Deborah Lee James is former Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. She served as the 23rd Secretary of the Air Force and was responsible for the affairs of the Department of the Air Force, including the organizing, training, equipping and providing for the welfare of its nearly 660,000 active-duty, Guard, Reserve and civilian Airmen and their families. She also oversaw the Air Force's annual budget of more than $139 billion.
Ms. James has 30 years of senior homeland and national security experience in the federal government and the private sector. Currently, she is a special advisor to Ultra Electronics, 3eTI where she leads a wide range of strategic initiatives for 3eTI with a focus on defense-oriented programs that improve operations while cyber securing automated system endpoints. Prior that, Ms. James served as President of Science Applications International Corporation's Technical and Engineering Sector, where she was responsible for 8,700 employees and more than $2 billion in revenue.
Chris Bown is a regular contributor to Homeland Security Today covering the latest think tank, journal, and news related to terrorism and security. He originally trained as a journalist on real estate and architecture news publications, and for many years edited the publications of international real estate event MIPIM. He is a regular contributor to London financial daily newspaper City AM, and curates daily updates at investment newsletter Hotel Analyst.
Rita Katz is the Executive Director and founder of the SITE Intelligence Group, the world’s leading non-governmental counterterrorism organization specializing in tracking and analyzing online activity of the global extremist community. Ms. Katz has tracked and analyzed global terrorist and jihadi networks for over two decades, and is well-recognized as one of the most knowledgeable and reliable experts in the field.
Ms. Katz has infiltrated terrorist fronts undercover, testified before Congress and in terrorism trials, and briefed officials at the White House and the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Homeland Security. Her investigations and testimony have driven action by several governments against terror-linked organizations and individuals. She has provided counterterrorism training sessions to military leadership, intelligence analysts and law enforcement agents from numerous government agencies in the U.S. and abroad. She has led numerous workshops for non-governmental organizations and academic audiences.
For her unique contributions to FBI counterterrorism investigations, Ms. Katz received special recognition from FBI Director Robert Mueller for her "outstanding assistance to the FBI in connection with its investigative efforts."
Dr. Sam Mullins is a professor of counterterrorism at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, which provides professional education courses to military, intelligence and law enforcement practitioners from more than a hundred countries worldwide. He is also an honorary fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and serves on the editorial board of Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, and Perspectives on Terrorism.
Dr. Mullins is widely published and has presented his work to senior officials from a variety of government agencies including the FBI, the NYPD, the Australian Federal Police, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the International Special Training Centre in Germany, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, and the Indonesian National Armed Forces, among others.
He is the author of ‘Home-Grown’ Jihad: Understanding Islamist Terrorism in the US and UK.
Erron Drzymalski is Lead Security Systems Engineer of Mosaic451 http://www.mosaic451.com, a cybersecurity service provider and consultancy with expertise in building, operating and defending some of the most highly-secure networks in North America.
