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The 2023 National Disaster Resilience Council Summit:
Solutions Now for Infrastructure Resilience
December 5-6, 2023
Hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio’s National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) Co-hosted by Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)
OVERVIEW:
Now more than ever, we must be prepared for adversarial attacks and destructive natural events causing long-term outages of America’s critical infrastructure. Please join us for the annual NDRC Summit, featuring a powerhouse speaker lineup from government and private industry, impactful presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions, timely updates, and more.
Throughout two full days, our experts will provide attendees with knowledge, insight and resources relating to the five hottest topics in infrastructure resilience today: cyber threats; Department of Defense key enablers; operational continuity; research and development updates; and the all-important critical human infrastructure.
The National Disaster Resilience Council is a Cross-Sector Council of InfraGard National Members Alliance, an FBI-affiliated independent nonprofit dedicated to protecting U.S. critical infrastructure and the American people. Our mission is to inform communities regarding various threats to our infrastructure - specifically, how to mitigate the high-impact threat of long-term power and communications failures that could lead to catastrophic, cascading losses of life-sustaining infrastructures - and resources for recovery.
Confirmed NDRC Summit topics include (Full Agenda Below):
IN-PERSON VENUE:
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
National Security Collaboration Center
506 Dolorosa St., San Pedro 1 Building
San Antonio, TX 78204
VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE OPTION: $10 for virtual attendance to help defray the costs of the livestream audiovisual infrastructure. If you would like to register for the virtual attendance option, use the registration button above, and an event link will be provided at a later date.
IN-PERSON OPTION: $100 for in-person attendance. Includes refreshments, handouts, parking, reception, and lunches for both days
SPEAKERS: Use the registration button and select "Speaker" when registering.
DONATE: Can't attend but would like to support the event? Every donation is appreciated to help support national programs that play a vital role in critical infrastructure protection and resilience. Donations to InfraGard National Members Alliance are tax-deductible.
Sponsorships are available! If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact Mary Lasky at mlasky@infragardnational.org.
December 5 & 6, 2023
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
National Security Collaboration Center
506 Dolorosa St., San Pedro 1 Building
San Antonio, TX 78204
QUESTIONS:
Mary Lasky
Chair
National Disaster Resilience Council
InfraGard National Members Alliance
E-mail: mlasky@infragardnational.org
Draft (11/12/2023)
InfraGard National Disaster Resilience Council
2023 Annual Summit
Theme: “Solutions Now for Infrastructure Resilience”
December 5 & 6, 2023
In Person at the
San Pedro 1 Building University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)
506 Dolorosa St., San Antonio, TX 78204
Hosted by
The National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC)
and
Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)
Supporting themes: (i) Cyber Related Threats
(ii) Research Updates
(iii) DOD Key Enablers
(iv) Operational Continuity
(v) The Critical Human Infrastructure (Readiness Focus)
Agenda
December 5, 2023
7:30 Registration and Check-in Set up NSCC, JBSA, and NDRC Advisory Group
8:00 Registration Opens
8:45 Virtual Link Showcase Sponsors
8:50 Call to take seats MC
8:55 Virtual Link goes live
9:00 Opening Remarks & Introductions Mary Lasky, Chairperson NDRC
9:05 JBSA Honor Guard Air Force
9:15 Welcoming Remarks Doug Farber, InfraGard President
Introduced by Mary Lasky
9:20 Welcoming Remarks SA Justin Garris, FBI AS
Introduced by Bob Janusaitis
9:25 Welcoming Remarks Dr. Taylor Eighmy, President UTSA
Introduced by Dr. John Higgins, Act Dir
UTSA NSCC
9:35 Welcoming Remarks Brig Gen Russel Driggers (Accepted)
Commander, Joint Base San Antonio
Introduced by Michael “Apollo” Lovell
9:45 Welcoming Remarks Mayor Ron Nirenberg (via video)
Mayor, City of San Antonio
10:00 Keynote – Critical Mission to LTG John Evans Jr. (Accepted)
Detect, Deter, & Defeat Threats to US Commanding Officer, ARNORTH
Introduced by Mary Lasky
Lt. Gen. John R. Evans, Jr., the Commanding General of U.S. Army North (Fifth Army), will provide the keynote on defending the homeland through integrated deterrence and protection of critical infrastructure.
