Infrastructure Resilience at Scale
Moderator:
COL Mr. Bill Burket, Sr. Director, MIRT & Business Continuity, The Port of Virginia
Panelists:
- Mr. David Foster, Mr. David Foster Director of Homeland Security, San Diego Unified Port District
- Mr. Christopher Garlick, Deputy National Sector Chief, Transportation, InfraGard National Members Alliance
- Mr. Matt Dinwiddie, Senior Director of Cyber Security, BNSF Railway
- Mr. Randy A. Plotkin, Information Security Manager/Cyber Security Officer, Virginia Port Authority (VPA)
Summary
A comprehensive overview of the panel’s discussion on protecting the nation’s transportation infrastructure, emphasizing ports, railroads, cyber systems, critical infrastructure, interagency coordination, and emerging threats such as unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The discussion highlights how public-private partnerships and continuous planning strengthen the nation’s ability to project military power while sustaining commercial operations.
Why It Matters
The panel demonstrates that strategic mobility extends far beyond ships and ports. Resilient transportation depends on integrated planning across rail, highways, ports, communications, energy, cybersecurity, and data systems. As global threats evolve, infrastructure protection becomes an operational requirement rather than simply a security concern.
Major Discussion Highlights
- Defining critical transportation infrastructure
- Lessons from the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
- Port redundancy and continuity planning
- Rail network vulnerabilities
- Cybersecurity and operational technology resilience
- Data governance and trusted information sharing
- AI-enabled logistics and decision support
- UAS detection, mitigation, and regulatory evolution
- Public-private partnerships
- Strategic Port Readiness Committees
- Unified Command during major incidents
- Military and commercial coordination during deployments
Key Takeaways
- Critical infrastructure extends well beyond physical assets to include communications, data, and operational technology.
- Trusted partnerships remain the foundation of resilience.
- Data quality and data sharing are increasingly important for operational decision-making.
- Ports require layered cyber, physical, and UAS defenses.
- Tabletop exercises should evolve into full operational exercises.
- Strategic redundancy enables continuity during disruptions.
- Unified Command structures improve coordinated responses.
- Commercial transportation remains a vital component of national defense.
- Infrastructure resilience requires continuous investment.
- Future threats demand stronger collaboration across government and industry.
Operational Insights
The panel consistently emphasized that successful deployment operations depend on advance planning, realistic exercises, shared situational awareness, and strong relationships among military organizations, port authorities, transportation providers, law enforcement, and federal agencies.
Looking Ahead
Future priorities include expanding drone detection and mitigation capabilities, improving cybersecurity, strengthening data integration, refining contingency planning, and increasing the scale and complexity of joint exercises supporting strategic mobility.