FP Security Forum

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy. He is also the host of FP Live, the magazine’s video channel and podcast, on which he regularly interviews world leaders and policymakers. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He has shared a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work as a TV producer, and his writing for FP was part of a series nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Dr. Mayesha Alam is vice president of research at FP Analytics where she oversees the research team and leads research development for clients and partners. She previously helped establish and served as deputy director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, and has also worked with the United Nations, World Bank, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and various nongovernmental organizations. Dr. Alam is the author of two books, Women and Transitional Justice and, with Robert Egnell, Women and Gender Perspectives in the Military, as well as reports on conflict, climate change, health, and gender. Her commentary has appeared in the Washington Post, CNN, NPR, Newsweek, and elsewhere. A nonresident senior fellow of the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, Dr. Alam is a professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.

General Chris Badia was born in Bavaria on September 28th 1963. After finishing school, he joined the German Air Force as a cadet in 1984 to become a jet-pilot and officer. Trained in the US between 1986 and 1987 his first assignment led him to Fighter Wing 71 “Richthofen”. General Badia gained experience for 8 years as a fighter pilot before taking his first command as Squadron Commander of the 1st Sqd. of that Wing between 1996 and 1998. He then was nominated to attend the 43rd Command and General Staff Officers Course at the Federal Armed Forces Command and General Staff College in Hamburg. His first assignment after the academy was with NATO as Personal Assistant to COM/ DCOM HQ Allied Air Forces Northern Europe in Ramstein. After his follow-on assignment as Director Ops of the 4th Air Force Division in Aurich, General Badia was posted as Assistant Branch Chief for Military Policy Concepts for Operations and Exercises to the German Ministry of Defence in Berlin.

Following a tour in the Office and as the Head of Office to the Parliamentary State Secretaries Kolbow and Dr. Pflueger, General Badia assumed responsibility on his second commanding position, as Commander Fighter Wing 71 “Richthofen.”

After three years of Command, he was posted for three consecutive assignments to the Ministry of Defence, as Branch Chief Concepts and Doctrine in the Air Staff, following his promotion to Brigadier General as Assistant Chief of Staff Air Force Future Development/Plans and Policy and as Division Chief for Strategic Defence Planning and Concepts in the MoD.

Following two commanding assignments, first as Commander, European Air Transport Command, in Eindhoven and then as Director General of the German Military Aviation Authority in Cologne, in 2018 he assumed responsibility as Director General for Planning in the Ministry of Defence.

On July 7th, 2022, General Badia was appointed as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander

The Honourable Bill Blair is the Minister of National Defence for Canada. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Scarborough Southwest in 2015. He has previously served as President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister of Emergency Preparedness, as Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and as Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction.

Before entering politics, Minister Blair served the people of Toronto for over 39 years, starting as a beat officer in downtown Toronto and continuing with assignments in drug enforcement, organized crime units, and major criminal investigations. In 2005, he was named Chief of the Toronto Police Service, overseeing the largest municipal police service in Canada, and one of the largest in North America. In this role, he oversaw important efforts to combat violent crime, while supporting local policing initiatives. He also served as President of both the Ontario and Canadian Associations of Chiefs of Police.

In recognition of his contributions to the policing profession, Minister Blair was named an Officer then a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces. He is the proud recipient of the 2011 Beth Sholom Brotherhood Humanitarian Award, a member of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and was honoured in 2013 by the Canadian Tamil Congress for his leadership and tremendous service to the people of Toronto.

Minister Blair holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Criminology as well as a Certificate in Law Enforcement Administration from the University of Toronto, and a Certificate in Criminal Justice from the University of Virginia. He is a graduate of the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy, the Police Leadership Program from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and the National Executive Institute.

Dr. Janet Martha Blatny is the Director of the Total Defense Division at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) and is since 2014 a member of FFI’s Executive Management Group. She is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Institute for Security Science and Technology at Imperial College UK, and she has a part time position at the Office of Chief Scientist, NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) in Brussels.

