WILL WE BE READY?
“Out of the clear blue sky…” is a phrase often uttered when recounting the events of September 11, 2001. A description of the temperate fall day, but also a metaphor for how unexpected it all was: the boldness of an attack on U.S. soil coupled with use of commercial airliners—loaded with fuel and innocent people—as weapons of mass destruction. We didn’t see it coming. We weren’t prepared. It changed everything.
What if it happened again, 30 years later, with 30 years of technological advances to exploit?
The Fifth Great Power Competition Conference picks up where the fourth left off. We’ve examined the events leading up to and the day of 9/11 and our immediate response; now, we look forward, asking a roster of former and current military and federal leaders to reflect on whether our nation has made sufficient changes to our security, intelligence, and law enforcement policies and practices to prevent another tragedy from the clear blue sky and what work remains to be done.
SPOTLIGHT SPEAKERS
Maj. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, USAF, Director of Operations, US CENTCOM
GEN Frank McKenzie (USMC-retired), former Commander, US CENTCOM
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, former Chair, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
HON Michael Rogers, former Chair, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Gen Michael Hayden, USAF, Retired, former Director, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency
ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS & PANELISTS
Vice Admiral Collin Green, Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
VADM Jan Tighe, USN, Retired, Former Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare and Director, Naval Intelligence
John McLaughlin, former Acting Director of Central Intelligence
HON Jen Easterly, Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Homeland Security
HON Ronald S. Moultrie, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security
HON Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, US Department of Justice
HON Michael Chertoff, former Secretary of Homeland Security
Dr. Ron Sanders, Staff Director, Cyber Florida: The Florida Center for Cybersecurity
USF Interim President Rhea Law
GEN Keith Alexander, USA, Retired; former Director, National Security Agency
Eric Silagy, CEO, Florida Power & Light (FPL)
HON Fran Townsend, former Homeland Security Advisor
HON John S. Pistole, former Deputy Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
LGEN Charles W. Hooper, USA, Retired; former Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency
HON Ellen E. McCarthy, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
ADM Craig Faller, USN, Retired, Former Commander, US SOUTHCOM
HON Mike McConnell, VADM, USN, Retired, Executive Director, Cyber Florida; former Director, US National Intelligence
Dr. Eric Eisenberg, Dean, USF College of Arts & Sciences
Michael Allen, Managing Director & Partner, Beacon Global Strategies
HON Michael E. Leiter, former Director of the US National Counterterrorism Center
Frank Cilluffo, former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush for Homeland Security
HON Janet Hale, former Under Secretary of Management, US Department of Homeland Security
ADM James M. Loy, former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
Dr. Michael O’Hanlon, Director of Research – Foreign Policy, Brookings Institution
HON Michèle Flournoy, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, WestExec Advisors; former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
AMB Ryan Crocker, former US Ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan
Peter Singer, New America Senior Fellow
Patrick Gorman, Executive Vice President for Cybersecurity, Booz Allen Hamilton; former CIO, US Intelligence Community
