New Data Solutions for the China S&T Challenge

About the Workshop

On Wednesday, May 19 and Thursday, May 20 at 8am EDT, join us for a two-day online workshop hosted by Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center's Intelligence Project, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Innovation Initiative, and The Center for Advanced Defense Studies. 

The last decade has seen dramatic alterations in the international security environment. China is seeking to dominate emergent technologies and gain advantage over the traditional liberal economies through both rapid development of domestic innovation eco-systems and large scale, organized networks for licit and illicit acquisition of foreign technologies.  Activities by state and non-state actors across the world’s digitized infrastructure produce ever increasing volumes of data, which can be collected, interpreted and acted upon.

Traditional intelligence collection paradigms are ill-configured for a borderless, digital age.  Understanding the nature and scale of competition with China will require data collection sensors, advanced analytical tools, and data-literate analysts. It will demand innovative partnerships between industry, academia and government.

This two-day conference will bring together practitioners from academia, industry, government, and civil society for the first time to begin charting concrete solutions to problems hindering the adoption of data into defense and intelligence awareness.

Agenda

Schedule

Day 1: The China S&T Problem

Wednesday, May 19th

Day 2 : The New Age Solutions

Wednesday, May 20th

Speakers

Jason Arterburn, Director for Counterproliferation, C4ADS

Jason is Program Director for Counterproliferation at C4ADS, where he leads a team in using open source data to expose and investigate national security threats in China, North Korea, Iran, Russia, and Pakistan. Jason has testified to the U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission on the role of publicly available data in addressing threats from China. His analysis has also been cited by the Congressional Executive Commission on China and the United Nations Panel of Experts on North Korea, and has appeared in front page stories in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Jason earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and interdisciplinary security studies from the University of Alabama, where he was awarded the Harry S. Truman and David L. Boren Scholarships, and a master’s degree in China studies from Peking University, where he was a Yenching Scholar. Prior to C4ADS, Jason studied at Tsinghua University as a Blakemore Freeman Fellow in the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies. He speaks Mandarin.

Rob Bassett Cross, Founder & CEO, Adarga

Rob is Founder and CEO of Adarga. He is a former British Army officer, widely respected as one of the leading military officers of his generation and who fulfilled some of the most demanding and sensitive appointments during his service as a commander on combat operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. After his military career, Rob joined J.P. Morgan as an investment banker. Rob founded Adarga in 2016 to apply cutting-edge AI analytics technology to solve complex, real-world problems in defence and other sectors. Rob holds a degree in Law (LLB (Hons.)) from Exeter University.

Thomas Ewing, Chief of Analysis, C4ADS

Tom received undergraduate degrees in International Relations and Russian from the University of Iowa and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was President of the National Security Law Association. Before law school, he worked for two years as an analyst at C4ADS, where his work was briefed in front of senior audiences at the Departments of Defense, State, and Treasury, in addition to private sector audiences. He speaks Russian, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, and has worked in the US government, for international law firms, and in private sector due diligence.

The Honorable Sue Gordon, Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence 

Susan M. (Sue) Gordon was the fifth Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (PDDNI) at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) from August 2017 to August 2019. With more than three decades of experience in the IC, Sue has served in a variety of leadership roles spanning numerous intelligence organizations and disciplines.

As PDDNI, Sue was a key advisor to the President and National Security Council and led the 17-member Intelligence Community. In this role she managed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and focused on advancing intelligence integration across the Intelligence Community. 

From 2015-2017, she was Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) where she drove NGA’s transformation to meet the challenges of a 21st century intelligence agency.

Before joining the NGA, she served for 27 years at the Central Intelligence Agency, rising to senior executive positions in each of the Agency’s four directorates: operations, analysis, science and technology, and support. In 1998, she designed and drove the formation of In-Q-Tel, a private, non-profit company whose primary purpose is to deliver innovative technology solutions for the agency and the IC. 

She is the recipient of numerous government and industry awards, including the Distinguished Intelligence Medal and the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award. Sue earned a Bachelor of Science from Duke University. A trusted authority on strategy, innovation and leadership, Sue is currently a consultant on global risk, technology, cyber and space issues and a member of the Board at Pallas Advisors, a Washington D.C.-based consultancy.

