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New York Congressional District 17 Candidate Talks Cyber Security, Drones, Trans Rights in the Military, and Her Hopes of Restoring Inclusivity in America
By Tina Traster
Cait Conley has gotten better at painting pictures that breathe life into who she is. She recently told a crowd a story about leading a military unit in a parachuting exercise from a plane. With a sympathetic human flourish, the New York Democratic Candidate for Congressional District 17 concedes the ground was a long way down. But the point of the story is that she jumped first – showing those in line behind her waiting to leap from the plane what leadership and courage look like.
Political candidates and incumbents are judged by what they say, what they do, and what they promise. Much of what they show the public is a pastiche of image-making and political persona, but truths about their strengths and vulnerabilities always seep out, either through the politician’s evolving arc or via leaks and opposition research.
Conley’s journey through the Democratic primary is a fascinating case study in beating back a handful of challengers, including a Rockland County Legislative incumbent, while fending off a beleaguered Republican Congressman who has tied himself to the Trump administration while trying to convince a moderate “swing” district that he is the most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives.
In what was in some respect a three-way race, Conley had to strike a contrast to Beth Davidson, who was a “known” entity in Rockland County, but whose record was thin. Conley also had to play chess, moving two steps ahead by framing Mike Lawler as an agent of Trump’s violent immigration crackdown, illegal war in the Middle East, draconian tariffs that have hurt working-and-middle class families, and the lawlessness that has upended American norms.
Both Davidson and Lawler inadvertently joined ranks to cast a pall over Conley, a military veteran who has done private-sector cyber security work since 2024, but their efforts failed with District 17 voters who awarded her with 49.5 percent of the vote. Davidson trailed behind with 31.8 percent of the vote, despite rounds of dark mailings accusing Conley of working for cyber companies that aid ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which is terrorizing people of color in American cities and towns, and whose agents have killed at least a handful of people in cold blood.
Voters seemingly latched onto Cait’s energy, vitality and charisma but many felt they had to take a leap of faith out of the metaphoric plane because they were not sure if Conley was being paid by companies aiding ICE. While the candidate denied those links during the campaign, she spent time with RCBJ recently breaking down the false rumors. Conley is an expert on drone security. The work she has done for Hidden Level Inc. in the past but still does for Primer is aimed at keeping Americans safe from dangerous drone activity. Hidden Level is a Syracuse, New York-based company that develops drone detection hardware. For example, in December 2024, people in New York and New Jersey were spotting drones, which caused havoc and confusion, including the shutdown of airports.
“Hidden Level, which creates both software and hardware, was sent to Stewart Airport to install systems to prevent collisions with aircraft,” said Conley. “The company develops important technology that’s used at stadiums, airports and hospitals” to prevent disasters. For example, Hidden Level worked with FIFA to secure stadiums hosting the 2026 World Cup games.
“That’s why when people try to tie the AI thing to Hidden Level it just doesn’t make sense,” Conley said, adding the work she does has no direct ties to Palantir, a company known for providing ICE with technical support in tracking and apprehending immigrants.
Drones are becoming an international security threat through weaponization, illegal smuggling, unauthorized surveillance, and critical infrastructure disruption. They are easy to make and are increasingly used for espionage, contraband, and asymmetric warfare. But Conley’s experience with analyzing and averting drone threats dates to her deployment in Iraq when ISIS became “the first in the world to weaponize drones,” she said.
“Hidden Level partners with the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA to understand terrorist groups who use advanced tactics,” said Conley. “This has nothing to do with immigration enforcement.”
Conley, who served as Director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council at the White House during the Biden administration and later helped safeguard critical infrastructure and election systems at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), left Hidden Level to focus on her campaign.
She said, “I’m blowing through my savings for this campaign.”
She still acts as a consultant for Primer, which Conley said works with the DOD to analyze and aggregate information that soldiers use to bone up on the circumstances of their deployment. “Its work helps soldiers understand what’s going on in a certain area,” she said. “The information helps soldiers understand the situation on the ground, how the local civilian leadership has changed, who is the mayor, what ISIS activity has happened over the last 15 years, what tactics they have used, including drones.”
