The Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy is pleased to invite you to join us VIRTUALLY for:

America’s Security and Defense Series: A Prelude to the 2026 Hemispheric Security Conference (HSC)
Tuesday, October 14
3:30 pm to 7:30 pm 

This timely and thought-provoking program will bring together leading voices to explore today’s most pressing security issues, including:

• The new U.S. National Security Strategy
• The Future of War
• Collaborative solutions to shared security challenges

We hope you’ll join us for this important conversation on the future of security and defense.

📍 Virtual Event (via YouTube Live): Click here to join

Agenda below: 

3:30 pm to 4:00 pm 
Networking Reception

4:00 pm to 4:15 pm     
Opening Remarks

• Carlos Becerra, Senior Associate Vice President for Federal Relations
• Brian Fonseca, Ph.D., Director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy 

4:15 pm to 5 pm
The New National Security Strategy

• Juan Cruz, Former NSC Sr. Dir. for the Western Hemisphere &Special Assistant to the President Trump
• Dustin “Dusty” Schultz (Major General, Retired, USA), Former SOUTHCOM J2
• Moderated by Jason Marczak, Vice President and Senior Director, Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, Atlantic Council

5 pm to 5:45 pm
Is U.S. Returning to a Strategic Denial in Western Hemisphere?    

• Margaret Myers, InterAmerican Dialogue and Senior Fellow Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy
• Eric Farnsworth, Senior Associate, CSIS
• Brian Winter, Editor, Americas Quarterly
• Laura Delgado, Senior Fellow, JGI
• Moderated by Juan Pablo Toro, Executive Director, AthenaLab

6 pm to 6:45 pm
State Actors in the Shadows: Exploiting Migration and Crime

• Vanda Felbab-Brown, Ph.D., Director, Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors, Brookings Institution
• Daniel Schaeffer, Pew Charitable Trust 
• Gilbert Guerra, Immigration Policy Analyst, Niskanen Center 
• John Polga Hecimonvich, Ph.D., Professor, U.S. Naval Academy 
• Moderated by Carlos Solar, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, The Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies 

6:45 pm to 7:15 pm
The Future of War

• Peter Singer, Ph.D., Strategist for the New America Foundation, Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and founder of Useful Fiction 
• Moderated by Terri Borras, Brigadier General, USAR, Mad Scientist, Former Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G2

7:15 pm to 7:30 pm
Collaborative Solutions to Shared Security Challenges

• Carlos Solar, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, The Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies
• Juan Pablo Toro, Executive Director, AthenaLab
• Brian Fonseca, Ph.D., Director, Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy