NDIA Cybersecurity Division Meeting

The meeting brings together leaders from the Department of War, industry, manufacturing institutes, and academia to address the future of American defense manufacturing. Program themes include industrial surge and production capacity, supply-chain resilience, advanced manufacturing, manufacturing modernization, and priorities for strengthening the Defense Industrial Base. The format includes high-level briefings, panel discussions, and fireside chats with senior leaders.

The meeting focuses on transforming Department of War acquisition pathways and moving at the speed of relevance. It addresses challenges innovators, startups, and small businesses face in understanding customer needs, advancing technology with autonomy as the baseline, and communicating across customer and industry lines to develop capabilities that help warfighters complete missions more effectively.

The program examines the industrialization of cyber capabilities, military installations as warfighting platforms, privateering in the cyber domain, and U.S. Fleet Cyber Command’s focus, priorities, and capabilities. It also addresses cyber warfare innovation, operational readiness, emerging technologies, and partnerships supporting national cyber advantage.

Brings nuclear cybersecurity professionals together to share experience implementing strong nuclear cybersecurity programs. Planned discussion covers the evolving nuclear cybersecurity landscape, recent program implementation inspections and lessons learned, and strategies for securing advanced reactor technologies. The event is closed to media.

The half-day program examines space systems’ role in critical infrastructure resilience and the secure adoption of AI. Topics include protecting space-based communications, navigation, timing, and data services; applying zero-trust principles across spacecraft, ground systems, networks, users, and mission partners; and how Golden Dome for America may affect cybersecurity requirements, acquisition priorities, and resilient space architectures. The AI security theme covers AI-enabled threat detection and response across space, ground, and user segments, including human oversight; risks across AI models, training data, software, infrastructure, and vendors; and workforce readiness to deploy, govern, and defend AI-enabled systems. Government briefings, expert panels, and dedicated roundtables are planned.

The program focuses on cybersecurity for the oil and natural gas industry, with an emphasis on safety, best practices, innovation, and resilience. Listed subjects include application security and SecDevOps; compliance and new regulations; ICS cybersecurity; identity and access management; cyber incident management; next-generation SOC and security orchestration; generative AI platform risks and security; zero trust; threat hunting and threat intelligence; cyber insurance; the human element; and cybersecurity architecture. The program also includes a CISO leadership panel, a cyber incident management workshop, an API conference retrospective and past-chair panel, and the keynote session “AI Made Me Do It: Confessions of an AI-Era CISO.”

Discussions address federal and defense mission resilience, electric grid security, data centers’ growing energy demands, and resilient digital infrastructure. Topics include continuity of operations, mission assurance, grid and transmission planning, data center capacity, site selection, permitting, water and cooling, redundancy, physical hardening, and future-proofing. Sessions include Federal & Defense Mission Digital Resilience; Unleashing the Grid: Securing Power for Mid-Maryland’s Defense Communities; The AI Infrastructure Challenge; and Designing and Delivering Resilient Digital Infrastructure for the DoW. The keynote is by Lucian Niemeyer, former Assistant Secretary of Defense.

The 2026 conference marks NTSA’s 60th anniversary and centers on the U.S. Army lead-service theme, “Beyond the Battlefield: Training Readiness and Lethality for All-Domain Dominance!” The program combines executive presentations, technical papers, tutorials, professional development workshops, special events, and Next Big Thing talks focused on modeling, simulation, training, education, AI, autonomous systems, synthetic environments, operational test and evaluation, acquisition modernization, digital engineering, digital twins, cyber and information warfare, and the defense industrial base. Featured content includes an Industry Keynote by Brandon Tseng, President & Co-Founder, Shield AI; a Featured Government Keynote by Amy Henninger, SES, Ph.D., Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), DoW; and senior-leader discussions involving LTGEN Austin, USMC; MAJ GEN Cropsey, USAF; and MAJ GEN Smith, USSF. Special events include the Congressional M&S Caucus; Digital First discussions on defense acquisition through AI, digital engineering, simulation, and digital twins; Building an AI Ready Military Force; a Naval Aviation Flag Officer Panel; NATO mission-space digital twins; Air Force maintenance training; cyber, electromagnetic, wargaming, and information warfare; and program briefs on training acquisition and the All-Domain Marine. The program also includes perspectives from government, industry, academia, and international partners.

The dialogue covers government updates on matters affecting U.S.-Japan defense industry cooperation, including the two new administrations and key players; joint U.S.-Japan DICAS and U.S.-led multilateral PIPIR activities; Industry Base Policy; and U.S.-Japan defense cooperation. The event is closed to press/media.