Members of our MRC Team.
Pictured L to R: Alex Hayden, Kristen Tarrin, Casey Kelly, and Donald McCormack
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
29 August 2024
Contact: press@senedia.org
Significant Threats Require Partnership and Innovation
National Leaders Join National Security Conversation at 10th Anniversary Defense Innovation Days
NEWPORT, R.I. — SENEDIA, the Alliance for Defense Tech, Talent, and Innovation, yesterday concluded the 10th anniversary convening of Defense Innovation Days, their signature national event that brings together nearly 400 of the most influential decisionmakers in national security and leading innovators in the defense industry.
“For a decade, Defense Innovation Days has been a can’t-miss event for all those working in service of our national defense,” said U.S. Senator Jack Reed, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “There is tremendous value in bringing government, academia, and industry together to discuss how we can work together more effectively to protect democracy and strengthen the economy. I am grateful to SENEDIA for making these connections happen and keeping their foot on the gas to accelerate innovation in defense technology.”
Distinguished speakers at this sold-out event included the Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy.
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services, Appropriations and Foreign Relations Committees, opened this year’s event by highlighting the importance of New England to the sector and to national security, making Newport the perfect setting. According to SENEDIA’s latest economic impact report, defense accounts for 407,523 jobs and $119.1 billion in economic output in the region.
“The defense economy in New England provides many good jobs and plays an outsized role in safeguarding our national security and helping prepare and keep our Allies safe from global threats,” said Senator Shaheen. “Thank you to SENEDIA for hosting this annual event that helps foster collaboration and communication between innovative leaders across New England’s defense industry.”
Among the key takeaways for this year’s event are:
- The threats against American interests and democracy are significant and varied, from Russia to China and beyond.
- These threats have created opportunities for unprecedented levels of cooperation and collaboration with both longtime and unexpected allies, as evidenced by our work on AUKUS and effort to protect a free Indo-Pacific.
- We cannot slow down on efforts to innovate. For America to maintain military dominance, we must look for new ways to leverage technology, including AI, and that means leaning on industry and making it easier for them to collaborate with the government. Innovative prototypes must ensure a path to produce to scale.
- Technology depends on skilled talent. We must invest in robust recruitment, training, and workforce development to attract and retain the purpose-driven skilled workforce that we need to meet demand.
“Defense Innovation Days brings together the most influential voices in national security, paired with the most innovative leaders of the defense industry. This year’s 10th anniversary event continues to illustrate the power of that partnership and the importance of the defense sector to our economy,” said Molly Donohue Magee, CEO of SENEDIA. “When we collaborate for the good of our nation, we maintain and advance our strength at home and abroad.”
Threats to American Democracy
In his compelling keynote address on foreign challenges, Dr. Andrew Erickson of the Naval War College’s China Maritime Studies Institute put a fine point on the issue.
“The stakes could scarcely be higher, the timeline could not be more urgent, and your work matters greatly,” he said to an audience of small business owners, representatives from large prime contractors, and his peers in academia and government.
Erickson focused primarily on China’s increasing aggression and the importance of protecting our commercial interests and shared commitment to democracy with Taiwan. Speakers touched upon other urgent threats, as well, including Russia and the War in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse spoke of the equally pressing yet more distributed threat that climate change poses to national security.
“We really don’t know what is going to come but we do know that big, big changes are ahead and very dangerous potential changes. We’re looking at very significant changes to coastal infrastructure…and getting on top of that is going to be vital,” he said, pointing out that the military, and Navy in particular, have significant facilities investments in coastal communities that are now at risk of sea level rise and severe weather.
Vice Admiral Nancy Hann, Deputy Under Secretary of Operations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, struck a similar chord and detailed how NOAA provides increasingly important insights into not just weather forecasting, but its impact on economies and national security.
“We’re a bridge between military, academia, and industry, but we’re also a bridge to other nations. Nations care about their food security, they care about their weather, and that’s information we can provide to them or with them,” she said. “We provide environmental intelligence that affects every person in this room in both your personal and professional lives.”
