Air Force Secretary to be dinner speaker at C2ISR symposium

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley will be the dinner guest speaker at the C2ISR Symposium and Technology Exposition, joining a star-studded lineup of presenters for the event, which will be held Sept. 28-30 at the MGM Grand Hotel at Foxwoods in Ledyard, Conn.

The Secretary will speak during the Aerospace Education Scholarship Dinner Sept. 29 in the MGM's ballroom, providing his perspective on the future of command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. Business sessions that day and the following day will feature presentations from senior government and industry speakers in the MGM's theater, including Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, commander of U.S. Strategic Command Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, and commander of Air Force Space Command Gen. C. Robert "Bob" Kehler. 

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Air Force Electronic Systems Center and the Paul Revere Chapter of the Air Force Association.

"Secretary Donnelly and General Schwartz, during their first year on the job, have tightly focused the Air Force on C2ISR and on striking the right balance between immediate warfighting needs and long-term strategic dominance," said ESC Commander Lt. Gen. Ted Bowlds. "It will be very interesting to hear both of their thoughts on the progress that's already been made, as well on capability gaps that still need to be filled."

General Kehler will kick off the event with a keynote address the morning of Sept. 29, and will be followed by speakers including Ben Levitan of IN-Q-TEL, the strategic investment arm of the CIA, who will be joined by Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Integration Blaise Durante; Michael Jones, the chief technology advocate for Google, and Dr. James Canton, a "futurist" from the Institute for Global Futures. The symposium's first day will also feature a presentation from an industry representative on Service Oriented Architecture, an industry panel on virtualization and a government panel that will discuss user expectations.

The second day will feature a morning of presentations by speakers including General Chilton and Lt. Gen. David A. Deptula, Air Force deputy chief of staff for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, as well as a government panel that will focus on strategies for C2ISR acquisition.

General Schwartz will close out the conference with a luncheon address.

A golf tournament will be held in conjunction with the symposium on the MGM Grand's new, 18-hole championship golf course, followed by an opening reception that evening in the exhibit hall.

To register, sign up for booth space or secure sponsorship opportunities, visit the chapter's Web site at www.paulrevereafa.org and click on the symposium link. Cost for attendance is $350 for government and $425 for industry.

During the registration process, attendees will be able to reserve a room at the MGM or other participating hotels at Foxwoods by clicking on a link that will take them to the hotel's registration page.