Drone Technology and the COVID-19 Crisis

Name: Drone Technology and the COVID-19 Crisis
Start: 2020-05-14T11:00:00-0400
End: 2020-05-14T12:30:00-0400

RSVP Required Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students

The Intelligence Project will host a special event with a panel of experts to discuss how drone technology can and is being used in the COVID-19 crisis. Drone expert Bernard Hudson, Senior Fellow with the Intelligence Project and former Chief of Counterterrorism with the CIA, will moderate a follow-up panel discussion with the presenters and questions from the audience.

This session will be recorded and on-the-record. Priority registration will be given to Harvard students, staff, faculty, fellows, and affiliates. **Advance registration required.**

Date: Thu, May 14, 2020 Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm

In the effort to protect their citizens and find a way to help them return to their daily lives, government leaders and public officials at all levels are grappling to determine what role emerging technologies might play in addressing the COVID-19 crisis. In the case of drones, this technology has been touted as able to disinfect public areas, enforce social distancing, monitor individual temperatures, and assist with contact tracing. But are some of these use cases over-promoted or misunderstood, and have the legal and ethical challenges been adequately addressed?

In this Intelligence Project webinar, former CIA Chief of Counterterrorism Bern Hudson and a panel of industry experts will discuss various ways drones are being used, how they might be employed in the future, and potential trade-offs and costs when considering using this technology. Among specific use cases to be addressed are tasking drones for medical or commercial delivery in support of social distancing, drones used for public health, and drone support to public safety and law enforcement.

Panelist Biographies

Bernard Hudson, CEO, Looking Glass Technology and Former Chief of Counterterrorism, Central Intelligence Agency

Bernard Hudson is a non-resident Fellow at the Belfer Center where he supports the Intelligence Project and the Saudi and Gulf Cooperation Council Security Project. The project explores the breadth and depth of security challenges facing the region and how these states and their allies are responding.

Mr. Hudson is the President of Looking Glass Limited which specializes in drone technology, business applications and equity investing in the same.

Prior to joining the private sector Mr. Hudson served for 28 years as an operations officer in the Central Intelligence Agency. His final position was as Chief of Counterterrorism where he directed all aspects of CIA's global war on terrorism and is a recognized expert on international negotiation, strategic development, crisis management, risk assessment and the Middle East. He served multiple assignments abroad, including three in key leadership positions. During his career he received the National Intelligence Medal of Valor, the Director of CIA’s Award for Excellence, the Intelligence Medal of Merit and the Intelligence Collector of the Year. Mr. Hudson is a US Army veteran.

Christopher Hewlett, UAS and Program Subject Matter Expert, Deloitte US Drone Services

Christopher Hewlett is a retired commander from the US Navy where he had extensive duties in naval aviation both as a pilot and senior manager. He helped design and implement unmanned aerial systems programs for the Department of Defense. Mr. Hewlett founded and runs Deloitte Consulting's UAV advisory services where he works closely with policy makers, drone industry experts and companies seeking to leverage this new technology.

Faine Greenwood, Drone consultant and specialist, with a special focus on humanitarian aid and ethical data

Faine Greenwood conducts research on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and spatial information in humanitarian aid. Greenwood’s work centers in particular on using drone data for disaster response, defining privacy risks posed by the civilian use of drones in disaster, and the use of small drones by non combatants in conflict and complex emergency environments. Greenwood has conducted research on drone technology and disaster response at the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Signal Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, New America, and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, among others. Greenwood is a regular contributor to Slate and Foreign Policy on issues related to drones, data ethics, and disaster.