Nebraska is losing its best and brightest. Here's how we bring them home.

Economic development determines whether companies can hire, wages grow, and people can build careers without leaving the communities they call home. In Nebraska, families and employers feel this daily. Young professionals graduate from our universities hoping to stay, only to leave for Denver, Austin, or Minneapolis because career pathways here remain too limited. The cost of inaction is already visible.

I have spent more than three decades working at the intersection of national security, healthcare, and government, integrating complex systems across the Pentagon, the U.S. Senate, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. When leaders align resources and act decisively, results follow. When systems remain fragmented, talent leaves. Nebraska is at that crossroads.

Brain drain is not unique to our state, but its effects here are accelerating. When high-skill jobs fail to cluster and systems do not connect, people move where opportunity does. A recent Greater Omaha Chamber report citing an Aksarben Foundation study found that if Omaha and Lincoln had kept pace with comparable metropolitan regions, Nebraska would have nearly 70,000 more jobs today and billions more in wages.

Successful regions deliberately align education, workforce development, research, infrastructure, and capital around industries with sustained demand. Nebraska has invested in many of the right components, but too often those investments operate in silos rather than as a coordinated system.

Consider what Nebraska already has. The state anchors national security missions at U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, supported by applied research from the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska.

Nebraska brings nationally recognized health security and preparedness capacity through the Global Center for Health Security and UNMC, while Creighton and Bellevue strengthen workforce development and applied research. These assets are reinforced by a globally significant agricultural economy, critical land and water systems, and major logistics and transportation networks. Together, they form the backbone of a security-driven economic ecosystem that lacks alignment.

That insight led me to refine an earlier concept into a framework now called SHIELD, built around Security, Health, Infrastructure, Energy, and Land Defense. SHIELD is not a new bureaucracy. It is a disciplined way to align existing strengths so they reinforce one another rather than operate independently.

National security extends beyond defense installations to include cybersecurity, supply chains, and data resilience. Health includes preparedness, biosecurity, and healthcare workforce readiness. Infrastructure and energy underpin reliability and growth. Land Defense elevates agriculture to the national security table as a core strategic asset.

Nebraska is already seeing what alignment can accomplish. Project NExT, led by UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, strengthens national health security and disaster preparedness while expanding research, clinical capacity, and workforce training. Selected by the federal government as a regional health security hub, the initiative is projected to generate $7.6 billion in total economic impact in Nebraska through 2030.

Applying SHIELD more broadly, a focused Nebraska pilot could support 2,000 to 4,000 direct jobs initially, scaling to 6,000 to 10,000 direct jobs statewide across research, healthcare, logistics, advanced manufacturing, and agriculture-adjacent industries. This growth translates into billions of dollars in cumulative economic activity while creating career pathways that keep talent here. Importantly, this can be done using existing federal authorities, including the National Defense Authorization Act, to drive applied innovation, industrial-base resilience, and workforce development tied to national security missions.

Funding follows the same logic. SHIELD does not create a new entitlement or an open-ended spending program. It aligns existing federal investments and requires state and private-sector participation, ensuring shared risk and a clear return on investment measured in jobs, wages, and economic development before expansion.

Throughout my career, I have delivered results at scale, from building medical training pipelines as a Naval Officer to leading systems integration and reform across the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. That experience matters because SHIELD will only succeed through leadership and collaboration. Making it real requires working with Nebraska’s congressional delegation, universities, healthcare systems, and business community. Economic resilience and national security are not partisan projects. I welcome continued discussion with the Aksarben Foundation, Nebraska Forward, and local Chambers of Commerce.

Nebraska has always been a builder. We built the transcontinental railroad, we feed the world, and we anchor America’s nuclear deterrent. The question now is whether we will align what we already have and execute at scale to build an economy that keeps talent, strengthens security, and creates opportunity for the next generation.

A detailed business plan outlining SHIELD’s implementation in Nebraska is available at kishlaforcongress.com/issues/growing-nebraskas-economy.

Kishla Askins is a retired U.S. Navy (Mustang) officer, healthcare provider and national security professional. She is a congressional candidate for Nebraska’s 2nd District.

https://omaha.com/opinion/column/article_7e7a07bf-6a40-442c-a6d9-ea0ffe90111f.html