IU conference to discuss national security priorities

A conference on national security will take place Thursday and Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union.

“Changing American National Security Priorities 2013-2020” will focus on intelligence issues likely to be of concern in the near future. The conference is free and open to all students, faculty and staff.

Mary Beth Long, the first-ever female Assistant Secretary of Defense to be confirmed by Congress, is the keynote speaker. She will discuss her views on the developing issues in national security at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the Whittenberger Auditorium.

Other prominent speakers and panelists include Tyler Drumheller, former CIA chief of European operations; Robert Jones, FBI special agent in charge; and Vicki Allums, associate general counsel for intellectual property defense information systems agency at the Department of Defense.

Topics of focus in the conference include China’s growing power, North Korea, cyber threats and energy dependence.

Junior Alex Wilson, director of the IU chapter of the Student Alliance for National Security and a conference moderator, said even those who aren’t studying criminal justice have reason to be interested in what the conference offers.  

“Students might not realize that national security doesn’t just mean top-secret operations and military affairs that we can’t be involved in,” Wilson said.

A majority of the sessions will take place in the Dogwood Room on Thursday and in the Georgian Room on Friday. Attendees are permitted to attend as many or few sessions as they please. To see a full schedule of the events, visit www.indiana.edu/~spea/conferences/security_conference/.

“I hope that students and members of the Bloomington community will stop by, even if just for one session or the keynote speaker,” Wilson said. “You never know when you could learn something that will spark your interest in more ways than you would ever expect.”

— Jessica Contrera