FFI is the prime institution responsible for defense-related research in Norway. Her division is responsible for research within total defense, national security covering areas within resilience, civil-military collaboration, foreign information manipulation and interference, cognitive warfare, climate & security, human performance, CBRN & explosives, terrorism, and modeling & simulation.  She has more than 30 years of experience within academic and applied research including for military and civilian sectors.

Blatny was the Chair of the NATO STO Human Factors and Medicine Panel during 2021-2023. She has coordinated and chaired several international research projects in particular within EDA, EU and NATO. She attended the Senior Executive Course at the Norwegian Defense College in 2009 and the NATO Defense College Senior Course in 2024.  Blatny received her PhD in Biotechnology Engineering in 1997 from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Tom Burt leads a cross-disciplinary team that works to improve customer trust in the safety and security of the digital ecosystem by advocating for global cybersecurity policy, partnering with public agencies and private enterprises to disrupt nation-state cyberattacks and support deterrence efforts, and combating cybercrime. CST is also responsible for managing Microsoft’s government clearance and national security compliance.

Allison Carlson is the Executive Vice President of FP Analytics & Events at Foreign Policy. She oversees FPA’s cross-cutting research at the intersection of policy, technology, and global markets as well as Foreign Policy’s global dialogues and convenings. Prior to these roles, Carlson led FP Analytics’ energy and technology team for more than a decade, evaluating evolving policies, regulations, and market factors to identify opportunities for project development and advanced technology deployment internationally. Before joining FP, she led the Latin America program for a boutique consulting firm assisting European companies on investing in emerging markets’ energy and financial sectors. Carlson has presented her work at a variety of international conferences and before the U.S. Senate. She is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, where she received a master’s degree in international relations and international economics.

Jack Detsch is Foreign Policy’s Pentagon and national security reporter. He was previously a staff writer for Al-Monitor covering intelligence and defense.

Benedikt Franke is Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Munich Security Conference. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation and the strategic development of its formats and activities. Additionally he serves as the Executive Director of the Munich Security Conference Foundation.

Before joining the MSC, he worked as Special Assistant for former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan and as Senior Advisor for Strategic Affairs at the Christian Social Union.

Benedikt Franke holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He publishes regularly on foreign and security policy topics and sits on several relevant committees such as the Foundation Council of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen and the International Commission of the CSU. In his (limited) leisure time he works as Special Envoy of the Sovereign Order of Malta.

Robbie Gramer is a diplomacy and national security reporter at Foreign Policy, covering the State Department. Before he joined FP in 2016, he managed the NATO portfolio at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, for three years. He’s a graduate of American University, where he studied international relations and European affairs.

Rishi Iyengar is a reporter at Foreign Policy, covering the intersection of geopolitics and technology. Prior to joining FP, he spent six years at CNN Business as India editor in New Delhi and a technology writer in San Francisco, as well as two years reporting for Time magazine from Hong Kong. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fergusson College in Pune, India, a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and is an alumnus of the Young India Fellowship.

Dr. Radha Iyengar Plumb assumed the role of Department of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, a Principal Staff Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense on April 9, 2024. In this role she is leading the acceleration of the DoD’s adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) to generate decision advantage.

Prior to this appointment, she served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (DUSD(A&S)) and was responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear defense; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.

Previous DoD assignments include serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for leading the executive staff, providing counsel and advice to the Deputy Secretary, and ensuring Deputy-led governance processes were aligned with key leadership priorities. In addition, she served as Acting Deputy Director of Administration and Management within the Department of Defense.

Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, she was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust & Safety at Google and had previously served as Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook. Before her Silicon Valley work, Dr. Plumb was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving measurement and evaluation of readiness and security efforts across the Department of Defense. In that capacity she served as lead author on a number of critical reports including assessing the implications of open service of Transgender Service members and review of security and suitability screening efforts.

