Director of National Intelligence; Deputy Director of FBI speaking at The Citadel

Charleston, South Carolina

Global and national security leaders to participate in Intelligence and Cybersecurity Conference

The U.S. Director of National Intelligence and the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation along with other industry influencers, academics and students, will come to Charleston Sept. 25 – 26 for the 2018 Intelligence and Cybersecurity Conference at The Citadel. Daniel Coats and David Bowdich will be the featured speakers at the conference that will also include panels with intelligence professionals from government agencies and private security companies, as well as presentations by academic faculty, cadets and students.

“The 2018 Intelligence and Cybersecurity Conference at The Citadel offers frank and informed discussions on current threats, challenges that will emerge, capabilities and defense strategies” said Carl Jensen, Ph.D., professor and head of The Citadel’s Department of Intelligence and Security Studies. “Professionals at all levels of law enforcement, academia, intelligence and cybersecurity operations, as well as students will find the conference to be a valuable investment of their time.”

Jensen served in the FBI for 22 years, is an author, a researcher and the co-director for The Citadel Center for Cyber, Intelligence and Security Studies, a National Security Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security designated center of academic excellence.

“We are thrilled to offer an unprecedented opportunity to have a face-to-face discussion with the head of U.S. intelligence at our conference.”

The Honorable Daniel Coats

Coats, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), is the head of the U.S. Intelligence Community. He directs the implementation of the National Intelligence Program and acts as the principal advisor to the President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council for national security matters. Coats graduated from Wheaton College, served in the U.S. Army from 1966 – 1968, then earned his Juris Doctor from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

Coats served in the U.S. House of Representatives, then in the U.S. Senate for 18 years, and was a member of the Senate Armed Service Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence. Coats was Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany for four years and returned to the Senate in 2011 to focus on protecting Americans from terrorist threats. Coats retired from the Senate in 2017 and became the fifth DNI. 

Deputy Director David Bowdich

Bowdich was appointed deputy director of the FBI in March 2018 and oversees all FBI domestic and international investigative and intelligence activities. Bowdich began his FBI career in 1995 as a special agent and served as a SWAT Team operator and sniper. He then went to FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., as part of the Criminal Investigative Division and Director’s Office before returning to California to supervise a multiagency gang task force. Bowdich then became the assistant special agent in charge in San Diego over all non-white-collar crime criminal violations, the Imperial County Resident Agency, the SWAT Team, and the Evidence Response Team.

From September 2012 to December 2014, Bowdich served as the special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division in the Los Angeles Field Office. In that role, he led the Joint Terrorism Task Force as well as all crisis management and response assets. Bowdich became the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office in December 2014 before being appointed the associate deputy director of the FBI in April 2016, a position in which he was responsible for the management of all FBI personnel, budget, administration, and infrastructure.

Take a look at the conference agenda here.

Examples of panels include:

  • Preventing and disengaging from terrorism: Insights from the U.S. government and front line practitioners
  • International hot spots and challenges
  • How harsh are enhanced interrogation techniques?
  • Creating and teaching defense intelligence
  • Education and training challenges for Cybersecurity and Intelligence

This is The Citadel’s third Intelligence and Cybersecurity Conference. Please click here to register, or for more information, email lsmalls2@citadel.edu or call Lauren Smalls at (843) 953-6886.

Members of the news media wishing to cover the conference are welcome, but should email kkeelor@citadel.edu  by Sept. 19 to provide the required information and credentials to attend.