• Day 3 included a keynote from Travis Mills as resilience emerged as the day’s defining theme.

Atlanta, GA (17 September 2026)—ASIS International, the world’s largest association for security management professionals, honored the men and women who serve and protect at Military and Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (MLEAD) during the final day of Global Security Exchange (GSX) to 2026 in Atlanta. As part of the day’s programming, active-duty and retired law enforcement, military personnel, and first responders received a free one-day pass to attend the show.

Wednesday opened with the MLEAD Breakfast, sponsored by Protos Security, bringing together representatives from the Atlanta Police Department and Robins Air Force Base. On behalf of the security industry, ASIS International thanks these men and women for their unwavering commitment to keeping our communities safe.

Wednesday’s general session, also sponsored by Protos Security, featured a keynote from Travis Mills, Retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant and Quadruple Amputee, titled “Lasting Leadership Lessons from the World’s Second Oldest Profession.” Mills was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) during his third tour in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division, becoming one of only five quadruple amputees to survive their injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He shared how the support he received from family, medical professionals, and fellow soldiers inspired his mission to help other severely injured veterans and first responders.

Mills and his wife, Kelsey, founded the Travis Mills Foundation, which provides aid to post-9/11 veterans and their families. Reflecting on his recovery, Mills said, “I need to make the most out of what I have left of my life because of their sacrifice and their families’ sacrifice.”

His message resonated with security professionals: staying clear-headed under pressure, making sound decisions amid uncertainty, and building the mental toughness high-stress environments demand.

Elsewhere on the agenda, the Game Changer session “On a Knife’s Edge: How Today’s Targeted Violence Changes Threat Assessments” explored the trends and data driving today’s surge in political, ideological, and targeted violence, equipping security leaders with practical strategies to distinguish real risk from perceived risk and adjust their organization’s threat posture accordingly. The session offered attendees actionable guidance for applying current threat intelligence to organizational assessments and communicating priorities effectively to leadership and stakeholders.

Resilience, organizational and individual, emerged as the day’s throughline. Sessions on advancing security operations and technology-driven physical security models showed how security teams are engineering resilience into their programs, while career-focused sessions made the case that nonlinear paths and cross-sector experience build resilience in security professionals themselves.