National Security and Emerging Tech

Constant cyber warfare, espionage, and theft of intellectual property are central instruments of statecraft for nation-states globally. Every geopolitical era has a central asset or idea that is being competed over and today, we are competing over emerging technology. The most valuable geopolitical assets today are intellectual property, source code, and data. Nations go to war to protect their interests and today national interests surround the development, operation, and economy of emerging technologies. In this course, we will discuss the impacts of artificial intelligence, quantum information science, space, and telecommunications on geopolitical decision making. We will do hands-on exercises on cyber intellectual property theft and hold mock National Security Council meetings to demonstrate how the policies that drive our national priorities are created. Students should expect to learn the policy and national security implications of critical emerging technologies, how those technologies are under threat from non-traditional and espionage collection, and how policy is made to confront those risks.