William Hannas, Lead Analyst, Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology

William Hannas is Lead Analyst at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Prior to joining the Center, Bill was a member of the Senior Intelligence Service at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as an executive expert for advanced technical projects, and was a three-time recipient of the McCone Award for technological innovation. Bill was an Assistant Professor of Chinese at Georgetown, where he taught Chinese and Korean, and concurrently served with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service, monitoring Asian language publications. He began his career with the US Navy, serving on submarines and as a cryptanalyst of foreign codes and ciphers.

Bill holds a B.A. in Chinese and Russian history from Temple University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago in Chinese language, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in East Asian languages and linguistics. Between degrees Bill studied and taught at Yonsei University in Seoul and National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, and served with the Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. Bill is the author of Asia’s Orthographic Dilemma (1997), The Writing on the Wall: How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity (2003), and primary author of Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernization (2013).

Yasheng Huang, Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and Faculty Director of Action Learning, MIT Sloan School of Management

Yasheng Huang is the Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management and Faculty Director of Action Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Between 2013 and 2017, he served as an Associate Dean in charge of MIT Sloan’s global partnership programs and its action learning initiatives. His previous appointments include faculty positions at the University of Michigan and at Harvard Business School.

Huang is currently involved in research projects in four broad areas: 1) a book project titled The Nature of the Chinese State, 2) collaboration with researchers at Tsinghua University to create a complete database on historical technological inventions in China, 3) as a co-PI in “Food Safety in China: A Systematic Risk Management Approach” (supported by Walmart Foundation, 2016-on), and 4) research on venture finance, production of scientific knowledge, work of the future in China. He has published numerous articles in academic journals and in media and 11 books in English and Chinese.

At MIT Sloan, Huang founded and directs China Lab and India Lab, which have provided low-cost consulting services to over 360 small and medium enterprises in China and India. Between 2015 and 2018, he ran a program in Yunnan province to train small and medium women entrepreneurs (funded by Goldman Sachs Foundation). He has held or received prestigious fellowships such as the National Fellowship at Stanford University and the Social Science Research Council-MacArthur Fellowship. He was named by the National Asia Research Program as one of the most outstanding scholars in the United States conducting research on issues of policy importance to the United States. He is or has been a Fellow at the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University, a Research Fellow at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, a Fellow at William Davidson Institute at Michigan Business School, and a World Economic Forum Fellow. He has served as a consultant at World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and OECD and is serving on a number of advisory and corporate boards of non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Ellen E. McCarthy, Former Assistant Secretary, Intelligence and Research (INR)

Ellen E. McCarthy was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn in on January 17, 2019. In this role she led a five-year strategy (INR 2025) that focused on enhanced intelligence integration with policy with a focus on increased open-source intelligence production, introduction of business analytics by deploying a state-of-the-art content management system, creation of an emerging technology office, Department leadership on implementation of the Geospatial Data Act, introduction of the Cloud, leveraging existing intelligence authorities to enhance investment in people, dollars and requirements.

Ms. McCarthy returned to government service after three years in the private sector, where she served as President of Noblis NSP, leading its mission to serve clients in the Intelligence Community (IC). Before joining Noblis, from 2015 to 2018, she capped an over 25-year career in the IC serving as Chief Operating Officer of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. From 2008 to 2012 she served as the President of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA), which supports government policy and programs relating to cyber security, counter intelligence, acquisition, and homeland security. From 2004 to 2008, Ms. McCarthy was the Director of the Human Capital Management Office and the Acting Director of Security and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)). At DoD, she focused on policy development and strategy relating to intelligence reform, resource management, acquisitions, collection authorities, and personnel. Ms. McCarthy also served the Director of Intelligence Operations, Strategy, and Policy for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and played a critical role in moving the USCG intelligence program into the IC, establishing Maritime Intelligence Fusion Centers, expanding USCG attaché presence worldwide, and establishing new intelligence and law enforcement collection capabilities.

Ms. McCarthy started her government career as an all source intelligence analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence and at Atlantic Fleet. Before joining the IC, she served as a technical research analyst at the Institute for Defense Analysis supporting the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. Ms. McCarthy is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland.

