Keynote Speaker · ITAR

ITAR Keynote Speaker for Defense, Aerospace, and Export Control Audiences

For organizations where a single ITAR misstep means seven-figure penalties — defense manufacturers, aerospace suppliers, and the trade compliance professionals who keep them out of trouble.

Years

200+

Assessments

Keynotes

Books Published

Why Carl for Your ITAR Audience

ITAR violations are rarely intentional. They happen because a foreign-national engineer touched a CAD file in a shared cloud drive, because a vendor email got auto-forwarded to the wrong address, because someone assumed an article was EAR rather than USML. The penalties don't care about intent. The consequences — debarment, civil and criminal exposure, customer flight — can take years to recover from.

Carl B. Johnson has spent 30 years inside the regulations that govern defense data and export-controlled information. He is the author of ITAR and Export Controls Fundamentals: A Guide for Compliance Managers and ITAR Compliance Made Easy: A Practical Guide to Program Development, and leads ITAR engagements at Cleared Systems for defense suppliers, aerospace manufacturers, and technology companies handling technical data subject to export jurisdiction.

For trade compliance summits, defense manufacturer events, and aerospace industry conferences, Carl delivers ITAR content that's actually grounded in practice — not the abstract regulatory framework, but how violations happen in real organizations and what works to prevent them.

Available Sessions on ITAR and Export Controls

Signature Keynote

ITAR & Export Controls for Modern Businesses

How ITAR and export controls actually apply in modern business environments — cloud systems, remote workforces, foreign person access, joint ventures, and the digital infrastructure that didn't exist when the regulations were written. The session walks through the violation patterns Carl sees most often, the failure modes leadership rarely thinks about, and the program-level controls that actually prevent unintentional violations.

Best forTrade compliance summits, defense manufacturer events, aerospace industry conferences Duration45–90 minutes

Executive Briefing

ITAR for the C-Suite: What Leadership Needs to Own

Focused briefing for executives, boards, and senior leadership at defense suppliers and aerospace organizations. Covers the personal liability exposure for executives, the questions leadership should be asking the trade compliance function, and the governance patterns that distinguish organizations that handle ITAR well from those that find out their program failed during an enforcement action.

Best forDefense supplier executive teams, aerospace company boards, technology executives in regulated sectors Duration20–30 minutes plus Q&A

Workshop

Building an ITAR Compliance Program That Actually Works

Hands-on session for trade compliance professionals, export control officers, and the IT leadership responsible for the systems that touch technical data. Covers program structure, classification methodology, foreign-person identification and tracking, IT controls for technical data, deemed-export risk management, and the recordkeeping practices that survive audit.

Best forTrade compliance professionals, export control officers, security and IT leadership in regulated industries Duration3–4 hours

Download the One-Sheet

Get a printable, shareable PDF of this topic — perfect for circulating to your event committee or program chair. Includes the same sessions, audience profile, and FAQs as this page in a 2-page format.

Download ITAR Keynote Speaker One-Sheet

Who This Is For

Audiences in the defense, aerospace, and export-controlled technology sectors where ITAR exposure is a real and ongoing operational risk.

Trade compliance and export control summits
Defense manufacturer industry events
Aerospace and space industry conferences
Technology companies handling defense articles
Export control officer professional associations
Defense industrial base events
International business and trade conferences
University research compliance forums

What Audiences Walk Away With

A clear understanding of how ITAR jurisdiction is determined — and the common scoping mistakes that create exposure
The specific failure patterns most organizations don't realize they have
Practical guidance on managing foreign person access in modern hybrid work environments
The IT and cloud architecture decisions that protect technical data from inadvertent export
The recordkeeping and program-documentation practices that hold up in an enforcement action
The questions executives should be asking their trade compliance function this quarter

Questions Defense and Trade Compliance Organizers Ask

Is the content current with the latest ITAR amendments?

Yes. Carl runs active ITAR engagements every week and rebuilds the content for each event to reflect current DDTC guidance, recent enforcement actions, and the practical interpretation patterns emerging from current cases.

Can the talk cover both ITAR and EAR?

Yes. Most organizations face dual jurisdiction questions, and the line between USML and CCL is often where misclassification creates the most exposure. The signature keynote can include EAR coverage, especially for audiences serving dual-use technology companies.

Our audience includes a lot of IT and cloud architects, not just trade compliance. Will the content land?

Yes. The intersection of cloud architecture and ITAR is a major focus area for Carl — how to architect Microsoft GCC and GCC High environments for ITAR data, the foreign-person access controls that have to be enforced at the platform level, and the cloud governance patterns that prevent accidental export. The IT-architect audience is one of the most engaged.

Does Carl cover deemed-export issues?

Yes. Deemed-export risk is one of the most under-managed areas of ITAR compliance, especially for organizations with diverse engineering teams. The keynote and workshop both address how to identify deemed-export exposure, what licenses or exemptions may apply, and the practical controls that prevent unintentional disclosures.

Can Carl tailor the talk for university or research-institution audiences?

Yes. University export control is its own subdomain — fundamental research exclusions, foreign student and visiting scholar access, the FRE-equivalent considerations for sponsored research. Carl can build an academic-research-specific version of the keynote.

How much time does Carl need for pre-event prep on a custom audience?

A 30 to 45-minute call with the program chair is typical, sometimes a follow-up call with a subject matter lead from the host organization. Carl uses that time to align on the specific audience pain points and the kinds of examples that will resonate.