From 2014-2015, Dr. Plumb served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Energy, where she led policy processes including budget and policy reviews related to modernizing nuclear infrastructure and efforts to enhance energy sector security and resilience. Previously, she was the director of personnel and readiness at the National Security Council, where she was instrumental on executive actions on sexual assault in the military. She also served as policy advisor and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, and as a civilian in Afghanistan conducting measurement and assessment work to support the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team for the Commander, International Security Assistance Force.

Dr. Plumb received her Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. Her research has covered empirical evaluations of policies aimed at reducing violence, including criminal violence, sexual assault, terrorist behavior, and sexual and intimate partner violence. At the outset of her career, she was an assistant professor at the London School of Economics and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at Harvard.

Bonnie Denise Jenkins, Ph.D., is the Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. Department of State. She previously served as Special Presidential Envoy and Coordinator for Threat Reduction Programs, legal advisor to the former U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Counsel on the 9/11 Commission, and General Counsel to the U.S. Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction. A retired U.S. Naval Reserve Officer, she also worked for the Ford Foundation and the Rand Corporation and founded the nonprofits Organizations in Solidarity and Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation.

Laurynas Kasčiūnas is the Minister of National Defence, appointed in March 2024.

Mr Kasčiūnas defended his PhD thesis on “Implications of the EU’s Internal Integration on External Europeanisation: Case Studies of Ukraine and Russia” in 2012. From 2006 to 2012, he studied at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University, graduating with a PhD in 2012, a Master’s degree in Political Science in 2006 and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2004. Mr Kasčiūnas graduated from Vilnius Ąžuolynas Secondary School in 2000.

From 2015 to 2016, he was the Director of the Eastern Europe Studies Centre, and from 2009 to 2012, he was the Foreign Policy Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Ms Irena Degutienė. From 2007 to 2016, Mr Kasčiūnas worked as a lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University.

Laurynas Kasčiūnas started his political career in 2011 as a member of the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats party. Since October 2016, he has been a member of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Committee on National Security and Defence. Due to his expertise in the field of defence, Mr Kasčiūnas was appointed Chairman of the Committee on National Security and Defence in November 2020.

Mr Kasčiūnas speaks English, German and Russian. In his spare time, he plays football, reads books and fishes.

Laurynas Kasčiūnas and his wife have four children.

Aditi Kumar is the Deputy Director for Strategy, Policy, and National Security Partnerships at DIU. In this role, Aditi drives DIU’s collaboration with the Military Departments, Joint Staff, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to deliver capabilities at scale to meet warfighter requirements. She further leads our teams focused on policy, interagency partnerships, legislative affairs, and international affairs.

Prior to joining DIU, Aditi served as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment. At A&S, she supported some of the Department’s highest priority initiatives including security assistance to Ukraine, industrial production expansion and acceleration, supply chain risk management, and military installation and housing policy.

Before joining DoD, Aditi was the Executive Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Aditi also led the Belfer Center’s Economic Diplomacy Initiative, focused on research and expertise at the intersection of international affairs and economic policy.

Aditi was previously a Principal at management consultancy Oliver Wyman in the financial services and public policy practices. She worked primarily with U.S. commercial and investment banks as well as U.S. regulators and policymakers on designing and implementing financial regulation. She also served as a Project Manager at the World Economic Forum, responsible for leading policy discussions among financial sector executives and policymakers on managing financial risk and designing effective global financial regulation.

Aditi has a B.S. in Economics and a B.A. in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Huntsman Program, an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Aditi immigrated from India when she was nine and grew up in Missouri.

