Approved for Public Release
William King Opening Remarks
26-28 July 2022
Opening remarks:
Thank you for joining us as it is a clear representation that you feel this forum and opportunity
is for you to engage with and learn from others.
Please download and use the SLIDO application as it will enable you to directly engage via
questions to all our guest speakers and panelist.
There will be press attending both days so be aware and acknowledge you may be attributed
with statements/comments you make publically.
Take full advantage of the networking breaks to network and visit the exhibitors downstairs on
the first floor.
No need to take pictures of the slides as they will all be made available to you as soon as the
conference is over and the surveys have been completed. Give us your feedback as to what
worked and you want our planning committee to sustain and what must be changed and/or
added to make next year’s forum even greater.
Now to set the stage and tone for this years’ conference:
What a crazy year this last year has been and yes, as many of you have already made known to
me, this coming year promises to be even more adventurous and exciting (both in good and
bad ways). I have had many of you ask me why the theme of this year’s conference is
“Competition, Climate Change, and CBRN Defense – Defining Challenges/ Delivering Solutions.”
I would offer we should have added a fourth C for CYBER as these four Cs are very much what
we must be keenly focused upon NOW and the near FUTURE or they will consume us.
The Joint Force and military industrial complex is at an inflection point during what will be a
decisive decade. Geopolitical relationships are shifting, economies are rising and falling, rapid
technological advances are fueling militaries’ modernizations at scale, and external factors like
climate change and pandemics are changing the way people live, work, and go to war. An
undeniable and intentional international violation of sovereignty has shocked the international
system and status quo. Large scale combat has now been introduced into strategic competition
between autocracies and democracies, further stressing the rules-based international order.
For the first time in our Nation’s history, the United States faces two major nuclear powers that
may employ nuclear coercion as a way to meet their national objectives. Both China and Russia
possess the will and the means to pose an existential threat to our way of life.
