Framing the Conversation: What's the Discussion and What Does it Mean?

Today at 12:30 p.m., the Symposium will hold Spotlight Session #1 on the "State of the EMS Enterprise." Chaired by Brigadier General Lance Landrum, USAF, Deputy Director for Requirements and Capability Development (J8), Joint Staff and who also leads the recently established Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) Cross Functional Team. Mr. Chris O’Donnell, SES, DASD, Platform and Weapon Portfolio Management OUSD (A&S), Mr. Fred Drummond, SES, DASD, Force Education & Tng, OUSD (P&R) and Brigadier General James R. Stevenson Jr., USAF, USSTRATCOM J3E (Joint EMSO Office).

This session will explore the state of the EMS Enterprise from the perspective of senior leaders who are shaping it from OSD and at the Joint level.

One question to consider when listening to this session: When the DOD laid out its EW Strategy in 2017, it covered four strategic goals: 1) Organize the EW Enterprise to ensure EMS superiority; 2) Train and educate for 21st Century EMS operations; 3) Equip the force with agile, adaptive and integrated EW capabilities; and 4) Bolster partnerships with industry, academia, interagency and allied partners. How are these goals being pursued across the DOD?

Following the Spotlight Session #1, the Symposium schedule will offer two concurrent tracks for the next few days – one focusing on operational issues and the other focusing on technology.

Ops Symposium Session #1 (2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.) will look at "Threat-Based Intelligence in the EMS." Chaired by Captain Mark Alexander, USN, Deputy Director of Integrated Fires, N2N6F3, this session features Dr. Joseph Kirschbaum, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Commander Catherine Deppa, USN, J2E Strategist, USCYBERCOM, and Commander Mike Dahm, USN (Ret), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. This session will discuss emerging threats in the EMS and how some regional powers approach their own EMS operations.

Some questions to consider in this session are how regional competitors are using the EMS in hybrid warfare (i.e., gray zone conflicts), and how is commercial technology enabling potential adversaries to create more effective sensor-to-shooter kill chains.

Tech Symposium Session #2 (2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.) is focusing on "Multi-Functional EMS Technologies." Chaired by AOC President Stephen “Muddy” Watters, this session will look at multifunction requirements and some of the technologies that are being developed to meet those requirements. The panelists, Mr. Mike Meaney, Vice President for Maritime Electronic and Information Warfare Programs, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Ms. Laura Cawthron, Assistant Program Manager for the Strategic Electronic Warfare Portfolio, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Mr. Anthony Nigara, Vice President, Strategy & Business Development Space & Airborne Systems, L3Harris, will discuss some of the challenges we face as we pursue multifunction technologies and how we are meeting some of these challenges.