Ms. Barbara McQuiston is Chair of the NATO DIANA Board of Directors. DIANA’s’s goal is to enhance and accelerate transatlantic cooperation on dual-use technology solutions and help NATO work more closely with private-sector entities, academia, and other non-governmental entities. DIANA connects defense personnel from across the Alliance with the best and brightest scientists, researchers, start-ups, and technology companies to solve critical defense and security challenges. DIANA is building a network across the Alliance in accelerators, test centers, and experimentation to help startups and non-traditional companies better support the NATO alliance capabilities and requirements. DIANA will use challenge problems to solicit innovative solutions from across the Alliance and across technology arenas. DIANA focuses on key emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, data, quantum-enabled technologies, autonomy, biotechnology, novel materials and advanced manufacturing, energy and propulsion to problems across dual-use sectors such as space, energy, and security. As the Chair of the Board, Ms. McQuiston is responsible for developing rules and procedures for the Board’s functions, overseeing the development of the DIANA Strategic Direction, and working with defense science and technology leaders across the Alliance to develop a transatlantic innovation ecosystem that Allies can leverage to develop dual-use solutions to emerging and disruptive technology challenges. Prior to this role, Ms. McQuiston served as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Science and Technology (DCTO(S&T)) in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) at the Pentagon. Ms. McQuiston led the Department’s work to create DoD’s technology advantage, advocated for the Department’s S&T workforce and foundational laboratory infrastructure, oversaw the DoD Federally Funded Research and Development Centers and University Affiliated Research Centers, advised on the Department’s critical technology protection policy, and oversaw the health of the Defense technical industrial base and innovation communities for future technology.

Ms. McQuiston previously spent nearly a decade in government service at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where she served in the Defense Science Office, the Strategic Technology Office, and finally as Special Assistant to the Director for Energy. Throughout her tenure at DARPA, Ms. McQuiston directly supported the development of significant communications technologies and championed the development of alternative energy programs to reduce DoD’s dependency on imported fossil fuels. In 2010, she received the Office of Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service for her accomplishments in these leadership roles. In 2011, President Obama nominated Ms. McQuiston for the position of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, though after her nomination became stalled in Congress, she requested it be removed. In addition to her time at DARPA, Ms. McQuiston has more than 30 years of commercial experience, including executive management in high-technology companies and Government service. Her background includes strategic planning and development of new and innovative technologies for information, communications, biotechnology, medical, and environmental markets; negotiation for technology agreements; and technology transfer from private institutes, governments, and laboratories to the commercial sector. She has been deeply involved in venture fund technology investment and technical oversight for research, development, and commercial product efforts. Additionally, she advised capital management funds and negotiated and managed technology transfer agreements in both the public and private sector.

Andrei Muraru has been accredited by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Romania to the United States on July 7, 2021. The President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, accepted his Letters of Credence on September 15, 2021.

Andrei Muraru (born 1982) holds a PhD in History (2011) from the University “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” in Iași, as well as an MA (2007) and BA (2005) in History from the same university.

He had worked at the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) – a governmental agency coordinated by the Romanian PM – since its foundation (2006), holding different offices, from expert-researcher to Executive President (2012-2014). Between 2006 and 2009, he acted as counselor within the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Romania and was also personal advisor to the General Director of the National Archives of Romania (CNSAS). He was also a member of the Administrative Board of the Romanian Television (2014). Between July and December 2014, he was personal advisor to the President of the National Liberal Party, Klaus Iohannis.

Between 2014 and 2021, Andrei Muraru was Senior Advisor to the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, at the Presidential Administration, serving as the head of the Department of Relationship with Public Authorities and Civil Society.

Andrei Muraru is a university lecturer at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (Department of International Relations and European Integration) and scientific researcher III at The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania.

He was an Erasmus-Socrates student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2004-2005), as well as a Doctoral Fellow at New Europe College (2009-2010) and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (2010-2011). He received a doctoral scholarship funded by a POSDRU program (2008-2011). Andrei Muraru received a postdoctoral fellowship at Yad Vashem – The International Institute for Holocaust Research for the year 2020.

