Archive · Inaugural Summit · April 2–4, 2026
Three days. One conversation. The one that needed to happen.
Dates
April 2–4, 2026Thursday to Saturday
Venue
Whitefish Performing Arts CenterWhitefish, Montana
Attendees
130+Practitioners, not spectators
Return Intent
86%Post-event survey respondents
Event Recap
The inaugural Whitefish Security Summit convened in April 2026 at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center, bringing together more than 130 national security professionals, intelligence officers, defense practitioners, journalists, and policy leaders for three days of frank, practitioner-grade dialogue on the threats defining this decade.
WSS was designed from the beginning as something different: not a conference where people perform expertise for a room of strangers, but a forum where serious people have the conversations they can’t have elsewhere. The setting was intentional. Whitefish, Montana is not Washington, and that distance produced a different quality of engagement.
Programming spanned cyber operations and AI-enabled threat, intelligence community dynamics, geopolitical risk, influence operations, and the intersection of national security with media and culture. Discussions were structured to generate insight rather than consensus.
Eighty-six percent of attendees indicated intent to return. The community that formed over those three days is the foundation on which WSS 2027 is being built.
Opening Keynote
USA (Ret.) · Former Commander, Joint Special Operations Command & ISAF
“Character as Strategy: Leadership for America’s Critical Frontiers.” General McChrystal’s keynote set the intellectual frame for the Summit, addressing the nature of modern conflict, the evolution of adversarial threat, and the demands placed on institutions and individuals operating at the edge of national security.
KeynoteFormer Commander, U.S. Forces–Afghanistan & ISAF
Writer, Producer & Showrunner · 24, Homeland
Former Deputy Director, Counterterrorism Center, CIA
Former Chief Futurist, Directorate for Digital Innovation, CIA
Author, Physicist & Naval Analyst
EVP, Strider Technologies · Former Chief of Operations for Iran and Counterterrorism, CIA
Former Deputy Director of Intelligence, CIA
Partner & Co-Founder, Crumpton Global · Former CIA Officer
Founder, AI Squared · Former Chief of Data Science/AI, NSA
Producer, Financier, Attorney
Commanding Officer, DEVGRU Squadron Two · U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Former Case Officer and Chief of Base, CIA
Co-founder, Lobo Institute · Former Paramilitary Operations Officer, CIA
Writer & Producer · Former CIA Operations Officer
Former Director of Digital Futures, CIA Directorate of Digital Innovation
Director, Writer, Producer
Founder and CEO, Red5 · Author and Futurist
MI1 Executive Team · Former Chief of Staff, global technology firm
Chairman and Founder, 5 Stones intelligence · Retired Supervisory Special Agent, DEA
Photo withheld by request
Producer, Location Consultant · Former Supervising Location Manager for major studios
Founder, Suits and Spooks · Creator, MI:1
Special Operations Veteran, Film Industry
Angel Investor, VC, Entrepreneur
Counterterrorism & National Security Strategist · Founder, IN Network
Futurist, Neuroscientist, Physicist
EVP, Constellis · Former CIA Chief of Operations (Special Activities) & Chief of Station
Co-Founder, Iron Butterfly Media
Co-Founder, Iron Butterfly Media
Author, The Peacock and the Sparrow · Former CIA Operations Officer
Journalist, The California Post
Former U.S. Ambassador · Executive Director, Maritime Humanitarian Aid Foundation
Managing Partner, Blackjack Group · President, Longest Climb Foundation
Senior Advisor for External Affairs, Whitefish Security Summit
Young Adult Historical Fiction Author
Strategic intelligence · Insider risk
Intelligence solutions
Geopolitical risk · Capital markets
Security consulting
Intelligence & analysis
Investment management
Official spirits partner
National security career development
What It Produced
WSS 2026 was the proof of concept. It showed genuine appetite, among people who operate at the highest levels of national security, for a forum that puts substance over spectacle and relationships over credential display.
The conversations that started in Whitefish continued after the event closed. Summit Circle was designed to sustain them as a year-round community, and WSS 2027 builds on that foundation.
“The conversations you can’t have anywhere else. That’s what Whitefish is for.”WSS 2026 Attendee
February 24–26, 2027 · Whitefish, Montana. The second annual Summit, with Chris Costa as keynote and an expanded three-day program.