Conley advises Primer on emerging drone tactics, saying “we inform them on what is happening all around the world. We’ve seen Iran using drones that are difficult for the United States to detect. We’ve seen drug cartels in Mexico using drones to drop bombs on other cartels.”
Conley delivered a robust, upbeat campaign during the primary. Although unknown to most prior to the race, she seemed plucked from a Hollywood script: the girl raised by her postal worker mother and aunt in upstate New York who goes to West Point Academy in the wake of the 9/11 attack. She has a Master of Public Policy, Political Science and Government from the Harvard Kennedy School and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. She served for 16 years as an active-duty Army officer, deploying overseas six times to combat zones including Iraq and Afghanistan. She broke barriers as one of the first women in Special Ops leadership and was awarded three Bronze Stars for displaying “the highest degree of professionalism, sound judgment, and technical and tactical competence while conducting combat operations.”
Conley believes she prevailed in the race because voters are “sick of misrepresentations and lies.” She likes to say voters just want elected representative who will fight for them. It remains unclear whether Lawler will revive the Palantir swift-boating campaign as he fights for his political life in what is expected to be a competitive race.
Voters will be making a choice that can swing District 17, and potentially give the Democrats back the House of Representatives. Lawler understands Republicans are facing strong headwinds given Trump’s unpopular war, the punishing cost of living, high gas prices, loss of healthcare and Medicaid benefits, not to mention the ongoing chaos of surviving Trump’s politics. Lately it appears Lawler is working hard to burnish his image, softening his churlish and brusque ways with Facebook poems and snapshots of him eating ice cream with his children. He’s also having to explain a DUI from ten years ago.
Heading toward Nov. 3, voters will likely want to deepen their knowledge about Conley, who will have to move away from stump speech platitudes and reveal more of herself. Observers don’t believe this will be a high hurdle for the military veteran because she oozes a certain charm and warmth that people respond to. When RCBJ spent time with her for this article, we learned that she lives in a house in Ossining (though she lives on a border street that receives services from New Castle) she rents with her partner, a cyber security lawyer who she met 16 years ago, and their two rescued mutts. Conley talked about serving in the military when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was still a policy and how painful that was. Being a soldier is the hardest job, she says, adding how important it is to be supported, to feel confident, to not worry that what you do or how you contribute can be ripped away based on “who you are, who you love.”
“This is America,” said Conley, adding that she first fell in love with the Democratic party around the time she deployed because this “was the party fighting for me and my rights. This was the party leading the charge.”
Under the Trump administration, transgender servicemen and women have been expelled from the military, which upsets Conley. If elected, she says she’ll fight against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s exclusionary policies, calling them “disgusting, un-American, and dangerous.”
“Millions of dollars have been invested in training and competency, and these people have served our nation with honor,” she said. “These policies take that experience and gut it. That doesn’t make us safer. These people chose service and we should be thanking them.”
Conley, 40, is buff and tough, but pleasingly brainy and accessible. She’s a study in contrasts – she’s strikes an impressive figure, but she is warm and accessible. She’s got the folksy cadence down to a science, but she’s super educated. She seems like a figure out of central casting with a Forrest Gump too-good-to-be believed story, but she has a way of grounding her storytelling in a way that’s digestible. She’s got that “it” girl aura but if you sit down with her for a cup of coffee, you feel like she’s someone you’ve known for a long time. Many politicians are shifty and distracted – often because they’re promising something they can’t deliver. Conley is running on her service to America, her experience in cyber security and drone safety, and big ideas to put the country back on course.
While Conley is polishing her political persona, she has learned to fight back without spitting feathers, maintain an upbeat perspective on America, and celebrate a country that was built on the notion that this is a nation of many and that the spirit of our founding is built on inclusion.
Note: Featured Photo provided by Cait Conley campaign
