Session Description:

100% of DAF missions depend on Opearational Technology (OT). 80% run on outdated Hardware/Software (HW/SW) and 60% are standalone. These systems control power, fuel, water, and HVAC on every installation the DAF depends on to generate and sustain airpower. They were designed for availability, not security. Some assume legacy systems are safer because they predate modern connectivity. That assumption has not aged well.

Advanced Persistent Threats have recognized this vulnerability. Iranian-linked actors have already breached bulk fuel tank readers at commercial facilities in the United States. The same capability applied to a DAF installation means a runway that goes dark, a fuel system that fails, a sortie that does not launch.

Established in 2024 as the first office of its kind across any military service, CROCS (Cyber Resiliency Office for Control Systems) exists to answer this problem. This session reframes OT resilience as a warfighting responsibility. CROCS Technical Director Daryl Haegley, who established the office and oversees a $2B+ critical infrastructure protection portfolio, will examine the threat landscape at the installation level, the detection and response gaps most installations face today, and the People-Process-Technology framework for closing them. He will address the role of mission mapping, workforce development, and assessments and mitigations in an era in which adversaries enter through unmonitored control systems rather than over the fenceline.

This mainstage presentation brings together the DAF Enterprise leaders, operators, and decision-makers responsible for turning national threat warning and Department-level direction into measurable mission protection. Attendees will leave with a threat picture that elevates legacy OT risk to the mission level, an honest assessment of where DAF installations stand today, a clear understanding of the CROCS framework and its application to installation readiness, and a direct call to action for commanders, acquisition leaders, CIOs, and industry partners.

Promotional Abstract:

The adversary may already be inside the fenceline. Not through the gate. Through an unmonitored Human-Machine Interface (HMI) that never appeared on a network diagram. Eighty percent of DAF operational technology runs on legacy systems built for availability, not security. The 2026 ODNI Annual Threat Assessment confirms adversaries are actively pre-positioning to exploit them. SECWAR directives demand action. This session exposes the OT vulnerability beneath the digital edge and presents the CROCS People-Process-Technology framework: workforce development to build the defenders DAF does not yet have, mission mapping to connect control system risk to mission output, and assessments and mitigations to close the gaps before an adversary does. CROCS Technical Director Daryl Haegley delivers a direct call to action for commanders, acquisition leaders, CIOs, and industry partners. The clock is running. Who will act first?