This post was written by Hatchet reporters Joseph Konig, Anthony Tusino, Danielle Mahar, Sera Royal and Liam Wash.

At a day-long C.I.A. conference, leaders from the agency gathered in Lisner Auditorium to discuss some of the biggest topics for the agency, including cyber security breaches, transparency in the C.I.A. and global crises.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Cyber security scandals

The first panel of the day-long event tackled headlines on cyber security breaches, led by PBS NewsHour’s Gwen Ifill.

Ifill first addressed the recent hack of C.I.A. Director John Brennan’s AOL email account by a party authorities still haven’t been able to identify.

Brennan said the breach of his own account signals the serious threat of cyber attacks.

“It just goes to show how vulnerable people are to people who want to cause harm,” Brennan said. “It is just a reality of the 21st century.”

The panel also discussed Edward Snowden, who infamously leaked classified information on National Security Agency surveillance programs to journalists in 2013.

NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers said Snowden is the type of person who “decided that they have a fundamental disagreement and decided the answer is to steal.”

2. Clapper: Changing times present difficult challenges

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper spoke on how advances in technology and increases in demands for transparency have hindered the intelligence community.

Clapper was sharply critical of what he called “the Snowden revelations,” or the release of NSA documents by Snowden.

“The American public expects us to talk about what we are doing,” Clapper said. “The American public will discuss our work whether we participate or not.”

Clapper continued to stress the importance of intelligence work while noting the public’s concerns.

“Intelligence helps keep our nation safe and secure,” Clapper said, but added that demands for transparency can compromise national security and that the intelligence community is “worthy of American’s trust.”

3. Bridging centuries

Kenneth Weinstein, the former Homeland Security adviser for the White House, moderated the next panel about bringing together 20th century law and 21st century intelligence.

Weinstein asked about the C.I.A.’s existing legal structure and if possible updates were needed.

“The current legal regime we have works quite well for the C.I.A.,” said Caroline Krass, the general counsel for the C.I.A.

Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, said Congress had “pretty fabulous” oversight over the actions of the C.I.A.

“I do believe the intelligence community operates under a remarkable oversight,” Wittes said. “The public does not trust these oversight mechanisms.”

4. Looking toward the future

Another panel, moderated by Mike Vickers, the former undersecretary of defense for intelligence, looked forward at how the C.I.A. will take advantage of new technology.

The panel began with a discussion of the adaptations that both the intelligence officers working in the field and at headquarters will have to make in order to function the best way possible.

“The next generation intelligence officer has to understand the day-to-day, understand these social norms and these business behaviors at a much deeper level, and they need to be able to do it at speed,” Glenn Gaffney, the associate director for talent at the C.I.A, said.

Looking towards the future and a more modernized agency, with a millennial generation at its core, Vickers asked how the C.I.A would approach becoming wireless, even with obvious security concerns.

“You bet we’re going to get there,” Andrew Hallman, the deputy director of digital innovation, said. “But I think we just have to be honest with the workforce about how difficult this is given the security requirements and the counterintelligence risks.”

5. The Syrian crisis

David Ignatius, an author and journalist for The Washington Post, ended the conference leading a discussion revolving around world crisis and political action.

Brennan began by noting that Russia’s involvement in Syria marked their first presence outside of their borders in decades, a turning point in their foreign policy.

“They had to strengthen Assad before infact he could be moved out,” Brennan said. “And despite what they say, I don’t think the Russians see Assad in Syria’s future.”

Brennan said that today, non-state enemies have sophisticated use of social media, operations security, and encryption.

“Our capabilities to collect information has increased significantly – exponentially – since 9/11, our ability though to process, store, handle, and disseminate that information is a challenge because it is just much more voluminous than before,” Brennan said.