National Guard units can be called up for missions ranging from combat to natural disaster response and everything in between, resulting in a broad array of communications challenges when it comes to keeping in touch with active duty units, first responders, state agencies and even each other. As just one example, National Guard units deployed to protect the United States Capitol in January of 2021 had different communications equipment and infrastructures. That creates challenges to effective, efficient communications. This challenge can also be seen when the National Guard carries out its disaster mission to respond to wildfires, flooding, hurricanes or other disasters. Regardless of why the National Guard has been deployed, it needs secure, reliable communications that are interoperable with all other agencies it might be coordinating with, whether that’s the local fire department or FEMA. In this webcast, C4ISRNET took a look at the communications needs of the National Guard, its existing critical infrastructure and what the Guard needs to ensure that every state’s Guard has the communications resources, equipment and training it needs to communicate effectively in any deployment scenario.

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Guest Speakers:

• Kenneth McNeill, NGB CIO/J6, National Guard
• Tetoya Gibson, Manager, Verizon Response Team, Public Sector Strategic Operations, Verizon

In preparing to make what its top general calls “the most difficult force structure decisions in generations,” the Air Force is applying new technology and business acumen to realize a smarter, agile, more digitally-equipped fighting force. In this episode of Removing Stovepipes, C4ISRNET spoke to USAF’s enterprise IT department to understand their top digital transformation priorities and methods for eliminating information silos. The discussion touched on a range of topics, including cloud migration, digital engineering, and the rise of enterprise IT as a service.

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Guest Speakers:

• Venice Goodwine, Director of Enterprise IT, U.S. Air Force
• Lamont Copeland, Director, Federal Solutions Architecture, Verizon