Well, time flies — we are halfway through our year that started in October 2015, and we have many initiatives that are ongoing. At the top of the list is our InfraGard 20th Anniversary, which will culminate in a celebration that will be coupled with a multi-day, multi-sector conference in Orlando, Fla., Sept 12-14, 2016. (See full details in following pages.) Conference speakers will represent all sectors and functions, and their challenges that are threatening our critical infrastructures. It will address methods to protect them, as well as technology and risk management trends/advances towards safeguarding of our National Security. Over the next few months we will be rolling out our 20th Anniversary logo items in celebration of this milestone. A book is being compiled covering InfraGard’s history.

We have three new national Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that span across all sectors; a Legal SIG for Lawyers, their legal and technical staff — chaired by Andy Jurczyk from our Chicago IMA; the Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery SIG chaired by John Jackson, also from our Chicago IMA, and the Insider Threat SIG chaired by Stuart Mallory from the NCR IMA. More information will be forthcoming.

Soon, the FBI and the INMA will begin to roll out our totally new cloud-based InfraGard Portal for information sharing and collaboration between critical sectors, special interest groups and individuals. This will enable us to communicate between members within your IMA, or Sectors, or SIGs, or Topical Forums. Also, new broadcast functionality will allow us to push out topical, timely, relevant and actionable information of value based upon your sector and SIG selections.

We certainly hope you find the InfraGard Magazine a valuable addition; this is our second edition of the year. This offers IMAs the opportunity for revenue sharing based upon the number of your members signed up to receive either the digital or soft copy and for advertisers that your IMA has recruited. This edition highlights our EMP SIG, which offers an important message to convey the clear and present danger and risk of people not surviving a wide-scale catastrophe, given our high culture of massive dependence on many centralized services, especially the grid. The obvious strategy to counter this is the “whole of community” contingency planning process, beginning with the lowest common element — the prepared INDIVIDUAL.

Local leadership is the driving force and essential element in expanding the reach, content, educational and training opportunities to our members. We have many committees at the national level that can benefit from your participation and perspective, so I encourage you to join the committee that your experience and energy would enhance.

Thanks for all you do and if I can be of assistance let me know.

Sincerely,

Gary Gardner