Highlights from the Eighth Annual PSC Law Enforcement Conference
By Krista Sweet, Vice President, Civilian Agencies, PSC
On February 22, 2024, PSC hosted its eighth annual Law Enforcement Conference at the Westin Hotel in Ballston with more than 250+ people in attendance. PSC’s President & CEO David J. Berteau kicked off the event, thanked PSC’s sponsors and introduced Tom Krall of CGI Federal and Kim Giffin of GDIT as the Chair and Co-Chair of the Law Enforcement Planning Committee. Mr. Krall reviewed the conference agenda and welcomed fellow committee member Andrea McCarthy who explained the 2023 PSC Vision Federal Market Forecast process, encouraging industry to participate on a federal law enforcement team in 2024.
Johnnie Sharp, Assistant Director of the IT Infrastructure Division of the FBI’s campus in Huntsville, Alabama provided the opening keynote. He detailed the FBI’s strategic growth at Redstone Arsenal and their plans to attract, retain, and grow the cyber workforce. He also highlighted the capabilities and collaboration tools of the new state-of-the-art Innovation Center which will serve as the FBI’s technical hub and bring multiple technology-focused divisions together to train, conduct cyber threat intelligence analysis and data analytics, and target rapidly changing technological threats.
Following Mr. Sharp’s remark, our first panel of experts from DEA, HSI, and FBI spoke on the challenges of the expanding law enforcement mission beyond US borders. They explained the threats presented from transnational organized crime and illicit fentanyl trafficking and the coordination between federal law enforcement agencies to combat these growing threats.
Our next session dove into AI and Law Enforcement: The State of Play and Roadmap for Future Use. Kim DelGreco of the FBI and Ray Shuler of DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations explained their agency operating principles that guide the use of these technologies and the processes used for security and due diligence before deployment.
The final panel included procurement executives from the FBI, CBP, US Marshals Service, and TSA discussing how they navigate law enforcement procurement in uncertain budget times. They shared the difficulties of addressing technical debt and the strategies and tools used to procure mission-critical requirements within current constraints.
The most moving discussion of the day was a fireside chat led by Conrad Agagan from Capgemini with his friend and former Border Patrol Academy classmate Jason Owens, who is now Chief of the US Border Patrol. Mr. Owens spoke passionately about the changing nature of the Border Patrol mission over the past 30 years and the dedication and commitment that officers demonstrate every day despite enormous pressures and resource shortages.
The closing keynote was provided by Carry Huffman, who recently took over as the new Director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). He explained his vision for the agency and the need to work with his customers and industry to ensure FLETC is at the forefront of cutting-edge training. The conference concluded with remarks from the Planning Committee Co-Chair Kim Giffin who summarized the themes of the day and welcomed the audience to continue networking at the post-event reception.
Thank you to all of our sponsors who helped make this year’s conference so successful. Please reach out to me at ksweet@pscouncil.org if you want to be part of our 2025 Law Enforcement Conference Planning Committee. Mark your calendars for our next conference – Thursday, February 20, 2025 – see you there!!