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Mission First,
Agoras Always

In ancient Greece, the agora was the public square — where citizens gathered to argue, trade, and decide things together. DEF Agoras are that square, rebuilt for the national security ecosystem. Local chapters where the uniformed, the civil servant, the founder, the investor, the technologist, and the academic sit at the same table. 

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What is an Agora

An Agora is a DEF chapter gathering — informal, local, and recurring. No badges, no read-ahead, no panel. Just operators, entrepreneurs, technologists, and civil servants in the same room, comparing notes on what's actually hard.
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Some conversations end with a drink. Some end with a company, a coalition, or a phone call that saves someone six months. You don't know in advance which one you're walking into. That's the point.

The value is in the mix. Active duty and industry. Primes and startups. Policy and product. The ecosystem's hardest problems live in the seams between these groups, and the seams are exactly where people don't normally meet.​

Connect Locally, Reach Globally

Find the Agora event in your city and show up once. From there, the network doesn't stop at the city limits — from the Afghan evacuation to Ukraine, when something breaks, DEF members are already in it because they knew each other before it happened.

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Find Your Agora — or Start One

Agoras exist because someone decided to convene one. If there's a chapter in your city, show up once — that's the whole ask. If there isn't, connect with us and we'll walk you through what it takes to start one.

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