Securing The Supply Chain Keynote: Glen Woodbury

Glen Woodbury of the Center for Homeland Defense and Security Naval Postgraduate School kicked off Wednesday’s Securing the Supply Chain Summit by focusing on the increasing complexity of technology in emergency management and supply chains. 

 Woodbury pinpointed the accelerating changes in technology, from autonomous vehicles to drones to AI, to back up his thesis that meaningful strategic and operational collaboration across the public and private sectors to address increasing risks in our world. 

The Meta Trends Framework, Woodbury’s own creation, breaks down our world into three domains: human, technological and the planet, with considerations like politics and religion falling under the human domain and emerging sectors like biotech and robotics falling under technology.

“What has been our history with new technology?” asked Woodbury, highlighting four areas: kinetic tools, social media, situational awareness, and apps and programs. He also highlighted the push and pull of new technology. “They have this new tech, so when do we get it?”

The Securing the Supply Chain Summit, hosted by Columbia Basin College and sponsored by Washington’s Centers of Excellence, closes Wednesday afternoon with a discussion of cybersecurity and infrastructure with the Department of Homeland Security.