GW Engineering’s Environmental and Energy Management Institute (EEMI), in partnership with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), organized the Transatlantic Energy Security Symposium at the National Press Club on February 4, 2026. Held in the Press Club’s Main Ballroom, this premier event drew an overflowing crowd of top energy leaders from the United States and Europe.
Following welcoming remarks from EEMI Executive Director Jonathan Deason and SAME DC Post President Bree Beal, EEMI Director for International Affairs, Ambassador Andras Simonyi, moderated the day-long program. The sessions featured 30 senior-level energy experts from the U.S. and European Union governments and private sector organizations, including Members of Congress, NGO directors, and senior corporate leaders, who spoke throughout the day.
The Honorable Alex Beehler, EEMI Director for Innovative Energy and former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, began the day by moderating an hour-long fireside chat. Joining him were Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), Chairman of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee and Member of the Energy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Congressman Mike Levin (D-CA), member of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and Vice Chairman of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition.
Secretary Beehler also chaired a keynote session featuring the Honorable Jordan Gillis, current Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment; Dr. Rian Bahran, current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors at the U.S. Department of Energy; and Joseph Dunne, former Director, European Parliament Liaison Office.
On the topic of grid resilience among new nuclear energy sources and artificial intelligence (AI) energy demands, Scott Sklar, EEMI Director for Sustainable Energy, chaired a session featuring alumnus Tom Mooney, M.S. ‘13, Director of Energy and Nuclear Business Development for the Parsons Corporation and Michael Turner, Chairman of the National Association of Counties Committee on Energy, Environment, and Land Use. As Vice Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Turner is the preeminent expert on the energy demands posed by the explosive growth of data centers across the U.S.
Additional speakers at the symposium included Major General Kim Colloton, former Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Jeremy Bowen, Deputy Director for Nuclear Reactors in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Zachary Johnson, Director of the Ukraine Task Force, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy; Mark Sudol, former Director of the Regulatory Program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Jenny Smith, Vice President of the Bechtel Corporation; and many more.
GW personnel participating in the event were Teresa Pohlman, EEMI Director of Environmental Security; Ed Saltzberg, EEMI Director of Professional Education; Eric Dano, EEMI Deputy Executive Director; and Ed Yealdhall, EEMI Affiliate.
The driving force behind the symposium is that the U.S. and the European Union are operating in a new threat environment that establishes a framework for the responsibilities of interdependent nations, including actions in response to emergencies. In the U.S., the President has declared a National Energy Emergency as U.S. adversaries probe vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure, particularly in energy production, distribution, and storage.
Other threats include natural and man-made events such as severe weather, storm surges exacerbated by rising and warmer seas, natural disasters such as earthquakes and wildfires, electromagnetic pulses, aging infrastructure, cyber threats, kinetic attacks on electricity substations, and growing interdependencies in infrastructure networks.
In addition to these concerns, data centers supporting the explosive growth of AI are demanding more energy, a trend that must be addressed amid aging infrastructure and limited resources. Small Modular Reactors and other emerging technologies need to be incorporated into existing infrastructure for mission readiness and energy production capability.
With this in mind, EEMI and SAME designed the program to help the international community explore the design and practicalities of tomorrow’s energy systems while addressing today’s mission-critical energy security and readiness realities of complexity and scale. By covering national defense, infrastructure and security, resilient supply chains, accelerating permitting processes, and defense and market strategies, the program provided actionable insights for a more secure energy future worldwide.
