Highlights

2008 Highlights

Cyber Security Inquiry 2008 – After Action Report from Strategic Simulation
On December 17-18, 2008, BENS, in cooperation with Booz Allen Hamilton, held a two-day cyber simulation event including the participation of 230 leaders from government, industry and civil society, as well as many BENS members.  The After Action Report summarizes the elements of the simulation, followed by the insights and recommendations that grew out of the gathering on matters including leadership, governance, resilience and public awareness.Click here for the report.

BENS Brings Business Expertise to Cyber Security Challenge
In December, BENS brought together top government and industry leaders in Washington, DC, for Cyber Strategic Inquiry 2008 – a simulation event in which the nation’s computer networks suffer from a wave of malicious cyber attacks.  By the end of the two-day gathering, participants reached a troubling conclusion: The United States is dangerously unprepared.

“We’re way behind where we need to be now,” said Rep. James Langevin (R.I.), chairman of the homeland security subcommittee on cyber security, who attended the simulation along with Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), chairman of the intelligence subcommittee on technical intelligence.  “There isn’t a response or a game plan,” added Mark Gerencser, who spearheaded the event with BENS, where he is a board member, and Booz Allen Hamilton, where he’s a Senior Vice President.

Noting that much of the nation’s information network is owned and operated by the private sector, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff told the nearly 200 attendees that cyber security is not exclusively a government task.  “It is a shared responsibility,” he said, adding, “We are going to have to work with others in order to make this happen.”  It is estimated that U.S. companies have lost billions in intellectual property because of cyber attacks.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright, Sprint CEO and BENS member Dan Hesse and SunGard CEO and BENS Board member Cristobal Conde also gave keynote speeches addressing cyber security challenges.  The simulation drew major media coverage from CNN, ABC and Reuters, as well as several other news outlets.

“Going forward, BENS will tighten its focus on cyber security through increased engagement with the new administration and Congress,” said BENS CEO Gen. Chuck Boyd. 

To see photos from the simulation, click here.
Transcript of Secretary Chertoff's remarks click here.
Transcript of General James Carwright's remarks click here.
News coverage: ABC, Reuters, Bloomberg, CongressDaily, Defense Systems, CNET, Federal Computer Week, International Business Times, SC Magazine, ARS Technica

Gen. Petraeus Thanks BENS at Eisenhower Award Dinner
Gen. David Petraeus—the former U.S. commander in Iraq and now commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan—accepted the Eisenhower Award from BENS in November aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. 

“It has been enormously heartening that all of our citizens have stood united in support of those who have served in harm’s way for our country, and I thank this group in particular for leading the way in doing just that,” Gen. Petraeus said to a group of over 700 BENS members and guests at the black-tie gala.  In his remarks, Gen. Petraeus outlined the major lessons the military has learned over the past five years, including the importance of “pursuing the enemy relentlessly” and taking a comprehensive approach to security. 

Also receiving honor at the dinner was Army Major David M. Rozelle, who after losing his right foot in Iraq, became the first soldier in recent military history to redeploy to the same battlefield as an amputee.

To view photos from the dinner, click here.
To view all of the event’s photos and purchase prints, click here.
To view a transcript of Gen. Petraeus’ remarks, click here.

Reforming Defense, Saving Lives
With nearly 100 major weapons systems behind schedule and nearly $300 billion over budget, the Pentagon’s acquisition system holds huge opportunities for reform.  In keeping with our founding mission of spending defense dollars smarter, BENS last month launched a first-of-its-kind task force to assess the entire defense acquisition system. 

“We have the opportunity to make a difference,” said BENS member and former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine as he launched the BENS Task Force on Acquisition Law and Oversight, which he chairs.  “This task is not one that wins headlines, but it could save lives.” 

With vice chairmen former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, the 27-member task force includes BENS members, former industry executives, and former civilian defense officials and military leaders.  In addition, a group of 12 subject matter experts is contributing to the effort.

The task force has an ambitious goal—completing much of its work in about 90 days in order to offer concrete proposals to the next Congress and new administration.  Noting the nation’s current economic challenges, Gen. Chuck Boyd, USAF (Ret.), president and CEO of BENS, said, “We are approaching perfect-storm conditions that will require serious attention to the acquisition process.”  Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Ike Skelton and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England have all indicated they look forward to reviewing the group’s recommendations.  To see photos from the task force launch meeting, click here.

Securing California
California’s preparedness and response partnership with the BENS Bay Area Business Force and the Los Angeles area Homeland Security Advisory Council was formalized on October 3, 2008, by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a ceremony in San Diego. Click here for highlights.

Campaign 2008 - Innovative Ideas for Securing America
Innovative solutions to national security challenges facing the United States, drawing on the experience and proven practices of the private sector.

Secretary Gates: New “Sense of Urgency” Needed
Accepting the BENS Eisenhower Award for his decades of public service, Defense Secretary Robert Gates capped off BENS’ biggest day of the year – our annual Washington Forum and Eisenhower Award Dinner on May 15, which highlighted the critical need for public-private partnerships to secure America.

Thanking BENS for new ideas and solutions that have “saved the taxpayers billions of dollars and made our military a more effective fighting force,” Secretary Gates said in his address – before a black-tie audience of hundreds of business, defense, and political leaders – that it is necessary to “upend assumptions and practices that have accumulated in a largely peacetime military establishment.”  Describing some of the bureaucratic challenges he has faced in his 17 months as secretary, he said that the entire defense establishment and its industry partners must be put “on a war footing with a wartime sense of urgency.”  Gates – who also was honored with a special tribute from former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft – pledged that he and other defense leaders would continue to clearly articulate their priorities because, “When we do, the bureaucracy responds, industry responds, the nation responds.”  Read Gates’ full remarks at http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=124
 
To see pictures of the Eisenhower Award gala, go to http://www.bens.org/gala-2008.html

Annual Forum: “What Needs to Be Done”
Ensuring that the nation – including the private sector – indeed responds to current and emerging security challenges was also a key theme at BENS’ 19th annual Washington Forum earlier in the day.  BENS members heard from, among others, CIA Director General Michael Hayden and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who said that meeting 21st-century security challenges requires “intellectual power, economic strength [and] a clear understanding of what threatens America and what needs to be done.”  But as former Comptroller General David Walker emphasized in closing, we must put our nation’s financial house in order or national security will become unaffordable.  For more on the Forum, go to http://www.bens.org/forum-2008.html.

BENS Teams with Aidmatrix

Press Release: AidMatrix Announces Website for
Making Donations for Myanmar Cyclone Relief

BENS: Best in Class --
At BENS, we’re not only dedicated to promoting best business practices in government, we practice what we preach.  But don’t just take our word for it.  Charity Navigator, a leading independent evaluator of non-profit organizations, has awarded BENS a four-star rating – its highest accolade – for “outperform[ing] the majority of non-profits in America with respect to fiscal responsibility.”  Our “exceptional” ranking, which demonstrates how BENS “excels…in successfully managing [our] finances…in an efficient and effective manner,” can be viewed at http://www.charitynavigator.org

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