The TechnologIST | Q&A with VP for Geostrategic Risk Ben Purser on the Tech Innovation Battleground

Welcome to The TechnologIST, the Institute for Security and Technology’s monthly newsletter, featuring interviews with IST experts, updates from our projects, and recommended reading on tech, national security, and cyber issues. I’m Sophia Mauro and in this month’s edition, I speak with Ben Purser , Vice President for Geostrategic Risk, on his work on the Strategic Balancing Initiative.

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The Tech Innovation Battleground

By all accounts, we are in the midst of ever-intensifying geopolitical techno-industrial competition. Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself made this clear years ago, in a 2021 speech declaring, ”technological innovation has become the main battleground.”?

IST is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of our colleagues and partners have experience in Silicon Valley and other global centers of technological innovation, bringing their intimate knowledge of the tech world to the work that we do. Nowhere is this experience more central and applicable than in our Strategic Balancing Initiative, an effort aimed at advancing U.S. and likeminded nations’ technological competitiveness by identifying and overcoming misalignments between government and industry that are inhibiting innovation–and putting the U.S. and likeminded nations at risk of falling behind competitors on the global stage.??

SBI has been engaged in these efforts for months, bringing together public and private sector stakeholder Working Groups with representatives from the fields of biotechnology, energy, and quantum information sciences. Through these closed-door discussions, SBI works to identify the unique challenges they face to unlocking innovation and in turn increasing U.S. competitiveness in these sectors.?

In early February, SBI hosted an event in Washington DC to bring together U.S. and foreign government officials with private industry stakeholders driving innovation in biotechnology, novel energy technologies, and quantum information science. Also this month, Ben Purser , Vice President for Geostrategic Risk, and IST Senior Adjunct Advisor Pavneet Singh published Unlocking U.S. Technological Competitiveness: Public-Private Misalignments in Biotechnology, Energy, and Quantum Sectors, the first of three reports on how the iterative SBI process is evolving, what it is learning from stakeholders, and the clear areas for impact it has identified.?

With so much going on in the Strategic Balancing Initiative, I spoke with Ben to learn more about the paper out this month, main takeaways from SBI thus far, and what’s next.?

You have met with representatives from across a wide variety of industries through your work on the Strategic Balancing Initiative. Did you see cross-cutting themes??

Ben Purser: "We did! The biotechnology, energy, and quantum sectors have different but overlapping perspectives. Organizations working in drug discovery, at first glance, might not have much in common with those working in quantum technology or sustainable aviation fuel; however, when it comes to accelerating innovation, they are remarkably alike in the barriers that they face. I’ll share three common themes:?

1. Mapping what’s there

Each of the Working Groups highlighted the need for clarification of existing U.S. government?innovation programs. For example, in one of our Quantum Working Groups, a very successful and respected stakeholder noted the existence of an innovation program in another country and how great it would be if the U.S. had a similar program, only for someone else in the meeting to flag that the foreign program was a copy of a program initially developed in the United States in direct partnership with the Department of Energy. This is just one example of how even extremely connected and informed stakeholders can struggle to keep up with the U.S. government’s evolving, complicated, and often uncoordinated array of innovation programs for critical and emerging technology! The confusion is understandable because there is no single map or resource to help businesses understand how to find or use them.

2. Show me the money?

Even when startups and early-stage tech companies can identify programs and how to use them, they still face hurdles accessing the capital that the federal government has supposedly set aside for their use. No matter the sector, everyone agreed that making money more easily available should be a priority, whether through loans or loan guarantees, Advanced Market Commitments, Milestone Payments, or the connection of prototyping to procurement. Money is always an issue for entrepreneurs at the forefront of innovation, but for these teams working in critical and emerging technologies with a higher level of risk, it’s existential.?

3. Accessing shared infrastructure?

Infrastructure, like a quantum computer inside a Department of Energy national laboratory, is expensive and often already at least partially developed, but there are hurdles for private companies to be able to utilize them. Not every business working in these emerging fields has the knowledge, time, or internal abilities (e.g., employees eligible to gain access to such locations). Each of our Working Groups raised the idea of access to physical infrastructure as a barrier to innovation and suggested ways for shared or government-owned infrastructure that already exists to be more accessible."?

