The 13th Annual Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) Defense Summit will be held on Dec. 11-12 at the Charleston Convention Center.

This year's theme is "Accelerate to Dominate: Increasing the Speed of Warfighting Innovation," and the CDCA is expecting about 1,200 defense leaders and industry experts to attend the summit.

Speakers will include government and industry leaders such as Darlene Coen, NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Acquisition Contract (SEAP) Deputy Program Manager; Brigadier General Lorna Mahlock, Director C4; Vicki Michetti, Director of Cybersecurity Policy and Partnerships, Office of the DCIO-Cybersecurity, Department of Defense; Lieutenant General Lori Reynolds, Deputy Commandant Information, United States Marine Corps; Don Sallee, NIWC-Atlantic IWRP Program Manager, and David Smoak, NIWC-Atlantic Systems Engineering Lead.

On this edition of Money Monday, The CDCA and defense contractor companies have partnered together to drive the careers of local students by offering paid internships in Charleston’s defense industry. We are joined by Stella Mercado, Chair, CDCA Internship Program, Caleb Shomo, VP of Human Resources, Life Cycle Engineering and Evan Sliker, Cybersecurity and System Administrator Intern.

The 14th kick-off luncheon is this Tuesday, June 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Palmetto Goodwill Headquarters, 2150 Eagle Drive, Bldg. 100 North Charleston, SC 29406. At this year’s kick-off event, nine defense contractor companies and their interns will be available for one-on-one interviews about their participation in the Charleston Defense Contractors annual Internship program.

Netizen Corporation, an ISO 27001:2013 certified provider of cybersecurity and related solutions for defense, government and commercial markets, was recognized as the Innovation Spotlight Award winner at the Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) Defense Summit on Dec. 5 and 6 for their CyberSecure Dashboard software product.

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These moves have come at the cost of infantry, “a pretty big cost to go pay for the Marine Corps,” Kenneth Bible, deputy director of the C4 directorate and deputy chief information officer, said Dec. 6 at the Charleston Defense Contractors Association Defense Summit. "The commandant really had to go think about taking that out of the structure to create these [units] across the Marine Corps.”

The Marine Corps has famously claimed that every Marine is a rifleman, but the Corps has moved 1,000 personnel in the last two years to focus on cyber, electronic warfare, signals intelligence and information operations.

These moves have come at the cost of infantry, “a pretty big cost to go pay for the Marine Corps,” Kenneth Bible, deputy director of the C4 directorate and deputy chief information officer, said Dec. 6 at the Charleston Defense Contractors Association Defense Summit. "The commandant really had to go think about taking that out of the structure to create these [units] across the Marine Corps.”

Kevin Fahey, assistant defense secretary for acquisition, has said the Department of Defense considers implementing a cybersecurity certification process for contractors within the next year, Nextgov reported Thursday.

The Marines are looking to develop and equip specialized tactical cyber teams with a specific defensive tool set. These teams, known as defensive cyber operations-internal defensive measures (DCO-IDM) companies, are designed to help defend critical digital assets at the tip of the spear.

These companies will fall under the newly established Marine Expeditionary Force Information Groups, or MIGs, and one will reside within each MEF providing MEF commanders information-related capabilities to include cyber, intelligence, electronic warfare and information operations.

William Williford, executive director of Marine Corps Systems Command, provided an outline of various efforts to modernize the network during the Charleston Defense Contractors Association Defense Summit on Dec. 5. The initiative includes: broader adoption of Windows 10, creating a cloud cross functional team, starting a network cross functional team, fielding Tampa microwave terminals, protecting spectrum used for the F-35 and running a pilot program to help ensure GPS signals aren’t jammed.

The Pentagon put together a task force to assess whether small businesses within the defense industrial base are complying with the cybersecurity framework published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and provide assistance to companies that need help.

The department issued a new rule last year requiring vendors to show that they are in compliance with NIST standards or have a plan to get there quickly. Those plans were due Jan. 1.

At the Charleston Defense Contractors Association Defense Summit naval and maritime leaders will discuss a range of technological solutions that may be necessary for this future operating environment. This could include redundant tactical communications networks to navigation in degraded environments to non-kinetic effects that can disrupt enemies.

Vcinity, Inc., a leading provider of data access-on-demand solutions, and Network Runners, Inc., a top technology consulting services company that supports the commercial and federal government market spaces, today announced they will partner and showcase cutting-edge defense systems at the Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) Defense Summit in Charleston, S.C., on Dec. 5-6, 2018, at booth 109.

CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that it will showcase solutions to support the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Joint Community at the Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) Defense Summit on December 5-6, 2018 in Charleston, SC. The annual conference brings together government and industry experts for collaborative discussions on defense technologies focused on C5ISR, information warfare, and cyber security.

Heather Walker, CDCA Vice President and Director at Booz Allen Hamilton as well as Beth Meredith, CDCA Summit Chairman and board member and Director at KBRwyle joined us in-studio today to talk about the importance of the upcoming summit.

The event will explore topics including the 12 points of National Defense Strategy, Rapid Innovation, Unmanned Systems, IOT, Research & Development and Cyber Hardening.

"Acquisition and technology innovation continues to drive IT modernization. From the federal headquarters to the front lines, there is an opportunity for everyone to join the conversation, share best practices and shape the future with creative solutions,” wrote Heather Walker, Vice President, CDCA

Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic leadership and initiatives were highlighted during the 11th annual Charleston Defense Contractors Association (CDCA) Defense Summit, held Dec. 5 through 8.