Montreat College President Dr. Paul J. Maurer spoke on the first day of the 31st Parliamentary Intelligence–Security Forum, held in the U.S. Senate hearing rooms on December 9, 2025. His remarks centered on The Code of Honor: Embracing Ethics in Cybersecurity, highlighting the crucial role of ethical decision-making and principled leadership in confronting today’s most pressing global economic and security threat.
“The United States National Security Agency (NSA) has deemed the teaching of ethics a requirement for all the CAE (Centers of Academic Excellence) institutions across the country,” he noted. “They have long understood that technical expertise is not enough.”
The Code of Honor, whose creation was requested and grant-funded by the NSA, is also the tool the NSA provides to the nearly 500 colleges and universities designated as CAE institutions.
This year’s forum drew approximately 200 in-person participants, with an additional 4,000 viewers joining via livestream. Representatives came from 70 nations, reflecting the forum’s continued growth and global reach. This marks the 11th Forum held in Washington, D.C., and the fourth international forum hosted in 2025. Since its founding, the Parliamentary Intelligence–Security Forum has convened more than 4,000 parliamentarians from approximately 130 countries.
Widely regarded as the leading international platform for collaboration on security and intelligence, the Forum brings together parliamentarians, government officials, and subject experts to strengthen global understanding of emerging threats and develop actionable strategies to counter them.
During his address, Dr. Maurer emphasized the inseparable link between moral integrity and cybersecurity, noting that technological solutions alone cannot safeguard nations.
“You must have well-trained people,” he said in reference to his book co-written by leading cybersecurity expert Ed Skoudis. “In other words, we do not believe that artificial intelligence is here to save the day on cybersecurity. We believe that artificial intelligence will complicate cybersecurity as much as it will help cybersecurity.”
Montreat College continues to be recognized for its leadership in character formation, ethics, cybersecurity education, and workforce development, making Dr. Maurer’s participation a meaningful contribution to the global conversation.
“Having come here (to D.C.) for a decade and engaging in these conversations, I can tell you that the alert level is very high on cybersecurity,” he said. “It became clear very early on that the days of the Cold War nuclear threat being the major security threat of our time were long over. It’s not about nuclear war; it’s about cybersecurity.”
The full recording of President Maurer’s address is available to view on YouTube.