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Cait Conley Has The Cybersecurity Experience Our Country Desperately Needs Now To Face Down Real Dangers At Home & From Abroad
By Joseph Damiani
In the heat of the primary campaign season, it’s easy for the facts to get drowned out by the noise of political finger-pointing and recycled attacks. We see it constantly: candidates, pulling a single corporate name out of thin air like the recent baseless attempts to link Cait Conley to defense contractor, Palantir, in an effort to score quick political points.
In the same week that politicians try to bask in the glow of Veterans on Memorial Day, Beth Davidson’s campaign sent out a mailer that was specious in its conception and despicable in its efforts to diminish the record of her Democrat primary opponent.
As a Veteran, I found the “hit piece” to be insulting to all who have served our Nation. If we pull back the curtain on these typical campaign tactics, we find a candidate whose actual track record is exactly what our community needs to face modern complex challenges. Cait Conley is not a corporate insider, nor did she ever work for Palantir, nor does she support the paramilitary actions of ICE that we have all witnessed in Minneapolis and other cities. She’s a decorated combat Veteran, a former Director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council and a former senior executive at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Beth Davidson’s campaign sent out a mailer that was specious in its conception and despicable in its efforts to diminish the record of her Democrat primary opponent.
How often do you ask yourself, why don’t BETTER people run for office, well now they are and her name is Cait Conley. Cyber security is no longer just about protecting laptops or securing corporate databases. It is about the physical safety of our neighborhoods, the lines between digital vulnerabilities and physical threats have become blurred, and we need leadership that understands how to protect our local infrastructure from the ground up. Consider where our community gathers, where our kids go to school functions or when families pack local stadiums for sporting events and gather for outdoor summer concerts.
Soft target security is paramount! Modern event security relies heavily on digital ticketing, automated access controls, communication networks and localized crowd monitoring systems. A glitch or deliberate cyber disruption to these systems doesn’t just cause a delay, it creates immediate physical confusion and safety hazards in crowded spaces.
Cait’s extensive background at CISA where she oversaw the delivery of thousands of physical and cyber security services and tabletop readiness exercises means she knows exactly how local law-enforcement, schools and event organizers can coordinate to harden these venues against modern threats.
Even more critical is the invisible backbone of our daily lives; Our Electrical Grid. We live in an era where cyber criminals and hostile foreign actors actively target regional utilities and power grids. A successful cyber attack on our energy infrastructure doesn’t mean just the lights go out. It means water treatment plants falter and refrigeration fails. Hospitals are forced onto back up power and seniors lose heating, air-conditioning and oxygen generators.
Defending the grid requires a sophisticated understanding of federal security legislation, public and private partnerships, and rapid incident response.
Cait has actually done this work, collaborating directly with national security stakeholders to protect the energy systems that power American towns and cities. We don’t need more career politicians who excel at writing attack mailers and “consulting work” like Beth Davidson and Mike Lawler, but lack basic understanding of how the modern world operates.
We need an independent Voice who has spent over two decades, answering the call to serve as a young teenager that went to West Point after 9/11 and as a Special Forces Officer that led comrades into harm’s way in MULTIPLE OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENTS! She’s used that experience hunting down threats and securing critical national infrastructure.
When the primary election day arrives this June, let’s reject the mendacious mudslinging and manufactured distractions. Let’s look at the real-world qualifications of our candidates. Cait Conley has the integrity, the battlefield tested resilience and the specialized technical expertise required to keep our communities, our infrastructure and our families safe.
Joseph Cosmo Damiani is a Retired International Airline Captain and a retired Lt Col. USAF Tactical Airlift Aircraft Commander. He is also a candidate for town council in Ward 1 in Clarkstown
The opinions expressed in “Your Voices” columns are those exclusively of the author, and are not necessarily reflective of the views of Rockland County Business Journal. RCBJ offers “Your Voices” to allow readers to express their opinions of recent events affecting the county and/or local communities. We welcome opposing viewpoints from impacted entities.
