Photo By Milt Spalding | U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Ash Groves asks a question during the Kentucky Resilience...... read more read more
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Military leaders, emergency managers and agency representatives gathered at Boone National Guard Center June 16–17 for the Kentucky Resilience and Emergency Preparedness (K-REP) Summit to enhance homeland defense and emergency readiness across the commonwealth.
The two-day K-REP Summit, hosted by the Kentucky National Guard in partnership with the National Guard Bureau and U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), brought together federal, state and local partners to identify capability gaps and strengthen coordination before crises occur.
Participating agencies included Kentucky Emergency Management, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, Kentucky State Police, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Haldane B. Lamberton, Kentucky’s adjutant general, emphasized the importance of establishing these connections well before a disaster strikes.
“As a first responder, you don’t want the first time you hand out your business card to your partner agencies to be during an emergency,” Lamberton said. “Relationships need to be built well before. That’s what these two days are for.”
Discussions at the summit addressed critical infrastructure protection, emergency management, cyber threats, severe weather response, counter-unmanned aircraft systems and statewide preparedness initiatives.
Day one focused on foundational concepts, including homeland defense authorities, national resilience frameworks, lessons learned from other states and available resources to support preparedness efforts. Subject matter experts from USNORTHCOM, the National Guard Bureau, academia and defense organizations provided perspectives on evolving threats and best practices.
Day two centered on practical application, with panel discussions covering Kentucky's critical infrastructure, resilience planning and future operational requirements.
The summit also supported planning efforts for Exercise Vigilant Guard, a large-scale emergency preparedness exercise designed to test coordination, response capabilities and interoperability among military, government and emergency management organizations. Discussions encouraged agencies to identify weaknesses and resource gaps that can be addressed before future emergencies.
By bringing together decision-makers from across the emergency management enterprise, the summit reinforced Kentucky's commitment to building a more resilient commonwealth capable of responding to complex challenges ranging from natural disasters and cyber incidents to homeland defense contingencies.
Lamberton concluded the summit by thanking representatives from the many agencies and organizations that contributed to the discussions.
“This is a great team of teams,” Lamberton said. “To be able to show up on Kentucky’s or our nation’s worst day, we need to know and be able to work closely with our counterparts. I’m confident we’ve built that foundation.”
| Date Taken: | 06.17.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2026 09:23 |
| Story ID: | 568599 |
| Location: | FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Kentucky Guard hosts K-REP Summit to strengthen disaster response partnerships, by CPT Kaitlin Baudendistel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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