Planes, Trains, and Military Mobility: Strengthening NATO Through Critical Infrastructure Security

A livestream of the conversation will begin here at 12:30pm ET on Monday, September 28.
For questions about FDD events, please contact [email protected].
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].

NATO’s power projection depends on the civilian digital systems and physical infrastructure that enable military movement across roads, railways, ports, and airfields. Yet since the end of the Cold War, Europe’s investment in defense-related infrastructure has not kept pace with the demands of a changing security environment.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has made the stakes clear. In a conflict with NATO, Russia is likely to target the transportation, energy, and communications networks allied forces would rely on to deploy, reinforce, and sustain operations across the continent. At the same time, Chinese state-linked companies have acquired stakes in strategically important European critical infrastructure, including ports and energy grids, even as Chinese hackers have penetrated the same systems in the United States. Europe has begun investing in military mobility and streamlining cross-border movement, but major gaps remain between NATO’s battle plans and the infrastructure needed to execute them at speed and scale.

To examine these challenges and the steps NATO and its allies should take, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies hosts a conversation with Tom Goffus, FDD adjunct fellow and former NATO assistant secretary general for operations and former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy; RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation; and Jiwon Ma, senior policy analyst, FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. The conversation will be moderated by Daniella Cheslow, National Security Daily anchor at Politico.

Daniella Cheslow

Daniella Cheslow is anchor of the National Security Daily newsletter, where she helms Politico’s coverage of the Trump administration’s strategies on combatting world crises. She joined Politico as deputy tech editor, steering coverage of policy on artificial intelligence, semiconductor production and export controls. Prior to Politico, Daniella reported on Washington politics and national security at The Wall Street Journal, was a foreign correspondent for Agence France-Presse, and worked as an editor and reporter at NPR. Her work has been recognized by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists in D.C. She is a 2018 Burns Fellow.

Thomas Goffus

Thomas Goffus served as NATO assistant secretary general for operations and deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy. Prior to NATO, Tom was a professional staff member for the Senate Armed Services Committee and the lead staffer to the chairman of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. Tom joined the Senate Armed Services Committee after a career in the U.S. Air Force, and serving as the director for Strategic and Eastern European Affairs at the National Security Council and senior military advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department. He is an adjunct fellow at FDD.

RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery

RADM (Ret.) Mark Montgomery serves as senior director of FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation. He also directs CSC 2.0, an initiative that works to implement the recommendations of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC), where he served as executive director. Previously, Mark served as policy director for the Senate Armed Services Committee, coordinating policy efforts on national security strategy, capabilities and requirements, and cyber policy. He served for 32 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear-trained surface warfare officer and retired as a rear admiral in 2017.

Jiwon Ma

Jiwon Ma is a senior policy analyst at FDD’s Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation, where she contributes to the CSC 2.0 project, which continues the work of the congressionally mandated Cyberspace Solarium Commission (CSC). Her research focuses on the cyber threat landscape and adversarial strategies and capabilities, emerging technologies, cyber deterrence, and U.S. cyber and international security policies. Jiwon’s analysis has been published in The Hill, The Cipher Brief, CyberScoop, and more. She has authored reports on critical infrastructure resilience and is the lead author of CSC 2.0’s annual assessment of the implementation of CSC’s recommendations.