On December 10, AEI hosted a panel of senior policy practitioners, moderated by AEI’s Kori Schake, to discuss why critical infrastructure is a matter of national security.

AEI’s Elisabeth Braw explained what gray-zone warfare is and why power plants, ports, airports, and other infrastructure are increasingly targeted by hostile actors. NATO’s Mircea Geoană discussed how NATO is addressing resilience by increasingly working with civil society across member states and industries. Tomáš Kopečný of the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Defence described why technology is the Czech Republic’s key area of strategic interest and the importance of technological resilience in the 21st century. Lastly, Olli-Poika Parviainen of Finland’s Ministry of the Interior highlighted the importance of education and trust in government and spoke of Finland’s comprehensive security model for civil preparedness against all threats — both gray zone and kinetic military actions.

The event concluded with questions on what NATO’s short- and long-term priorities will be for building resilience, the Finnish center for hybrid warfare’s mission, and how NATO can best support the Czech Republic’s pioneering work of running joint industry-military gray-zone exercises.