Agenda & Speakers for December 2025 AI Convening to ACT

December 2025 AI Convening to Act
Agenda & Speaker/Panelist Details

Convening to Act: Mission Assurance in Agentic AI Operations:
Building AI Security & Assurance to Accelerate National Security Adoption
AGENDA
December 3-4, 2025

Day One

3 December

8:00 - 8:55 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:55 - 9:00 a.m.
Welcome: National Cryptologic Foundation (NCF)/Carahsoft
Craig Abod (CEO & Founder, Carahsoft); George C. Barnes (Chairman of the Board, NCF); Laura Nelson (CEO & President, NCF)

9:00 - 9:40 a.m.
Opening Keynote Fireside Chat
Moderator: Kevin Keaton, NCF
Speakers: General Paul Nakasone, USA (Ret), Founding Director, Vanderbilt University's Institute of National Security and Ron Bushar, CSO and Managing Director of Cyber Solutions at Google Public Sector.

9:40 - 10:30 a.m.
Beyond AI Security: Toward Mission Assurance in National Security AI
Moderator: Vinh Nguyen, Senior Fellow for AI, Council on Foreign Relations
Panelists: Mikel Rodriguez (MITRE); Dr. Paul Rodrigues (Microsoft); Dean Ball (FAI); and Troy Poppe (AWS)

10:30 - 10:50 a.m.
Break

10:50 - 11:15 a.m.
Deploying AI in NATSEC - A conversation with Justin Fanelli and Grant Verstandig (CEO Red Cell Partners).

11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Agentic AI Opportunities in National Security
Moderator: Dr. Matt Gaston (CMU)
Panelists: Dr. Alexis Bonnell (OpenAI); Jason Clinton (Anthropic); Michael Gerstenhaber (Google Deepmind); Brian Campo (U.S.Coast Guard)

12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Lunch (Flexible/Networking)

1:00 - 1:40 p.m.
Lightning Rounds with Q&A (10 mins per round with 10 mins Q&A)
Eight Agentic AI Lessons Learned from Mission Support to Dozens of Partners - Rebecca Fair (Two Six Technologies)
Managing AI Supply Chain - Jonathan Dambrot (Cranium AI)
Coalition for Secure AI (CoSAI) - Omar Santos (Cisco)

1:45 - 2:15 p.m.
Investors in National Security AI Panel
Moderator: Kevin Keaton (NCF)
Panelists: Christoper Steed (Paladin Group); Ron Gula (Gula Tech Adventures); Hon. Veronica Daigle (Red Cell Partners); Justin Wilder (IQT); Jonathan Clifford (General Catalyst)

2:15 - 3:00 p.m.
Cybersecurity Challenges in Agentic AI Operations
Moderator: Major General George Franz, U.S. Army (Ret), Executive Operations Director, Global Cyberspace Practice (MANTECH)
Panelists: Omar Santos (Cisco); Jonathan Dambrot (Cranium AI); Eric “Hutch” Hutchins (JPMC)

3:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Break

3:15 - 4:00 pm.
Analytic and Software Engineering Workforce Integration and Implications of Agentic AI Operations
Moderator: Ryan Jessee (MANTECH)
Panelists: Dr. J.R. Rao (IBM); Dr. Christos Makridis (ASU); Alex Schildt (ClearanceJobs)

4:00 - 4:50 p.m.
Future of AI in National Security Panel
Moderator: Jamil Jaffer (National Security Institute at Antonin Scalia Law School at GMU and Paladin Group)
Panelists: Andy Boyd (Former Dir of CIA’s CCI); LTG Karen Gibson (U.S. Army Retired); Kyle Pula (AWS)

4:50 - 5:00 p.m.
Closing remarks by the NCF

5:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Cocktail Reception - 5th Floor

Day Two

4 December

8:00 - 9:00 a.m.
Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:05 a.m.
Opening Comments

9:05 - 9:40 a.m.
Industry Keynote - National Security Implications of AGI
Jason Matheny, President & CEO (RAND)

9:40 - 10:25 a.m.
DOD/USIC Perspectives Panel
Moderator: Shari Rozen (ODNI)
Panelists: Dr. Matthew Kuan Johnson (DoW); Saleela Khanum Salahuddin (ODNI); Israel Soong (CIA); Amyn Jan

10:25 - 10:35 a.m.
Break

10:35 - 11:05 a.m.
Scaling Generative & Agentic AI for Empowering the Government Workforce
Shane Shaneman, Senior AI Strategist (NVIDIA)

11:05 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Agentic AI Startup Panel
Moderator: Dr. Esube Bekele (IQT)
Panelists: Julien Launay (Adaptive ML); Daria Bahrami (Dreadnode); Dr. Jeffrey Johns (Embed);

12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Closing Comments and Networking

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