offerings cover a wide range of topics pertaining to C4ISR and naval warfare. A sampling:
- RDML Christian “Boris” Becker and MG Daniel Hughes will offer a two-person panel discussion on the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) and inter-service collaboration in a resource-constrained environment.
- Clay Wilson, CISSP, will present a session on zero-day exploits, and how policy surrounding them affects strategic stability. The session will explore the characteristics of cyber weapons and whether we are entering a new global cyber-arms race.
- VADM Richard Hunt (Ret.) will moderate a panel on the force providers’ priorities, featuring VADM Michael Connor, commander of Naval Submarine Forces, VADM Mike Shoemaker, commander of Naval Air Forces, and several other speakers.
- Small businesses are invited to a session on doing business with SPAWAR.
Other sessions will focus on networks, on bring-your-own-device policies and other technological questions for modern naval operations.
Speakers include the leaders of the sea services: Gen. Joseph Dunford, commandant of the Marine Corps; ADM Michelle Howard, vice chief of naval operations; and ADM Paul Zukunft, commandant of the Coast Guard.
Other keynote speakers include VADM Jan Tighe, commander of Fleet Cyber Command and the Tenth Fleet, ADM William Gortney, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work.
For the complete schedule, click here.