Give me an example of an initial solution that SBI is proposing based on these conversations. How did the idea for the solution come about, and what exactly would it entail??

Ben Purser: "As one participant in the Biotech Working Group said, “data is king.” In our sessions, stakeholders agreed that they face similar challenges around how to share data, particularly as it relates to the training of AI models. Yet, the constraints around biotech data are significant and vast, including everything from intellectual property rights to restrictions on patient information (with some types of biodata) to specific security issues related to dual-use concerns. To solve this problem, this initial concept paper explores the idea of a government-driven data aggregation mechanism that allows for information sharing amongst researchers. If the federal government were to facilitate biotech data sharing in such a way, our stakeholders agree that American and likeminded efforts in biotech would be exponentially accelerated."?

“Given stakeholders’ insights about the priority of and perils around data sharing, the federal government seems uniquely positioned to manage biotech data repositories, since some of the data types are quite different and come with different legal protections and overseers. For example, patient medical information would require different protections than genetic sequences that could be exploited by bad actors. Alternatively, the federal government can establish a framework for essential standards that should inform private sector collection and collaboration practices when it comes to biotech data.”

-Unlocking U.S. Technological Competitiveness: Public-Private Misalignments in Biotechnology, Energy, and Quantum Sectors

So what’s next??

Ben Purser: "Great question! We’re not immediately moving to implement the solutions identified in this initial paper; and that is by design. Instead, we are iterating on these concepts with our stakeholders as we develop actionable suggestions for how to operationalize these opportunities to incentivize innovation. Accordingly, we plan to publish two more concept papers and then capture the ultimate, most actionable and impactful suggestions in a final report that we’ll publish and present at an in-person event in the summer. Then, we plan to bring together members of our Working Groups, additional experts, and other stakeholders from across the public and private sectors in a gathering on the barriers to innovation and what we can do to address them."?

Elsewhere at IST

Unpacking a Potential Ban on Ransom Payments: Implications, Alternatives, and What's Next

On February 15, IST Chief Strategy Officer Megan Stifel moderated a panel with Allan Liska, Sezaneh Seymour, Ph.D., Bill Siegel, and Rob Knake to unpack the implications of a ban across industries and discuss what comes next. The panelists discussed the history of the fight against ransomware, reporting mechanisms, and how to motivate private companies to prioritize security.??

Nominations are now open for the inaugural Cyber Policy Awards

The Cyber Policy Awards is now accepting nominations! Organizing committee chair and IST Chief Trust Officer Steven M. Kelly, CISSP asks for your help in recognizing deserving individuals, small groups, and organizations who have impacted U.S. or international cyber policy, championed ecosystem solutions, or contributed through philanthropy. Nominations close March 27 at midnight EDT.

Announcing new support for AI Foundation Model Access Initiative

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are advancing and proliferating at an astounding pace, creating new benefits and opportunities, but if left unchecked, could cause significant harm. Following publication of their December report on the risks and opportunities associated with degrees of access to AI foundation models, and with the continued support of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, project lead Zo? Brammer and the working group are taking the next step to develop mitigations and interventions to manage the risks.

IST joins multi stakeholder Common Good Cyber Workshop

This month, IST joined stakeholders from across the cyber ecosystem for the?launch of Common Good Cyber , an effort that aims to build sustainable funding models to support nonprofits in the space. Chief Strategy Officer Megan Stifel?moderated a panel on possible solutions. “Eventually, the goal is that the responsibility for secure technologies is borne in a different place than it currently is. But it will take us some time to get there, so there is an ongoing need for nonprofits like those that are in this room to help advocate for us to get more quickly to that place,” she said.

IST in the News

Megan Stifel weighs in on Lockbit takedown

The infamous ransomware group Lockbit was the target of a takedown operation led by Europol, the US, the UK, and half a dozen other countries. Critics of law enforcement agencies’ handling of ransomware often cite the concern that “we’ll never get these guys,” Megan Stifel told Decipher’s Lindsey O’Donnell-Welch. With several now in custody, “I think that’s indicative of where we’re seeing progress,” Megan said.?

Cybersecurity experts debate implications of and alternatives to a payment ban?

In a recap of the webinar, “Unpacking a Potential Ban on Ransom Payments: Implications, Alternatives, and What's Next,” Bank Info Security’s Mathew J. Schwartz covered the problems panelists saw with enacting a ban. "There is so much work to do before we get to a ban," said Sezaneh Seymour.

