Today, the SIA Government Summit kicked off in Washington, D.C., with record attendance and a record six keynote presentations. Dr. Thomas Cellucci, chief commercialization officer at the Department of Homeland Security kicked off the program by overviewing the powerful way public/private partnerships have reduced taxpayer research and development spending while speeding the pace of execution. That means better security, faster, to protect citizens and critical infrastructure. The result has been a boon for the private sector in terms of sales to the government security market that has created more jobs.

Jeremy Grant, senior executive advisor for Identity Management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) addressed the growth of cyber business and as a result, cyber crime. His focus is on creating a national program for trusted identities to reduce or eliminate identify theft and subsequent cyber vulnerabilities.

Continuing the theme of a “Government Summit,” Bill Kristol and Bill Press led a discussion on how the Obama Administration, Congress and Washington Politics in general are performing as it relates to security and risk management. Their heated discussion was both thought provoking and energizing to the record attendance.