GEOINT Symposium 2026 Day Two

Aligning Global Perspectives with Mission Execution

Day Two of GEOINT Symposium 2026 built on the momentum of the opening sessions. Discussions reinforced a shared priority: ensuring GEOINT capabilities remain interoperable, trusted, and operationally relevant as technology, threats, and partnerships continue to evolve.

Main Stage Welcome: Setting the Direction for the Day

Jackie Barbieri, USGIF Board Member and Chief Executive Officer of Whitespace, delivered opening remarks.

Barbieri reflected on how GEOINT is evolving as it becomes more accessible and persistent  AI moves into operational use, and emerging technologies enable decision‑making at the edge. She emphasized the accelerated pace of change and the importance of trust among partners as the community moves from sharing GEOINT as output to building capability together.

Global GEOINT Perspectives

The opening Main Stage panel, “Global GEOINT Perspectives,” examined how GEOINT operates across allied and partner nations within an increasingly complex global security environment.

Moderated by Pacôme Révillon, Chief Executive Officer of Novaspace, the panel featured:

• Judith Graham, Acting Commander, National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence, UK Defence Intelligence
• Major General Paul Lynch, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, Joint Intelligence and Security Division, NATO
• Brigadier-General Yannick Michaud, Director General Intelligence Enterprise, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, Canadian Armed Forces
• Alex Berger, Director, GEOINT Partner Integration Group, National Geospatial‑Intelligence Agency
• Motoyuki Arai, Chief Executive Officer, Synspective

 

The Intelligence Inflection Point: AI, GEOINT, and Decision Superiority

The Intelligence Inflection Point: AI, GEOINT, and Decision Superiority panel focused on how artificial intelligence is actively reshaping GEOINT workflows today.

Moderated by Michelle Aten, Chief AI Officer at NGA, the panel featured:

• Peter Kant, Chief Executive Officer, Enabled Intelligence
• Brian McClendon, Chief Technology Officer, Niantic Spatial
• Dan Smoot, Chief Executive Officer, Vantor

 

Keynote and Q&A: Australia’s GEOINT Mission in Practice

A keynote address from Kathryn McMullan, Director of the Australian Geospatial‑Intelligence Organisation, offered a detailed look at how GEOINT functions as a core mission capability across Australia’s defense, national security, and crisis response missions.

Director McMullan emphasized treating data as a strategic asset, embedding AI directly into GEOINT workflows, and using visualization to support senior decision‑makers operating under time pressure. She highlighted the importance of partnerships across Five Eyes, the Indo‑Pacific region, and industry in enabling scale, resilience, and decision advantage. The keynote was followed by a Q&A moderated by Jackie Barbieri.

 

Exhibit Hall: Turning Strategy into Practice

Like yesterday, Day Two programming extended beyond the Main Stage into three tracks in the Exhibit Hall, each offering focused discussions on how GEOINT capabilities are being advanced, scaled, and delivered. Together, these sessions provided attendees the opportunity to dive deeper into specific challenges and approaches shaping the GEOINT enterprise today.

• GeoAI Stage, sponsored by Leidos
• Scaling AI Stage, sponsored by NVIDIA/Carahsoft
• GEOINT Data at Speed Stage, sponsored by Capella Space

 

USGIF Working Groups: Advancing Community Collaboration

Working Groups provided space for focused dialogue and collaboration on shared priorities, including the Education Working Group, Front Range Area Community of Interest, and St. Louis Area Community of Interest.

Day Two also marked an important milestone with the launch of the Maritime Domain Awareness Working Group, launching a new forum dedicated to addressing scale, persistence, and sensor integration challenges across the maritime domain.

As GEOINT Symposium 2026 continues, the discussions and connections formed on Day 2 will inform the path forward for the global GEOINT community.