Sensors for Defense Forum
October 13th, 2022 1:00pm-3:00pm EST Virtual, ON24
In today’s combatant environment, sensors have become an integral component of nearly all military weapons, vehicles, operations and systems. The U.S. military’s situational domain awareness, detection, and deterrence capabilities all rely on data collected from sensors, bringing sensing technology to the forefront of the Pentagon’s priorities.
However, the exponential growth of information sources, sensors and data creates challenges and opportunities for decision making during high-impact events. The benefits of an information advantage can only be fully realized when the right technology and expertise is applied to ensure all that data actually improves our decision making.
Join ExecutiveBiz Events’ Sensors for Defense Forum to hear from military, government and industry experts on the role sensors play in the future of warfare. Our esteemed speakers will examine the challenges and opportunities surrounding sensors in defense applications as the U.S. continues to drive innovation and retain its tactical, technological and competitive advantages against its adversaries. The panel discussion will address how the Department of Defense will leverage sensing, communicating and making sense in order to achieve a true information and decision advantage.
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Edward Drolet -
Vice President, CACI International Inc.
Ed Drolet is Vice President and Client Executive for DoD and DAF clients at CACI International Inc. Retiring from the Department of the Air Force in September 2022 after 37 years of civil service (14) and active duty (23). He is responsible for cultivating customer relationships, forming and executing rigorous strategic plans, and delivering transformative programs and measurable value for strategic customers, partners, and technical delivery leaders for comprehensive national security solutions. Mr. Drolet brings over 37 years of strategic, operations, technical, and program management leadership across multiple intel, flying, space, and cyber operations environments in the DoD and DAF. He previously served as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Strategic Studies Group (SSG) Deputy Director, where he was a special advisor to the Air Staff and Secretariat senior leadership forging the DAF innovation campaign to optimize operations readiness, agile performance, and Airman resilience. Specific areas of focus included international engagement and operations interoperability, advanced data capabilities, and digital transformation. During this time, he was award the Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award, Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Armed Forces Civilian Service Medal. Prior to serving as CSAF SSG Deputy Director, Mr. Drolet completed Air War College in-residence at Maxwell AFB, AL, where he published a thesis on, “Solving Intelligence Information Sharing Problems with Coalition Partners and Strengthening Alliances.” He served in the Secretary of the Air Force, Administrative Assistant (SAF AA), Capabilities, Development and Management Office (CDM), as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO), responsible for the technology oversight and management of the portfolio of programs including the Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation Systems (BICES), Combatant Command Intelligence Information Technology (CCMD IIT), Air Force Insider Threat (AFInT), and the Office of Personnel Management National Background Investigation Bureau (NBIB) Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for the National Background Investigation Systems (NBIS). Mr. Drolet was the Program Director for the US BICES Program Management Office (BPO). BICES is DoD’s global enterprise capability to share intelligence information with over 80 coalition partner nations. He was responsible for full lifecycle program management of the $1B US BICES programs and worldwide CCMD requirements. He led a program office of 91 government civilians, SETA and FFRDC contractors, and over 500 contract employees for program operations and execution across five geographically separated Regional Data Centers and over 600 operating environments, five Trusted Network Environments (TNE) for multi-layer/level security cross domain information sharing, three dispersed R&D labs, and six dispersed Coalition Dissemination Centers across 600+ major Integrated Master Schedule line items. He was recognized as the C4ISRNET Elite 6 Award Winner for C2 Communications for Coalition / Foreign Partners. He was a senior leader at the Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Enterprise Computing Center Ogden, Utah, as Operations Director and Senior Program Manager where he earned the HQ DISA 2014 George W. Hoffman Senior Civilian Leadership Award and HQ DISA 2013 DISA Customer Advocacy Award. Mr. Drolet retired from USAF active-duty service in September of 2008 after 23.5 years and 14 worldwide combat and operations deployments. Mr. Drolet earned a MS in Strategic Studies from USAF Air War College, MS MIS Degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology, MBA certificate from CSUDH, and BS degrees in Logistics and Business Management from the University of Maryland. He is a certified DAU Acquisition Professional, PMI PMP, Six Sigma Black Belt, and graduate of the OPM and Nation Defense University Federal Government CIO and Advanced Management Programs (AMP43).