Carmen Medina, Former Deputy Director of Intelligence, CIA

Carmen, a retired Senior Federal Executive with 32 years’ experience in the Intelligence Community, is a recognized national and international expert on intelligence analysis, strategic thinking, diversity of thought, and innovation and intrapreneurs in the public sector. She is the co-author of the book: Rebels At Work: A Handbook for Leading Change from Within and of the landmark Deloitte University Press paper on Diversity’s New Fronter: Diversity of Thought and the Future of the Workplace. Her story as a heretic and change agent at CIA is featured in Wharton School professor Adam Grant’s bestseller Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

Some of her most recent presentations include speaking at South by Southwest 2018 on The Mediocrity Trap and on Critical Thinking at SXSW 2017, to Canadian Federal senior executives about Diversity of Thought and Rebel Thinking 2018, to the California STEM Education conference 2017, at the Business Innovation Factory 2017, and multiple times at GovLoop’s NextGen Leadership summit.

From 2005-2007 Carmen was part of the executive team that led the CIA’s Analysis Directorate; in her last assignment before retiring she oversaw the CIA’s Lessons Learned program and led the Agency’s first efforts to address the challenges posed by social networks, digital ubiquity, and the emerging culture of collaboration. She was a leader on diversity issues at the CIA, serving on equity boards at all organizational levels and across Directorates. She was the first CIA executive to conceptualize many IT applications now used by analysts, including blogs, online production, collaborative tools, and Intellipedia, a project she personally greenlighted; as a senior executive, she began using in 2005 social networking and blogs to reach her diverse workforce. Upon her retirement from CIA, she received the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. From 2011—2015, Carmen was a member of Deloitte Federal Consulting where she served as senior advisor and mentor to Deloitte’s flagship innovation program, GovLab.

Carmen describes herself as Puerto Rican by birth and Texan by nationality. She likes to garden and cook things that she has grown. You can follow her on Twitter @milouness and visit her two blogs: recoveringfed.com and rebelsatwork.com.

Dr. Fiona Murray, Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion, MIT Sloan School of Management

Fiona Murray is the Associate Dean for Innovation and Inclusion at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the William Porter (1967) Professor of Entrepreneurship, and an associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. She is also the co-director of MIT’s Innovation Initiative.  

She serves on the British Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology and has been awarded a CBE for her services to innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK.

Murray is an international expert on the transformation of investments in scientific and technical innovation into innovation-based entrepreneurship that drives jobs, wealth creation, and regional prosperity. She has a special interest in the commercialization of science from idea to impact and the mechanisms that can be effectively used to link universities with entrepreneurs, large corporations, and philanthropists in that process. 

Through her leadership role in the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, Murray engages many global regions in designing and evaluating the policies and programs that shape vibrant innovation ecosystems: prizes competitions, accelerators, and proof of concept funding programs. She is particularly interested in new organizational arrangements for the effective commercialization of science, including public-private partnerships and patient capital/venture philanthropy.

In her recent scholarship and writing, Murray has emphasized the ways in which women and under-represented minorities are engaged in innovation ecosystem, and the ways in which different approaches to evaluating early-stage ideas can overcome the unconscious bias that she has documented in entrepreneurial funding. Her work is widely published in a range of journals, including Science, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, American Journal of Sociology, Research Policy, Organization Science, and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

She brings her deep appreciation of R&D to an understanding of global innovation economy and to the ways in which the next generation of global innovators should be educated. She teaches IDEA Week (Innovation-driven Entrepreneurial Advantage) to the MIT Sloan Executive MBAs and recently started the REAL course – Regional Entrepreneurial Acceleration Lab – which gives students practical and academic insights into the design and development of innovation ecosystems around the world.  These courses encourage cross-campus collaborations that move scientific discoveries closer towards marketable products and allow for students from different stakeholder perspectives to understand the broader ecosystem. She also has a particular interest in the entrepreneurial education of scientists and engineers, and in the role of women in entrepreneurship.

Murray received her BA ’89 and MA ‘90 from the University of Oxford in Chemistry. She subsequently moved to the United States and earned an AM ’92 and PhD ’96 from Harvard University in applied sciences

Matthew P. Pelligrino, Director of the Illicit Finance Fusion Cell, U.S. Department of Treasury

Matthew P. Pelligrino is the Director of the Illicit Finance Fusion Cell, an interagency task force established in 2018 to leverage publicly available commercial and corporate records and advanced data analytics to inform illicit finance policy. He is also serving as the Acting Director for Europe and Eurasia within the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes. He has more than 14 years of service across the intelligence, diplomatic, and policy arms of the Treasury Department. From 2015-2019, Mr. Pelligrino served as the senior Treasury Department official in the Middle East as the Financial Attaché to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Yemen based at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Matt began his tenure as Financial Attaché in early May 2015 after serving nine years in the Treasury’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Treasury’s Intelligence Community component, where he served as a senior analyst working on ISIS, al-Qaida, and Hizballah from 2006-2015.