11:00 Break
11:15 San Antonio Electromagnetic Defense Michael “Apollo” Lovell, JBSA
Introduced by Steve Volandt
12:00 Building Industry Resilience Brig Gen Guy Walsh, USAF (ret)
Introduced by Michael “Apollo” Lovell
The role of the Industrial Base in Resilience will be discussed.
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Legislative Remarks Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Via a taped message
Congressman Don Bacon
(Pending)
2:00 National Labs Presentation Focus on Infrastructure Resilience R&D
- Idaho National Lab – Testing update Robert “Bob” Tarwater
Introduced by Dr. John Higgins, Act Dir
UTSA NSCC
We have to move from “appreciating the problem” to “adjusting to reality” when it comes to disaster resilience. Through INL’s work in Consequence-driven Cyber-informed Engineering (CCE) and All Hazards Analysis, a framework for resilience planning and maturity emerges.
2:20 Overview of Advanced Energy Projects Dr. Brian Zook, Chief Scientist
Applied Power Division
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
Introduced by Michael “Apollo” Lovell
2:50 AI Overview Dr. Kenneth Holladay, Technical Advisor
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
Introduced by Michael “Apollo” Lovell
Our society is being inundated with news and claims related to artificial intelligence. It is simultaneously hailed both as the solution to the world’s problems and as a doomsday technology. Dr. Holladay will weave together thoughts on AI, tools, intelligence, wisdom, and ethics. Based on an easy to understand cognitive architecture model, we’ll consider some of the questions that we should be asking about our use of AI.
3:30 Break
3:45 EMP Solutions Panel David Winks, Facilitator
Tim Carty, EMP Shield
Terry Murch, TSS
Michael K. Brown, Advanced Fusion
David Tilton, EMP Consortium
4:30 NDRC Working Groups Update Steve Volandt, Vice-Chair NDRC
4:50 Sponsor Presentations Steve Volandt, Facilitator
EMP Shield -- Tim Carty
TSS -- Terry Murch
Foundation for Resilient Societies –
Tom Popik
ETS Lindgren – Bob Piemonte
5:50 Closing Remarks Mary Lasky
6:00 Reception and Sponsor Tables
7:30 Departure / Clean-up
December 6, 2023
8:30 Registration opens
9:00 Opening Remarks Mary Lasky, Chairperson NDRC
9:05 Welcome Bob Janusaitis, President San Antonio IMA
9:10 Platinum Sponsor Presentation Tim Carty, EMP Shield
9:15 Presentation of 2023 Bill Harris Award Bruce Churchill, USN (ret)
9:30 Space Weather Seth Jonas, Lockheed
Introduced by Dr. George Baker
The Space Weather Advisory Group (SWAG) recently published a series of findings and recommendations to successfully implement the PROSWFIT Act (2020) and transform the national space weather enterprise. Dr. Jonas will highlight key findings and recommendations from the SWAG report, which are intended to inform improved national capabilities for space weather preparedness and resilience. He will also discuss future work of SWAG as it continues to engage stakeholders across the national space weather enterprise.
10:15 Protecting Critical Infrastructure: Joel Kellogg, ETS-Lindgren
The Resilient Substation Ryan Marietta, Center Point Energy
Introduced by Steve Volandt
Protection of critical infrastructure is paramount to the security and defense of the United States. CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric (CEHE), in collaboration with ETS-Lindgren, has developed a system for substation and transmission stations not only provides resilience from cyber threats and High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulses (HEMP), Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP) and intentional electromagnetic interference (iEMI), but from a host of other events that could disrupt supply and delivery. This presentation will provide a high-level overview of a resilient substation system, shielding effectiveness, and system performance. Additionally, examples will be provided of how the system is deployed or could be deployed to provide a utility security from malicious attacks and a host of other events that can disrupt substation and transmission station operations and prevent reliable supply and delivery of power. Lastly, the presentation will highlight how it is possible to provide Mil-STD level protection while remaining flexible, easy to install and maintain, and cost effective.
10:45 Break
11:00 Human Assets Dr. Richard Randall and Bruce Churchill
Introduced by Michael “Apollo” Lovell
Two different approaches to looking at the human assets/ workforce for our critical infrastructure. One looks at a sector approach and the other from the National Critical Functions.
