Homeland Security Today’s Counterterrorism 2026

Kelly Murray spoke at the Homeland Security Today’s Counterterrorism 2026 conference on Protecting Critical Infrastructure in a Multi-Domain Threat Environment. Speaker insights include the criticality of protecting the entirety of the critical infrastructure supply chain, ensuring government funding and support for critical infrastructure protection, ensuring all sectors are included in the conversation to include data centers and election systems as critical infrastructure, detection of attacks at early stages creating greater time for interdiction, and the development of risk frameworks that provide measurable analytics and results.

Other sessions of Counterterrorism 2026 included:

• Iran’s Proxy Warfare & Escalation Dynamics
  Explored Iran-backed networks and the strategic use of proxy actors across regions.

• The Global Salafi-Jihadist Ecosystem
  Key discussions on Al-Qaeda’s resilience, ISIS affiliates, threats in Africa, Pakistan, Syria, and Afghanistan.

• Terrorist Financing
  Focused on crypto and decentralized finance, sanctions evasion, hawala networks, and the importance of financial intelligence coordination. 

• The Era of the Agentic Analyst
  Highlighted how AI agents are transforming and accelerating intelligence analysis.

• Mexico: Cartels as Terror/Transnational Threats
  Examined cartel violence, terrorist designation debates, and implications for U.S.–Mexico security cooperation.

• Current Trends in Radicalization
  Addressed digital recruitment ecosystems, algorithmic amplification, AI-generated propaganda, and counter-messaging strategies.

• The U.S. Domestic Threat Landscape
  Covered right-wing accelerationism, “764,” left-wing violent extremism, lone actor mobilization, and domestic financing streams.

• Narratives & Strategic Influence
  Examined the role of narratives in shaping extremism and influencing behavior.

• Cyber & AI in the Terrorism Battlespace
  Discussed encrypted platforms, deepfakes, disinformation, and AI-enabled counterterrorism tools.

• U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy & Mega-Event Security
  Highlighted over-the-horizon strategies, interagency coordination, and securing global events such as the FIFA World Cup and Olympics.