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Convening to Act: Mission Assurance in Agentic AI Operations

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

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

Agenda

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

Day 1: December 3rd
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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
10:50 - 11:15AM | Deploying AI in NATSEC

A conversation with Justin Fanelli and Grant Verstandig (CEO Red Cell Partners).

11:15AM - 12:00PM | 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)

12:00-1:00PM | LUNCH (Flexible/Networking)
1:00 - 1:40PM | 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 - 2:15PM | 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 - 3:00PM | 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 - 3:15PM | BREAK
4:00 - 4:50PM | 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 - 5:00PM | Closing remarks by the NCF
5:00 - 6:00PM | Cocktail Reception - 5th Floor
Day 2: December 4th
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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
10:35 - 11:05AM | Scaling Generative & Agentic AI for Empowering the Government Workforce

Shane Shaneman, Senior AI Strategist (NVIDIA)

11:05AM - 12:00PM | Agentic AI Startup Panel

Moderator: |
Dr. Esube Bekele (IQT)

Panelists: Julien Launay (Adaptive ML)
Daria Bahrami(Dreadnode)
Dr. Jeffrey Johns (Embed)

12:00-1:00PM | Closing Comments and Networking

Speakers, Panelists, & Moderators

NCF Host Speakers & Program Keynote Speakers
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Speakers, Panelists, and Moderators
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