Conversations on Critical Infrastructure

Introducing the Hack the Plan[e]t podcast

Hack the Plan[e]t, hosted by IST Senior Adjunct Advisor Bryson ?? Bort , explores the critical infrastructure systems that we rely on every day, asking whether connecting these systems to the Internet leaves us more vulnerable to attacks by our enemies. In its fourth season, IST is excited to produce the podcast alongside ICS VILLAGE !

Season 4, Episode 1:?CISA's Critical Infrastructure Protection Mission with Jen Easterly

Jen Easterly , Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , joins to discuss leading CISA, implementing efforts to make products Secure by Design, and working with private companies to combat ransomware. "Critical infrastructure is just how we get our water and our health care and our education and our transportation and our communication and how we get gas at the pump and money from the ATM," she says. "It really is the networks and the systems and the data that we rely upon every hour of every day and that power our lives."

Season 4, Episode 2:?Securing, Defending, and Bringing Resilience to Infrastructure with Robert Shaughnessy

What innovation is happening in the private sector to secure critical infrastructure? And how does the government play a role? Psymetis, Inc. CEO Robert Shaughnessy explains, "In between, ‘I have a prototype’ and ‘I have a commercial item’ is what’s referred to in government contracting as the ‘valley of death.’ There’s no funding and there’s no programmatic acquisition in that space in between.... And it’s challenging, a little nerve wracking. But it’s the way to bring actual new tech to bear against our problems. It has to cross that valley somehow."

What We're Reading

Want more tech and security content? Check out some of the ISTeam's favorite pieces from the past month:

• As a CCSRE Technology & Racial Equity Practitioner Fellow at Stanford University, journalist Anika Collier Navaroli interviewed Black people working in Trust and Safety departments in large tech companies. “The experiences of the six individuals I spoke with paint a picture of internet governance that is not only fragile but places a heavy human toll on Black T&S employees,” she writes.?
• The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has completed an assessment of the effect of AI on cyber threats, concluding that AI will “almost certainly increase the volume and heighten the impact of cyber attacks” in the coming years.?
• Elizabeth Kelly, a former economic advisor and a contributor to last year’s AI Executive Order, has been tapped to lead the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute. The Institute was established last year to develop an AI safety test for regulators.?
• Open AI, Google, Microsoft and other leading AI companies joined President Biden’s U.S. AI Safety Institute Consortium this month. The group is tasked with supporting the safe development and deployment of generative AI systems, as outlined in last year’s AI Executive Order.??
• Russia is making progress on a space-based nuclear weapon, according to US intelligence shared in Congress. House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jim Hines called the information “significant" but "not a cause for panic."
• In a Q&A with NextGov, MITRE Chief Technology Officer Charles Clancy noted that the best way to decrease ransomware payments is to “work with insurers.” He also called on the federal government to “ratchet up” responses to hacks.?
• In early February, a ransomware attack on Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s, Chicago’s largest children’s hospital, kept patients from receiving care for more than a week. As the hospital works to get back online, a $3.4 million ransom has been issued.?
• An international Interpol operation that brought together at least 60 law enforcement agencies has successfully detained 31 suspected cybercriminals and identified 1,300 malicious servers.?
• A ransomware attack is responsible for ongoing outages within the Change Healthcare system, the United States’ largest processor of prescription medications. The attack, which has prevented patients across the country from accessing prescriptions for more than a week, has been attributed to the Blackcat ransomware group.
• A new report from the Center for Naval Analyses examines how AI in nuclear operations could affect nuclear risk. In their recommendations, the authors call for risk mitigation in the use of AI in both nuclear and military operations.?
• US tech companies’ involvement in the war in Ukraine has raised questions about a potential conflict in Taiwan. A new analysis from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology examines how these companies' ties to China would complicate in kind support.?
• A report from Over Zero and the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council proposes a tool for measuring belonging, the “Belonging Barometer,” and utilizes it to examine the state of belonging in the United States.??

The Institute for Security and Technology designs and advances solutions to the world’s toughest emerging security threats. It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization?based in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to solving critical international security challenges through better technology and policy. Donate today to support our mission.

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