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Edward Drolet -
Vice President - Client Executive for DoD, DAF, and CCMDs, CACI
Ed Drolet is Vice President and Client Executive for DoD and DAF clients at CACI International Inc. Retiring from the Department of the Air Force in September 2022 after 37 years of civil service (14) and active duty (23). He is responsible for cultivating customer relationships, forming and executing rigorous strategic plans, and delivering transformative programs and measurable value for strategic customers, partners, and technical delivery leaders for comprehensive national security solutions. Mr. Drolet brings over 39 years of strategic, operations, technical, and program management leadership across multiple intel, flying, space, and cyber operations environments in the DoD and DAF. He previously served as the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF) Strategic Studies Group (SSG) Executive Director, where he was a special advisor to the Air Staff and Secretariat senior leadership forging the DAF innovation campaign to optimize operations readiness, agile performance, and Airman resilience. Specific areas of focus included CJADC2 and ABMS development, international engagement and operations interoperability, advanced AI/ML and data capabilities, and digital transformation. During this time, he was awarded the Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award, Meritorious Civilian Service Award, and the Armed Forces Civilian Service Medal. Prior to serving as CSAF SSG Deputy Director, Mr. Drolet completed Air War College in-residence at Maxwell AFB, AL, where he published a thesis on, “Solving Intelligence Information Sharing Problems with Coalition Partners and Strengthening Alliances.” He served in the Secretary of the Air Force, Administrative Assistant (SAF AA), Capabilities, Development and Management Office (CDM), as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO), responsible for the technology oversight and management of the portfolio of programs including the Mission Partner Environment (MPE), Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation Systems (BICES), Combatant Command Intelligence Information Technology (CCMD IIT), Air Force Insider Threat (AFInT), and the Office of Personnel Management National Background Investigation Bureau (NBIB) Business Process Reengineering (BPR) for the National Background Investigation Systems (NBIS). Mr. Drolet was the Program Director for MPE and the US BICES Program Management Office (BPO). BICES is DoD’s global enterprise capability to share intelligence information with over 80 coalition partner nations. He was responsible for full lifecycle program management of the $1B US BICES programs and worldwide CCMD requirements. He led a program office of 91 government civilians, SETA and FFRDC contractors, and over 500 contract employees for program operations and execution across five geographically separated Regional Data Centers and over 600 operating environments, five Trusted Network Environments (TNE) for multi-layer/level security cross domain information sharing, three dispersed R&D labs, and six dispersed Coalition Dissemination Centers across 600+ major Integrated Master Schedule line items. He was recognized as the C4ISRNET Elite 6 Award Winner for C2 Communications for Coalition / Foreign Partners. He was a senior leader at the Defense Information Systems Agency, Defense Enterprise Computing Center Ogden, Utah, as Operations Director and Senior Program Manager where he earned the HQ DISA 2014 George W. Hoffman Senior Civilian Leadership Award and HQ DISA 2013 DISA Customer Advocacy Award. Mr. Drolet retired from USAF active-duty service in September of 2008 after 23.5 years and 14 worldwide combat and operations deployments. Mr. Drolet earned a MS in Strategic Studies from USAF Air War College, MS MIS Degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology, MBA certificate from CSUDH, and BS degrees in Business Management and Logistics Management from the University of Maryland. He's a certified DAU Acquisition Professional (L3, PM & IT PM), PMI PMP, Six Sigma Black Belt, SAFe Agilist, and graduate of the OPM and Nation Defense University Federal Government CIO and Advanced Management Programs (AMP43).
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Dr. Kyle Gallagher -
Electronics Engineer, RF Signal Processing & Modeling Branch, DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory, AFC
Kyle Gallagher is the acting team leader for the System Design & Experiments team at the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi, MD (6 years as civilian and 3 years as a contractor). He is the lead for the explosive hazard detection portfolio that includes a program to combine data from orthogonal sensor systems using an AI/ML backend for explosive hazard detection. His portfolio also includes the development of a state-of-the-art multi-modal radar system for use on a UAS that feeds data to the AI/ML backend.
