To compete and thrive in the 21st century, democracies, and the United States in particular, must develop new national security and economic strategies that address the geopolitics of information. In the 20th century, market capitalist democracies geared infrastructure, energy, trade, and even social policy to protect and advance that era’s key source of power—manufacturing. In this century, democracies must better account for information geopolitics across all dimensions of domestic policy and national strategy.
Rachel Whetstone is VP of Communications at WhatsApp. Before joining WhatsApp she was Senior VP of Public Policy & Communications at Uber (2015 to 2017) and Google (2005 to 2015). Rachel has spent her entire career -- first in the UK and now in the US -- working with politicians and entrepreneurs on communications and public policy issues. A solid “B” at school, she figured out from an early age that if you couldn’t be brilliant … you’d better be competent. Rachel lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two young sons.