44th Annual AFCEA Spring Intelligence Symposium

This classified Top Secret SI/TK/NOFORN two-day flagship intelligence event serves as the premier forum for professionals across the Intelligence Community (IC). It is specifically designed as an ideal venue for networking, professional development, and gaining critical insight into the nation’s most pressing and difficult intelligence challenges.

The Asymmetric Edge: Global Intelligence in the Age of AI, Autonomy, and Economic Security

The global security landscape has fundamentally transformed. The United States no longer enjoys unchallenged military and economic overmatch, while peer competitors—particularly China and Russia—leverage whole-of-society approaches to advance regional interests and challenge the rules-based international order. This symposium examines how the Intelligence Community is adapting to meet these evolving threats and what this means for supporting national security missions.

Beginning with an assessment of geopolitical threats in this era of multipolarity and renewed regional influence, we'll explore how economic security has emerged as a central instrument of national power alongside traditional military capabilities. Sessions will examine the asymmetric competition playing out across multiple domains: China's industrial policy versus Western market approaches, the weaponization of capital flows and supply chains, and the race for technological dominance in artificial intelligence, autonomy, quantum computing, and microelectronics.

The symposium addresses critical questions facing both government and industry: How do we protect critical space infrastructure now under direct threat? How can private capital accelerate innovation while managing national security imperatives? Where do intelligence insights translate effectively into policy and operational outcomes—and where do gaps persist?

Symposium attendees will gain actionable insights into IC priorities, capability gaps, and emerging requirements across the economic and technological battlegrounds defining 21st-century competition. Understanding these challenges is essential for anyone seeking to deliver meaningful solutions in an environment where economic security, technological advantage, and traditional intelligence converge.