Convening to Act

Join the NCF to discuss building AI security and assurance in order to accelerate national security adoption for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and beyond.

December 3 - 4, 2025

All Day

Carahsoft Conference & Collaboration Center, 11493 Sunset Hills Road, Suite 100, Reston, VA 20190

Overview | Speakers | Agenda | Sponsors

Overview

The NCF’s Progress Through Partnership with the National Security Agency (NSA) is essential for staying ahead of emerging threats and ensuring the resilience of our nation’s security infrastructure. Thus, the NCF, in partnership with the NSA, sponsors a series of dialogues called Convening to Act programs to identify emerging challenges in cybersecurity and cryptology.

The December 3-4, 2025 Convening to Act will feature a multidisciplinary dialogue, including government and industry, to discuss – Mission Assurance in Agentic AI Operations: Building AI Security & Assurance to Accelerate National Security Adoption…for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and beyond, including small and medium-sized businesses. At this timely and important Convening, we will explore the latest advancements in how to secure and assure AI in high-stake national security operations.

Learn more about all Convening to Act programs

Register

Registration is closed for this event

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship is closed for this event

Sponsor a Future Event

Agenda

All times are shown in Eastern Time Zone (ET).

Day 1: December 3rd

Collapse Agenda

8:00 - 8:55AM | Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:55 - 9:00AM | 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 - 9:40AM | Opening Keynote Fireside Chat

Moderator:
Kevin Keaton, NCF

Speakers:
General Paul Nakasone, USA (Ret), Founding Director, Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security
Ron Bushar, CSO and Managing Director of Cyber Solutions at Google Public Sector.

9:40 - 10:30AM | 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)
Troy Poppe (AWS)

10:30 - 10:50AM | BREAK

Day 2: December 4th

Collapse Agenda

8:00 - 9:00AM | Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00 - 9:05AM | Opening Comments

9:05 - 9:40AM | Industry Keynote - National Security Implications of AGI

Jason Matheny, President & CEO (RAND)

9:40 - 10:25AM | 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 - 10:35AM | BREAK

Speakers, Panelists, & Moderators

Laura Nelson – NCF President/CEO (Host Org)
Mr. Kevin Keaton, NCF Director of Engagement & Innovation (Host Org)
George Barnes – NCF Chairman of the Board (Host Org)
General Paul Nakasone, U.S. Army (Ret) – Keynote Speaker (Day 1)
Ron Bushar – Chief Security Officer and Managing Director of Cyber Solutions, Google Public Sector
Jason Matheny – President & CEO, RAND Corporation

Mr. Craig Abod (Carahsoft)
Ms. Daria Bahrami (Dreadnode)
Mr. Dean Ball (FAI)
Dr. Esube Bekele (IQT)
Dr. Alexis Bonnell (OpenAI)
Mr. Andy Boyd (Former Dir of CIA’s CCI)
Mr. Brian Campo (US Coast Guard)
Mr. Jonathan Clifford (General Catalyst)
Mr. Jason Clinton (Anthropic)
Hon. Veronica Daigle (Red Cell Partners)
Mr. Jonathan Dambrot (Cranium AI)
Ms. Rebecca Fair (Two Six Technologies)
Major General George Franz, U.S. Army (Ret) (MANTECH)
Dr. Matthew Gaston (Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute)
Mr. Michael Gerstenhaber (Google Deepmind)
Ms. Karen Gibson (LTG Retired) Advisor
Mr. Ron Gula (Gula Tech Adventures)
Mr. Eric “Hutch” Hutchins (JPMC)
Mr. Jamil Jaffer (National Security Institute at GMU and Paladin Group)
Mr. Ryan Jessee (MANTECH)
Dr. Jeffrey Johns (Embed)
Dr. Matthew Kuan Johnson
Mr. Julien Launay (Adaptive ML)
Dr. Christos Makridis (ASU)
Mr. Vinh Nguyen (Council on Foreign Relations)
Mr. Troy Poppe (AWS)
Mr. Kyle Pula (AWS)
Dr. J.R. Rao (IBM)
Dr. Paul Rodrigues (Microsoft)
Mikel Rodriguez (MITRE)
Ms. Shari Rozen (ODNI)
Ms. Saleela Salahuddin (ODNI)
Omar Santos (Cisco)
Mr. Alex Schildt (ClearanceJobs)
Mr. Shane Shaneman (NVIDIA)
Mr. Israel Soong (CIA)
Mr. Christopher Steed (Paladin Group)
Mr. Grant Verstandig (Red Cell Partners)
Mr. Justin Wilder (IQT)