Maritime Risk Symposium 2026: Confronting Emerging Threats

By Dr. Joe DiRenzo III, CDR Robert Crane, USCGR (Ret), and Colonel Randy Pugh, USMC (Ret) March 6, 2026

The maritime domain has always been central to global stability and our nation’s prosperity. In today’s rapidly evolving security environment, its importance has never been more pronounced – or more vulnerable. Over ninety percent of global trade moves across the world’s oceans, making maritime transportation the backbone of international commerce, energy distribution, and economic resilience. Yet this vast ecosystem faces escalating risks including geopolitical tensions, deteriorating infrastructure, transnational crime, cyber intrusions, environmental disruptions, and the growing complexity of global supply chains. These challenges demand not only awareness but coordinated, cross‑sector action.

The Maritime Risk Symposium (MRS) stands at the forefront of addressing the maritime industry’s greatest challenges. The event, and the associated community, offer a unique platform for government, industry, and academia to identify and confront these threats as we collectively seek to shape a more resilient maritime future. This year’s MRS marks the 16th gathering – a long way from its modest start at the University of Southern California with just 50 attendees!

MRS 2026, hosted by Sam Houston State University’s (SHSU) Institute for Homeland Security, will be held 2-3 June at the LyondellBasell Center for Petrochemical, Energy and Technology, San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas (Houston-Galveston area). Focusing on the theme “Overcoming Maritime Vulnerabilities Through Private‑Public‑Academic Partnerships,” the event will bring together thought leaders, military officers, researchers, maritime professionals, port operators, and policymakers to exchange insights and develop actionable strategies. The rich agenda reflects the multifaceted and complex nature of maritime risk and sessions have been deliberately designed to illuminate emerging threats, strengthen operational resilience, and catalyze innovation across the maritime enterprise.

Agenda and Topics

Major topics for MRS 2026 keynote addresses and panels include:

Maritime border security and protection of territorial waters, with emphasis on threat detection, domain awareness, port protection, and joint operations among naval, coast guard, homeland security, and law enforcement entities.
Littoral disruptions and cascading impacts on private industry, examining how incidents in coastal and near-shore environments ripple through logistics networks, port operations, and maritime-dependent sectors.
Harbor safety and security committees and port partnerships, exploring collaborative governance, information sharing, and local–national coordination to enhance situational awareness and rapid response.
Cargo screening and the balance of speed and security, including risk-based inspection models, screening technologies, data analytics, and public–private programs that limit delays while maintaining robust safeguards.
Maritime readiness through U.S. shipbuilding, supply chains, and workforce, focusing on capacity constraints, fragmented supplier bases, and the need for skilled labor to support both commercial and defense fleets.

Of note, the entire first day will be dedicated to the pervasive and increasing challenges of cybersecurity and the new security challenges the community promised by the disruptive and rapidly emerging capabilities of artificial intelligence. Senior executives from industry, Coast Guard, Texas Cyber Command, government, and academia have been invited to provide keynotes and welcoming remarks. This will be followed by multiple panels addressing the vulnerabilities in shipboard systems and port information and operational technologies as well as regulatory compliance, new U.S. Coast Guard cyber rules, adversarial AI, and much more.

Student research and education

In addition to the MRS agenda, Rutgers University will host a Student Research Poster Contest for undergraduate and graduate students. Students are invited to submit research across the symposium’s topic areas. Submissions are due April 1, 2026. For more information; tps://ccicada.org/2025/11/06/16th-annual-maritime-risk-symposium-student-research-poster-contest/
Winning posters will be selected through an online process and showcased during the in person symposium. Winning students will be invited to MRS so that they can share their ideas and network with government, industry, and academic leaders. This integration of education, innovation, and policy dialogue reinforces the symposium’s mission to blend research with real-world maritime security challenges and the community’s commitment to encourage and support the next generation of maritime security and risk management professionals.

Maritime Risk Symposium 2027

Looking back over the last fifteen years, MRS has always served a critical role in providing its attendees insights during the event’s keynote presentations and panel discussions. The repeated gathering of highly capable maritime professionals, united by common interests and a common cause, has also generated a larger, more durable, and more strategic product – the MRS problem-solving network. Over a decade and half, countless highly productive collaborative relationships between individuals and organizations and follow-on cooperative activities, catalyzed by the annual MRS event, have identified priority maritime security-related challenges and, most importantly, helped to address them.

With this in mind, this year’s MRS will include the deliberate collection of problems, concept and capability gaps, missed partnership opportunities, and other issues facing the community. The MRS closing panel will provide a curated and prioritized list of these issues, proposals for partnerships and initiatives that could address these shortfalls and gaps, and other “offers and asks” from community members. The intent is that cross-organizational interdisciplinary teams will work on these issues over the intervening year and will then present their results during MRS 2027, thus providing continuity of focus on critical maritime risk issues and a shared understanding of these issues and shared awareness of promising solutions.

Join the MRS Community

In a world where maritime disruptions reverberate across economies and societies, the need for informed, collaborative leadership and problem solving has never been greater. MRS is a key convening platform for maritime risk, security, and innovation and MRS participants are shaping national and international conversations on maritime resilience, from AI and cyber defense to industrial capacity to workforce development. We welcome you to join other professionals from government, industry, international partners, and academia by attending MRS 2026. Participation will offer you an unparalleled opportunity to shape the future of maritime security, resilience, and innovation and introduction to, and inclusion in, the MRS community.

Dr. Joe DiRenzo is the Director of Research Partnerships at the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center and is the event’s Co-Chair. He teaches part time for American Military University and National University.Mr. Robert Crane is a Program Executive for the Institute for Homeland Security at Sam Houston State University. Mr. Crane retired from federal civil service after serving as the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and Positioning-Navigation-Timing (PNT) Resilience Advisor at the e U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Crane is the Co-Chair for MRS 2026.Colonel Randy Pugh, Naval Postgraduate School’s Vice Provost for Warfare Studies and will be the Co-Chair for MRS 2027.