Cyber and Tech Center

VISION

The NSI Cyber and Technology Center (CTC) will take on and expand NSI’s current efforts to promote American leadership in technology innovation and engage with policymakers on critical issues at the intersection of technology and national security.

CORE PHILOSOPHY

America’s long-standing role as the world’s technology leader has enabled it to cement its role as an economic and political leader as well. To maintain its global leadership, the U.S. should continue to promote rapid innovation and economic growth domestically, and create effective capabilities to protect and defend the U.S. and allied economic base.

NSI’s CTC’s mission is to promote – through dialogue with experts, engagement with policymakers, and cutting-edge research – American technology leadership and to tackle critical innovation, cyber, and emerging technology challenges.

FOCUS AREAS

NSI CTC will focus on six critical issue areas and address new areas as they arise:

Tech innovation and economic and national security
Collective and collaborative cyber defense
Blockchain innovation and national security
Emerging tech and national security
Evolving cyber threat environment
Growing the U.S. tech workforce

PUBLICATIONS

LAW AND POLICY PAPERS

June 10, 2021
Zach Graves
Understanding the Techlash: Implications for U.S. Innovation Policy

December 10, 2020
Megan Brown
Promoting 5G and Future Technology Development by Supporting Global Standards

September 18, 2020
Dr. Craig J. Wiener, Kristen R. Hajduk, and Gregory S. Witt
Military in Space: The Next Frontier

July 29, 2020
Megan Brown and Andrea Little Limbago
Techlash and National Security: The Need for U.S. Leadership on Privacy and Security.

March 18, 2020
Andy Keiser
The Race to 5G: Securing the Win

January 24, 2019
Andy Keiser and Bryan Smith
Chinese Telecommunications Companies Huawei and ZTE: Countering a Hostile Foreign Threat

December 16, 2020
Matthew F. Ferraro
Decoding Deepfakes

December 2, 2020
Lori Gordon and Bryan Smith
Beyond GPS: The Frontier of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services

COMMENTARY

China is Edging Out the U.S. Military’s Advantage on Tech, by CTC Fellow Mark Montgomery, in The Hill.
Quantum Computing and a New Age of Espionage, an interview of CTC Fellow JC Herz, by TechCrunch
Software Supply Chain Attacks, an article which quoted CTC Council Philip Reitinger, for Local SYR.
Generative AI: Balancing security with innovation by CTC Council member Shaun Khaulfan, for CIO .
State of Cybersecurity Posture: The Overarching Problem Is Scale by CTC Council Member Philip Reitinger, for Homeland Security Today.

PAST EVENTS

Innovation Race: U.S. Public and Private Efforts to Outpace China

5G to 6G: International Perspectives on US Spectrum Leadership and National Security

US-EU Tech Partnership: Promoting Values Abroad and Enhancing Trade, Security, and Economic Prosperity

National Cybersecurity Strategy Pillar II: Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Actors

Countering Chinese Global Tech Ambitions: U.S.-EU Partnership in Smart Innovation

LAUNCH EVENTS

Official Launch: NSI Cyber and Tech Center

Extending Cyber Defense Across America: Lessons Learned from ‘Shields Up’ at the Regional, State, and Local Level

Assessing “Shields Up”: Public-Private Cooperation on Domestic Cyber Defense

Protecting Ukraine: Public-Private Defense of Allies Abroad

FAULT LINES SUMMER SERIES ON AI

Fault Lines, the National Security Institute’s flagship podcast, produced a summer series on AI, Breaking Barriers: Understanding the AI Revolution, hosting a number of amazing guests who touched on different aspects of AI, including scientific advancements, policy development, and potential regulation. NSI was happy to hear from:

Episode 239 and 240: Dr. Stephen Wolfram, Founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, on the basics and benefits AI and AI policy

Episode 241: Dr. Hany Farid, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, on how AI is leveraged for misinformation and disinformation

Episode 242: Sue Gordon, former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, on AI in the defense sector

Episode 243: Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, on the Biden Administration’s AI initiatives and her assessment of China’s current and future AI capabilities

Episode 244: Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, on whether AI is a net threat or a net opportunity for the Department of Defense

Episode 245: Dr. Charles Clancy, Senior Vice President and Chief Futurist of MITRE and head of MITRE Labs, on where large language models are headed and what sensible AI security looks like

Episode 246: Dr. Gary Marcus, Founder and Executive Chairman of Robust AI, on how to balance ethics and the rise of AI in the private sector and society more broadly

Episode 247: Ylli Bajraktari, President and CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project, on how AI is transforming the battlefield and what is at stake if the U.S. loses the AI race to China

Episode 248: Will Hurd, candidate for the Republican nomination for President, former U.S. Representative for Texas’s 23rd District, and former Board Member for OpenAI, on what Congress has done in the wake of AI and what that means for Americans

Episode 249: Jennifer K. Hay, Director of the Defense Digital Service in the Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Office of the Department of Defense, on how the DOD is responding to and grappling with the AI revolution