Technology as a Line of Defense
Maritime dominance and national security require not just great ideas, but speed to execution. Marie Bussiere, the Technical Director of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, was joined on a panel on undersea technology innovation by Dr. Joseph Calantoni, the Technical Director of Naval Meteorology and Oceanographic Command. Bussiere emphasized that the answers will not come from military/government alone, a point that was reiterated by many speakers across the three days.
“In the spirit of Defense Innovation Days, we encourage ideas and solutions from our industry partners,” she said, calling on those in attendance to help “apply our collective imagination” to key Tactical Oceanography challenges, including how to curate, store, and translate data in a way that is actionable and gives the U.S. an advantage in combat.
“The way we operate internally in the Navy has got to change,” said Michael Stewart, Director of the Navy Disruptive Capabilities Office. “You’re going to optimize against the Navy you think you’re going to fight, so we need non-traditional players to come into this space. Speed matters. We have to move much faster.”
Stewart spoke on a keynote panel, “The Urgent Need for Disruptive Tech: An Operational Perspective,” and was joined by CAPT Colin Corridan, Navy Disruptive Capabilities Office, formerly Commodore of Task Force 59; CAPT Joseph Baggett, Commanding Officer, Surface Warfare Officers School Command; and CAPT (Ret) Michael Brasseur, Chief Strategy Officer for Saab Inc. and former Task Force 59 Commander.
On this panel and throughout the event, several technology needs emerged as areas of focus, including the effective use of data and AI, and improving operations and lowering the cost of unmanned systems for tactical oceanography, which was cited by Hann, Stewart, and Baggett, among others.
Tech Takes Talent: The Need for a Skilled Workforce
Like many industries, the defense sector is facing a workforce shortage at a time when the demand is outpacing the supply of skilled workers.
“Our people are the foundational strength of this department. We rely on the talent and the skill of the people in this room because we do face tremendous challenges across the world,” said Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro. “Each and every one of you plays such an important role in what we are doing to improve our Navy, to improve our Marine Corps, to improve our industrial base. It does take all of us together for this to be successful.”
The Honorable Nickolas Guertin, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Research, Development, Acquisition, said the United States’ submarine fleet is the crown jewel of our national defense, but with a goal of reaching serial production of one Columbia Class and two Virginia Class submarines per year by 2028, the U.S. must invest heavily in recruitment and training. Technology and automation can help make the Navy more efficient, he added, but it won’t replace the need for skilled and purpose-driven workers.
“We’ve got to hire a ton of people,” he said. “We need your ideas; we need your innovation about how we can do better on building and maintaining the fleet.”
New Perspectives for Defense Innovation Days
Secretary Del Toro highlighted that this was his fourth Defense Innovation Days, and many first-time speakers graced the stage in Newport, including Vice Admiral Hann; Lieutenant General Eric E. Austin, USMC, Deputy Commandant Combat Development and Integration; and Major General Luke Cropsey, Air Force Integrating Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications, and Battle Management.
Lt. General Austin agreed with the Navy Secretary that defense is a people-centered business and argued that those people need to approach the work with humility and a willingness to learn and be nimble.
“We need to have the institutional humility to make corrections when we’ve made mistakes or we’re going in the wrong path,” he said, citing several challenges to modernizing at the speed that the threat environment demands, including budgetary constraints, delays in amphibious platforms, limited manpower, contested logistics, and the need to grow the defense industrial base.
In closing out the event, Major General Cropsey also noted that the defense landscape has historically not been known for being flexible, and he called on his colleagues to break out of their siloes and collaborate across service lines and industry in order to prototype, experiment, quickly field, and work with a sense of urgency that this moment demands.
“When that workforce walks in the door, are they walking with their game face on?” he asked. “We have to build a compulsion in our workforce that we’re out of time, we’re out of money, we’re out of options so we better get working.”
Other speakers featured at Defense Innovation Days include Governor Dan McKee, Rhode Island House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi, Congressman Seth Magaziner, and Congressman Gabe Amo. The 11th annual Defense Innovation Days will take place 25-27 August 2025 in Newport, RI. Registration will open in January.