The 29th Plenary meeting of the Council of Governors was held yesterday, July 11, 2024, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Council serves as a forum for 10 presidentially appointed, bipartisan Governors to engage with key federal officials on issues that affect national security, homeland defense, cybersecurity, disaster response and recovery, and the National Guard.
During the meeting, Governors heard from senior federal officials, including: Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, White House Homeland Security Advisor Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall, and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Kristie Canegallo. Council of Governors Co-Chairs Governor Walz and Governor Scott, Delaware Governor John Carney, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon participated in the meeting.
Governors led a discussion on their current priorities with Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Kristie Canegallo. Following this discussion, CISA Executive Director Brandon Wales and FEMA Acting Associate Administrator Keith Turi made remarks regarding state and federal coordination to build cyber and physical resiliency for critical infrastructure, after which the Governors asked questions and discussed the role of states in enhancing resiliency. Under Secretary Michael McCord provided a briefing on the strategic guidelines for the Defense Fiscal Year 2026 program build to Governors.
The Council then received in-progress reviews on four Council working groups:
- Cybersecurity (co-chaired by Wyoming Governor Gordon and Massachusetts Governor Healey),
- Emergency Management and Disaster Response (co-chaired by Indiana Governor Holcomb and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham),
- Military Matters (co-chaired by Minnesota Governor Walz and Idaho Governor Brad Little), and
- Workforce (co-chaired by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster).
Governors shared their perspective on the importance of the consultative process in ensuring efficient state-federal coordination, stressing that states and territories have the critical resources they need to fulfill their security and public safety obligations. The Governors and Deputy Secretary Hicks emphasized the importance of using both formal and informal processes to hold consultative discussions on timely issues impacting states, territories and the National Guard.
Following the productive discussion on strengthening relationships between federal and state partners, Governors Walz and Scott closed the meeting by thanking the federal partners and recommitting to strengthening the federal-state relationship to improve readiness and response.
