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How Secure Is Our National Security?
Threats & Vulnerabilities in 2025

Posted on January 16, 2025

Whether it’s wildfires or a hurricane threatening to take down the power grid or a crippling cyber-attack by a bad action from a foreign country, our national security is under constant threat.

Juliette Kayyem, a national leader in homeland security and crisis management, will address the question “How Secure is Our National Security?” as the first presenter in this year’s Rappaport Center Speaker Series. The program is open to the public at Temple Beit HaYam in Stuart on February 13.

Juliette Kayyem is a Senior Lecturer and faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project and the Security and Global Health Project at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She served as the Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security and is the recipient of many government honors, including the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Coast Guard’s highest medal awarded to a civilian. Currently she is also a national security analyst for CNN.

Kayyem has written and spoken extensively about the threats and vulnerabilities that the nation and in fact the globe now face from natural disasters as well as vulnerabilities in the nation’s critical infrastructure and cyber security. Her most recent book, The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters, is described as an “engagingly urgent blueprint for rethinking our approach to disaster preparedness and response.”

Tickets are available online for $35 at www.RappaportSpeakerSeries.com. The conversation with Professor Kayyem will be moderated by Blake Fontenay, columnist for TC Palm, and will begin at 7 p.m.

The Rappaport Center Speaker Series is supported by the Phyllis & Jerome Lyle Rappaport Foundation through a grant to Temple Beit HaYam to increase dialogue and understanding within the broader community. It has featured speakers like David Gergen, advisor to both Republican and Democratic presidents; Marty Baron, former editor of The Washington Post; and Mitch Albom, author famous for his books including Tuesdays with Morrie.

“It is our great pleasure to invite the community to join us at Temple Beit HaYam each year to hear from significant thought leaders and engage us in dialogue,” said Rabbi Matt Durbin. “We’re grateful to the Rappaport family for creating and sustaining this unique forum for intelligent conversation.”