Anna Puglisi, Senior Fellow, Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology

Anna Puglisi is a Senior Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Previously she served as the National Counterintelligence Officer for East Asia, advising senior U.S. and foreign government officials at the highest levels, academia and the private sector on counterintelligence (CI) issues. She played a prominent role in drafting the recently released U.S. National Counterintelligence Strategy, and in designing mitigation strategies for both the public and private sectors to protect technology. As a member of the Senior Analytic Service, she developed multidisciplinary efforts to understand global technology developments and their impact on U.S. competitiveness and national security, as well as efforts to target U.S. technology. Anna also started a government-wide working group looking at developments in biological sciences and has worked on several bio-security issues. She has received numerous awards including the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence. Anna holds an MPA, an MS in environmental science and a BA in Biology with honors, all from Indiana University. She studied at the Princeton in Beijing Chinese language school and was a visiting scholar in Nankai University’s Department of Economics, where she studied China’s S&T policies, infrastructure development and university reforms. She is a co-author of the 2013 study Chinese Industrial Espionage, the first book-length treatment of the topic, as well as countless related proprietary studies.

The Honorable Mike Rogers, Former Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

Mike Rogers is a former member of Congress representing Michigan's Eighth Congressional District, officer in the U.S. Army, and FBI special agent. He is a highly sought-after expert on national security issues, intelligence affairs, and cybersecurity policy. He advises multiple boards and academic institutions, working to enhance America’s strength and security.

Rogers built a legacy as a tireless and effective leader on counterterrorism, intelligence and national security policy from his years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he chaired the powerful House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).

As chairman of HPSCI, he authorized and oversaw a budget of $70 billion that funded the nation's 17 intelligence agencies. In Congress Rogers was–and remains–a prominent leader on cybersecurity. During his tenure he shepherded multiple cybersecurity bills through the legislative process, greatly enhancing America’s cybersecurity posture.

In Congress, Rogers worked across the aisle with two presidents, Congressional leadership, countless diplomats, military service members, and intelligence professionals to ensure the brave men and women who fight for our nation are equipped with the resources necessary to get the job done. Washington Post columnist David Ignatius remarked, Mike was "a rare example of bipartisanship."

He founded the Mike Rogers Center for Intelligence & Global Affairs, within the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. In addition to his appointment as a Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center, he is a Distinguished Fellow and member of the Board of Trustees at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute, and a member of the Advisory Board for George Mason University’s National Security and Law Policy Institute.

A regular CNN national security commentator, Rogers hosts CNN’s “Declassified” and regularly contributes to major print outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Rogers is a 1985 graduate of Adrian College. He is married to Kristi Rogers and has two children.

Laura Thomas, Senior Director of National Security Solutions, ColdQuanta

Laura Thomas is the Senior Director of National Security Solutions for quantum sensing and computing company ColdQuanta. She is a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and Chief of Base who built and led sensitive programs at CIA Headquarters and abroad in multiple, international assignments. She has served over 16 years in national security and leadership roles, working extensively across the U.S. intelligence community, National Security Council, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Congress, and with foreign partners.

Matthew Turpin, Former Director to China, U.S. National Security Council

Matt Turpin is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution specializing in U.S. policy towards the People’s Republic of China, economic statecraft and technology innovation.  He is also a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies.

From 2018 to 2019, Turpin served as the U.S. National Security Council’s Director for China and the Senior Advisor on China to the Secretary of Commerce.  In those roles, he was responsible for managing the interagency effort to develop and implement U.S. Government policies on the People’s Republic of China. 

Before entering the White House, Turpin served over 22 years in the U.S. Army in a variety of combat units in the United States, Europe and the Middle East and as an assistant professor of history at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  He retired from the Army in 2017.

From 2013 to 2017, he served as an advisor on the People’s Republic of China to the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Pentagon and was assigned to assist the Deputy Secretary of Defense with the Defense Innovation Initiative, a program to examine the implications of great power competition on the Department of Defense and the role of innovation in U.S. defense policy.

From 2010 to 2013, Turpin was the Chief of Crisis Planning at the United States Pacific Command in Honolulu.  There he assisted in the planning and implementation of policies and operations for America’s largest Combatant Command.

Turpin has a MA in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

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Contact

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