Cybersecurity & Defense - WestExec Advisors

Bob Work quoted in Bloomberg Government article, “AI Experts Needed to Lead ‘Project Maven’ Move Within DOD”

"The Defense Department’s (DOD) secretive artificial intelligence task force called Project Maven is moving to a new home within the Pentagon’s intelligence and security apparatus. Now Defense officials are looking for an industry partner to manage the transition and provide ongoing support for the program… "Project Maven, formally known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT), was established in 2017 to 'accelerate the DOD’s integration of big data and machine learning,' then-Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work wrote in a memo. Maven’s [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2021-07-20T19:52:13-04:00June 1, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Bob Work writes in War on the Rocks: “AI and Synthetic Biology Are Critical to Future U.S. Competitiveness”

"On Jan. 11, 2020, Chinese authorities shared the genetic sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19 for the first time. By Jan. 13, the biotechnology firm Moderna had used this information to finalize the design of its vaccine. "This miracle of modern science — shortening to a matter of hours a process that had previously taken months or years — was not a stroke of luck. It was enabled by significant advancements in AI and machine learning, investments in these technologies [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2021-07-20T19:26:39-04:00May 27, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy interviewed in DefAero Report Daily podcast, “Flournoy on Keeping DoD’s Competitive Edge”

"On this episode of the DefAero Report Daily Podcast, sponsored by Bell, Michèle Flournoy, the former undersecretary of defense for policy who is the co-founder of the WestExec Advisors consultancy, discusses her article in the May/June 2021 issue of Foreign Affairs — 'America’s Military Risks Losing Its Edge: How to Transform the Pentagon for a Competitive Era' — with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian…" Listen to the full episode here: Full Episode

Rebecca Skoryanc2021-07-20T19:03:41-04:00May 17, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Miriam Vogel quoted in The Financial Times article, “Silicon Valley Reboots Its Relationship With the US Military”

"Tech groups Microsoft and Amazon have taken a similar stand on the controversial software, after pressure from employees. They said they would refuse to sell it to police forces and asked Congress to regulate the emerging technology… "'I see these battle lines being drawn, where companies are saying in their mission statements what [policies] they want to be aligned with,' says Miriam Vogel, chief executive of EqualAI, a non-profit focused on removing unconscious bias from artificial intelligence…" Read the full article [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2021-07-20T19:08:39-04:00May 16, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

John Costello interviewed in Mondaq United States podcast, “Cybersecurity Issues on the Congressional Agenda”

"[This] interview is with Mark Montgomery and John Costello, both staff to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The Commission, which issued its main report more than a year ago, is swinging through the pitch, following up with new white papers, draft legislative language, and enthusiastic advocacy for its recommendations in Congress, many of which were adopted last year. That makes it the most successful of the many cybersecurity commissions that have come and gone in Washington. And it's not done yet. Mark [...]

Andrew Curtis2021-05-06T00:00:37-04:00May 6, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy writes in Foreign Affairs: “America’s Military Risks Losing Its Edge”

"For almost a decade, U.S. defense officials have deemed the return of great-power competition to be the most consequential challenge to U.S. national security. In 2012, during the Obama administration, the Defense Department announced that 'U.S. forces will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations,' such as those in Afghanistan and Iraq, marking a sharp departure from the United States’ post-9/11 defense strategy. In 2016, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter highlighted a 'return to great-power of competition.' And [...]

Andrew Curtis2021-05-01T00:00:57-04:00May 1, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Charlie Bolden quoted in NewScientist article, “China Is About To Start Building a Space Station in Orbit”

"'China, in a sense, is trying to catch up with capabilities that other space powers that have already done,' says space analyst Laura Forczyk. 'One of the things that helps China here is that their government is not democratic, so there isn’t the infighting that we have in the US about what the priorities are and how to fund them.' "That has allowed the nation to develop this technology relatively quickly, but Charles Bolden, who served as NASA administrator under President [...]

Andrew Curtis2021-04-27T00:00:03-04:00April 27, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy interviewed in Rusi’s The Western Way of War podcast, “The Enemy Went to School”

"Former US Under Secretary for Defence for Policy Michèle Flournoy talks to Peter Roberts about technology, concepts, young minds and competitive spaces in warfare. The conversation is predicated on the idea of obeying the just war principles until deterrence fails. Thereafter, we (the West) want a distinctly unfair fight…" Listen to the full episode here: Full Episode

Andrew Curtis2021-04-22T00:00:30-04:00April 22, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

John Costello interviewed in Lawfare’s The Cyberlaw Podcast podcast, “Cybersecurity Issues on the Congressional Agenda”

"Our interview is with Mark Montgomery and John Costello, both staff to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. The commission, which issued its main report more than a year ago, is swinging through the pitch, following up with new white papers, draft legislative language and enthusiastic advocacy for its recommendations in Congress, many of which were adopted last year. That makes it the most successful of the many cybersecurity commissions that have come and gone in Washington. And it’s not done yet. Mark [...]

Andrew Curtis2021-04-20T14:24:16-04:00April 20, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Bridge Colby and Andrea Kendall-Taylor quoted in Foreign Policy article, “China and Russia Turn Deeper Ties Into a Military Challenge for Biden”

"'You face a two-front war where we don’t have a two-front military,' said Elbridge Colby, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense during the Trump administration. 'If NATO is expecting U.S. forces to bail it out simultaneously with a fight over Taiwan, we can’t do them both. We don’t have the assets. That can create huge problems for us…' "'We have to start thinking about how they also generate synergy in ways that amplify the challenge that both countries pose,' said [...]

Andrew Curtis2021-04-20T12:35:14-04:00April 20, 2021|Cybersecurity & Defense|