This half-day conference convenes policymakers, military leaders, regional partners, industry and analysts to assess how DoW is operationalizing GNA, as well as GNA’s strategic implications for the hemisphere. Discussions will focus on practical approaches and burden-sharing to defend the Homeland, protect critical infrastructure and key terrain, and enhance warfighting readiness.
10 September 2026
National Defense University, Kennedy Hall
Co-sponsored by the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS),
the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, and the
Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies.
Conference Overview
President Trump has drawn a new strategic map for Homeland defense and hemispheric security that embraces shared geography in the name of national interests. On March 5, 2026, Secretary of War Hegseth referred to this new strategic map, which encompasses every sovereign nation and territory north of the equator, from Greenland to Ecuador and from Alaska to Guyana, as “Greater North America” (GNA). At the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas on July 8, 2026, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby explained how the Department of War’s (DoW) Western Hemisphere efforts contribute to a broader geopolitical and defense strategy that benefits collective security. This half-day conference convenes policymakers, military leaders, regional partners, industry and analysts to assess how DoW is operationalizing GNA, as well as GNA’s strategic implications for the hemisphere. Discussions will focus on practical approaches and burden-sharing to defend the Homeland, protect critical infrastructure and key terrain, and enhance warfighting readiness.
Conference Program
0730 Conference opens
0745-0830 Networking Breakfast
0830-0835 Welcome Remarks, Dr. Denise Natali, INSS, NDU
0835-0900 Opening Remarks, DoW Representative
0900-1015 Latin America and the Caribbean: Combatting Narco-Terrorism and Securing Key Terrain
Establishing GNA ensures the United States’ immediate land borders and coasts are the last line of Homeland defense, not the first. DoW’s renewed focus on the Americas enhances burden-sharing to counter narco-terrorists and secure critical infrastructure and key terrain in defense of the Homeland. This panel will examine the strategic logic underpinning GNA in Latin America and the Caribbean and explore how DoW is working with partner nations to align priorities in pursuit of collective defense.
Speakers
Jorge Eduardo Mora* – Designated Minister of Defense for Colombia
Gian Carlo Loffredo Rendón* – Minister of Defense for Ecuador
Kevin Marino Cabrera – U.S. Ambassador to Panama
OSW Representative
Moderator: COL John Suggs, WJPC
1015-1045 Coffee Break
1045-1200 The Northern Approach: Key Terrain and Supercharging the Defense Industrial Base for Homeland Defense
This panel will identify the key characteristics of the northern half of the new GNA strategic map, focusing on key terrain in the Arctic, homeland defense priorities, critical defense infrastructure, the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), critical minerals, and supply chain resiliency as foundational elements of deterrence and defense. Panelists will assess how operations and investments in the northern half of GNA contribute to a more resilient and defensible Homeland, including countering non-Hemispheric state actors’ aggressive moves to control key terrain or parts of our critical supply chains.
Speakers
- RADM, USCG (Red) Matt Bell, Ted Stevens Center
- General Guillot or LTG Jarrard, USNORTHCOM
- Austin Dahmer, OSW Policy Representative
- Moderator: INSS representative
1200-1230 Keynote: DoW Representative TBD
1230-1300 Closing Remarks: Senior Leader INSS TBD