11:30 China Communist Party vs US Gordon J. Chang
Introduced by Dave Hunt
12:00 US Strengths in face of CCP Facilitated by Bruce Churchill
Andrew R. Scott
Mike Carpenter
Dr. Keeper Starkey
The US Bill of Rights distinguishes us from totalitarian and communist regimes and through further exercise of the Bill of Obligations, as described by Richard Hass in his recent book, the strength of America resides within every citizen. The Bill of Obligations can and should be used as countermeasures to the 36 Stratagems threats that face our nation. By putting country first and empowering "We the People", overcoming adversarial actions will be a success.
12:30 Lunch
1:15 Resiliency Solutions Forum Facilitated by Dave Hunt
Michael Hainzl - Batteries
Mark Jones - Best Practices Guide
Bjorn Simundson – Water Advances
Building and maintaining a resilient electric power system is a combination of design, components and maintenance policy. The Forum will introduce CISA’s Resilient Power Best Practices for Critical Facilities and Sites guide document. We will explore system design considerations and maintenance best practices for the inclusion of renewable energy resources, energy storage and traditional engine-generators. An introduction to microgrids and battery energy storage technologies will explain the design and financial drivers that help determine if energy storage makes sense for a project.
2:00 Commercial Resilience Initiative Joaquin Jaimes, Manager of
Emergency Preparedness, H-E-B
Introduced by Blanche Dudoit
Providing aid in times of need is the cornerstone of H‑E‑B's Helping Here philosophy, which promises to stand by communities during times of crisis. For more than 100 years, the company has demonstrated its commitment to communities in crisis by prioritizing people, operational sustainment, and community integration.
2:30 Emergency Communications Bob Smith, Facilitator
Sharon Halstead and Amanda Schell, FBI AEP Survey
Chris Beck & Scott Blevins, EIS Council
BSX
The failure of communications is one of the most planned for – and least prepared for events based on a review of after-action reports, surveys, and field interviews. While most organizations have a planned redundancy for communications, there is an overreliance on traditional wired and wireless infrastructure. The private sector and government must explore options to maintain communications and stakeholder relationships during a communications failure. In a Black Sky event, restarting and reconstituting our electrical grids and other critical infrastructures will require effective communications. Present communication systems are vulnerable to direct damage, and also rely on grid power. EIS has developed and piloted the BSX communication system, to allow grid and other infrastructure operators to effectively communicate and coordinate response and restoration operations.
3:15 Break
3:30 Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab Camille Schumacher, APL
Mosaics - OT Protection Joseph Maurio, APL
Introduced by Phil Froehlich
MOSAICS (More Situational Awareness for Industrial Control Systems) is a vendor agnostic cyber identification and response framework to address the cyber security of industrial control systems (ICS) against the rising threats from adversaries. A MOSAICS deployment implements advanced security orchestration and automation to detect, mitigate and recover from a cyber-attack on ICS networks which is combined with best available and applicable decision support, analytic, visualization, and information sharing tools. Pilot instantiations of the framework have been successfully deployed on military and civilian infrastructure systems.
4:00 AI Panel Jodi Masters-Gonzales, Facilitator
Dr. Hans Mumm,
Dr. Kenneth Holladay
Jennifer Gold, AI-ISAC
4:45 Advanced Air Mobility: Resilience Chelsea Treboniak
Use Cases Introduced by Mike Carpenter
This session explores Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) with a focus on its resilience use cases. AAM represents the next frontier in transportation, where electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and drones play a pivotal role in revolutionizing mobility and logistics. We will explore how AAM technologies are not only enhancing efficiency but also fostering resilience in various domains, including disaster response, healthcare, and transportation. Information showcases how AAM is shaping a more resilient and sustainable future.
5:15 Closing Remarks and Conclusion Mary Lasky
No Host Dinner at a local restaurant to be announced.
December 7, 2023
9:00 – 12:00 After-Action Meeting NDRC Leadership Advisory Group
& Presenters
Questions?
Email cschirato@infragardnational.org or call (202) 714-4772.
Please let us know if you plan to attend the NDRC Summit in-person or virtually.
Questions?
Email cschirato@infragardnational.org or call (202) 714-4772.
Questions?
Email cschirato@infragardnational.org or call (202) 714-4772
Thank you for your registration. A confirmation will arrive in your inbox shortly.
If you are attending virtually, we will send you the link to join the meeting in a separate email.
Questions?
Email cschirato@infragardnational.org or call (202) 714-4772