My job in Brussels is to organize conferences, mostly in the area of security and defense. My focus recently has been on conferences on cyber security, so I have been the point man for the new shindig we’re throwing at the European Parliament. It’s a smaller affair, maybe 25 participants, with two panels, each with three speakers over one hour.
Today was a good day. I’m actually home sick with a cold, but working online I see that a member of the European Parliament (MEP) has just confirmed as a speaker. Success! I have three speakers confirmed, but I still need to scramble a bit to ensure that I get the other three. I have only some of the 25 participants that I need, but there tends to be a last minute scramble on the side of the participants. If I have 15 a week before, I will likely have 30 on the day of the conference.
We are organizing this conference (Round Table, we call them) in coordination with an Estonian MEP. The Estonians are big into the area of cyber security since a few years ago. A small country, they are highly digitized with banking and voting and other central services provided almost exclusively over computer networks. In 2007 their infrastructure was attacked, severly crippling the country for a few days. Ever since, they are the first to beat the drum for overhauls to the European systems of cyber security.
So far on the list of confirmed participants we have people from NATO, Europol (the European police agency, like Interpol but for Europe), Permanent Representations to the EU (like embassies for member states of the EU) and staff members of the European Pariament. It looks like there is interest, which seems to be the case for most of the cyber security events these days.
In related news, I have been accpeted into the NATO internship program in their cyber defense area, beginning in the spring (after my current work contract is over). I still need to get a security clearance from the Americans, which is not easy. I received my background check form from the State Department. They estimated the burden to be 2 ½ hours, including research. This was not the case. Even having 20 years of housing history and 10 years of work history previously researched for other NATO forms, I was still 5 hours into the form when I started to lose my patience. They asked me if I had ever had contact with any foreign governments, and I typed “Yeah, every fucking day” and then put the form away for the night.
The next evening I drafted a three paragraph response detailing my work with my company. They wanted a list of every foreign government I had ever contacted, and I told them that it was outside the scope of this form to list every government I had ever had contact with, but that it was all in line with my job, and if they wanted more info they can come talk to me. Sometimes I really don’t think I’m cut out for government work. But if this gig doesn’t work out, maybe I can go talk to the Estonians.
