Vice President Kamala Harris broke more new ground Friday, becoming the first female commencement speaker in the nearly 175-year history of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

In her speech, Harris told the graduates they will be counted on to “mount a modern defense” to the “modern threats” the United States is facing. 

Harris, the first woman and person of color to serve as vice president, said the coronavirus pandemic has shown how interconnected and fragile the world is. 

“Just think, a deadly pandemic can spread throughout the globe in just a matter of months. A gang of hackers can disrupt the fuel supply of a whole seaboard. One country's carbon emissions can threaten the sustainability of the whole earth,” she said. 

“This, Midshipmen, is the era we are in, and it is unlike any era that came before.” 

Harris recalled visiting the USS Scranton off the coast of California as a senator and asking the officers aboard what it takes to protect such a ship from a cyberattack. Their answer, she said: “equipment and experts.”

“Well, the way I see it, Midshipmen, you ... are those experts,” Harris said.

The vice president said foreign adversaries are determined to hack into U.S. military technology, intellectual property, elections and critical infrastructure. She called the ransomware attack that shut down the Colonial gas pipeline for six days earlier this month a “warning shot.”

“We must defend our nation against these threats and, at the same time, we must make advances in things that you’ve been learning — things like quantum computing and artificial intelligence and robotics, and things that will put our nation at a strategic advantage,” Harris said. “And you will be the ones to do it.  You will be the ones to do it because the United States military is the best, the bravest and the most brilliant.”

She also said the graduates would play an important role in combatting climate change. 

“I look at you and I know you are among the experts who will navigate and mitigate this threat,” Harris said. “You are ocean engineers who will help navigate ships through thinning ice. You are mechanical engineers who will help reinforce sinking bases. You are electrical engineers who will soon help convert solar and wind energy into power, convert solar and wind energy into combat power.”

The vice president told the graduating class that on her way to the ceremony she stopped to visit the grave of Sen. John McCain, whom she served with in the Senate. She noted that McCain, who died in 2018, wanted to be buried alongside his Naval Academy classmate and friend Adm. Chuck Larson.

She called it “the ultimate example” of being “in it together.”