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Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback -
Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Cyber Effects Operations, U.S. Department of the Air Force
Lt. Gen. Leah G. Lauderback is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Cyber Effects Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. She is responsible to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force for policy formulation, planning, evaluation, oversight and leadership of the Air Force’s ISR operations, cyber effects and warfighter communications operations, and electromagnetic spectrum superiority operations. As the Air Force's Senior Intelligence Officer, she is directly responsible to the Director of National Intelligence and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security. She leads seven directorates and supports a 73,000-person enterprise with a portfolio valued at $72 billion across the Air Force. Lt. Gen. Lauderback received her commission in 1993 from Clemson University. Her career as an intelligence officer spans the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of war throughout the Pacific, Central, and European theaters of operation. She commanded at the wing, group, and squadron levels, served as the Senior Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, and led as the Director of Intelligence for the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, Southwest Asia. Her operational tours include the Implementation Force-Bosnia Herzegovina, operations Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, Odyssey Dawn, and Inherent Resolve. Prior to this assignment, Lt. Gen. Lauderback took a lead role in standing up the U.S. Space Command as well as the U.S. Space Force. In both organizations, she was privileged to serve as the first Senior Intelligence Officer.
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Ed Mornston -
Director, Intelligence and Security, Army Futures Command
Mr. Ed Mornston serves as the Director of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DoIS) at Army Futures Command (AFC). In this role, he is a member of the AFC executive leadership team and is the Senior Intelligence Officer. Mr. Mornston is responsible for the strategic management of intelligence, counterintelligence, and security for Army Modernization. He provides authoritative advice and recommendations on intelligence matters related to the modernization of the Army in a changing strategic environment. Prior to joining AFC, Mr. Mornston served at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) headquarters as the Agency Chief of Staff, Executive Director and as their Director of Human Resources. He also served in other leadership positions throughout NGA to include the Director of NGA-Denver at Aerospace Data Facility-Colorado and Director of Global Support, as well as Director and Deputy Director of the Joint Intelligence Task Force - Combating Terrorism at the Defense Intelligence Agency. Mr. Mornston enlisted in the Army upon graduating from high school, attended the Military Academy Prep School, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1980. He served as an infantry officer for twenty years. Additionally, he received a Masters of Military Art and Science in 1992 from the School of Advanced Military Studies in Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, and a Graduate Certificate in Systems Engineering from George Washington University. Other significant training and certifications include, GEOINT Fundamentals Professional Certification; Chief of Staff Seminar - McChrystal Group; Senior Managers in Government from the Harvard Kennedy School; and Leadership at the Peak from the Center for Creative Leadership. He recently completed the Army Data Driven Leadership program offered by The Army Artificial Intelligence Integration Center (AI2C) at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Mornston’s awards and decorations include the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, Presidential Rank - Distinguished Executive, Presidential Rank - Meritorious Executive, MacArthur Leadership Award, Ranger Tab, and Good Conduct Medal. Mr. Mornston is married to Lisa Witzig, a former intelligence officer, and together they have five children and a lot of grandchildren.
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Dr. Cyril Taylor -
Chief Technical Officer, Communications Systems, U.S. Special Operations Command
Dr. Cyril “Mark” Taylor, is an appointed Civilian Senior Executive Highly Qualified Expert (HQE) which is a grade equivalent to the SES. He serves as the Chief Technical Officer, Communications Systems for the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. As CTO, he is responsible for the SOF Information Enterprise (SIE) multi-cloud strategy, engagement with industry, academia, as well as fellow U.S. and international government agencies to identify future-innovative technologies for incubation, cybersecurity compliance, and continuous integration & delivery. Additionally, he supports the optimization of acquisition methods, business process improvement, and human capital management in perpetual service to USSOCOM’s 70,000+ global community. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Taylor was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1993. He served in various branch qualifying roles as a Field Artillery Officer both in the 25th Infantry Division in Oahu, Hawaii and later the 3rd Infantry Division. Prior to his HQE appointment, Dr. Taylor was a Senior Technology Strategist with Microsoft, supporting the Department of Homeland Security through their Digital Transformation efforts and respective cloud journey. His primary technical background has been focused on federal cloud migration, network and data center design and implementation, as well as technical training to include IT certifications, undergraduate and graduate school.
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1:00pm - 1:05pm EST
Welcome & Opening Remarks
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1:05pm - 1:45pm EST
Keynote Speaker: Lt. Gen. Leah Lauderback
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1:45pm - 2:45pm EST
Panel: Using Data to Enhance Decision Making
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2:45pm - 2:50pm EST
Closing Comments