He is the author of the volume “Vișinescu, the Forgotten Torturer: the Prison, the Crimes, the Trial” (Polirom Publishing House, 2018), the coordinator of several volumes – “The Book of the Romanian Communist Prisons 1945-1967” (Polirom, 2008), “The King, the Communists and the Crown: The True History of Michael I’s Abdication” (together with Alexandru Muraru; Polirom Publishing House, 2017), “The 1989 Revolution. Winners and Losers” (together with Anneli Ute Gabanyi, Alexandru Muraru, Daniel Sandru; Polirom Publishing House, 2020), and co-author of “A History of Communism in Romania. High-School Handbook” (Polirom Publishing House, 2008, 2nd edition 2009, 3rd edition 2014), the only existing handbook about communism in Romania.

He has frequently published studies and reviews in peer-reviewed journals and participated in numerous international conferences and has recurrent contributions on recent history topics.

He was awarded, by H.M. King Michael I, the Medal “King Michael for Loyalty” for his contribution to the historiography of the Romanian monarchy (2008) and he was granted the distinction of Officer in the Order of the Crown for his activity as head of the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile (IICCMER) (2015). In 2019, Andrei Muraru was awarded the ”Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana” by the President of the Italian Republic, H.E. Sergio Mattarella.

Anne Neuberger is the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies in the White House. Previously, she served at the National Security Agency (NSA) for over ten years in a senior intelligence and cybersecurity roles. Most recently, she served as director of NSA’s Cybersecurity organization and deputy director of NSA’s intelligence operations, leading an organization of over 20,000 people globally. Prior to NSA, she served as the Department of the Navy’s Deputy Chief Management Officer and as a White House Fellow. Prior to entering government, Ms. Neuberger led technology and operations for a financial services firm. Anne has been awarded a Presidential Rank Award and DoD’s and NSA’s highest civilian awards.

Ms. Deborah G. Rosenblum currently serves as the Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (DUSD(A&S)). In this role, she is responsible to the Under Secretary of Defense for all matters pertaining to acquisition; contract administration; logistics and materiel readiness; installations and environment; operational energy; chemical, biological, and nuclear defense; the acquisition workforce; and the defense industrial base.

Prior to this appointment, she served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs (ASD(NCB)). In this capacity, she was the principal advisor to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, and Under Secretary of Defense on nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and biological and chemical programs.

While serving as the ASD(NCB), she perfomed the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy (ASD(IBP)). In this capacity, she developed and managed the Department’s policies and programs designed to maintain the U.S. defense industrial base; execute small business programs and policy; assess geo-economic events and trends; monitor and assess the impact of foreign investments in the U.S. (CFIUS) and assess impacts related to mergers and acquisitions.

Prior to her appointment as the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Rosenblum was the Executive Vice President at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). As part of NTI’s executive leadership team, she helped to oversee the organization’s operations, development, and programs, managing an annual operating budget of $25 million. Rosenblum also spent seven years as Vice President of The Cohen Group, an international consulting firm. She led numerous client focused teams, developing business opportunities in the defense and homeland security market, and her market assessments supported international merger and acquisition deals.

Prior to joining the private sector, Rosenblum served in senior positions with the U.S. Department of Defense, with a broad range of policy responsibilities, including representing the United States as a negotiator with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on multiyear bilateral negotiations around its nuclear program.

Rosenblum holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College. She is fluent in French.

Andrea leads the NIF’s unique platform and its Founding team, focusing on the successful delivery of the firm’s commercial and strategic goals. Whilst investing in technology over the past 25 years, Andrea has developed a strong belief that innovation in EDTs must be led by fundamental values: safety, freedom, and human empowerment. Funding should be directed towards accelerating the development of technologies that progress these values.

Previously Andrea was Managing Partner at Amadeus Capital Partners – one of Europe’s leading deep tech venture capital firms. During his time at Amadeus Andrea backed and worked with inspiring entrepreneurs building disruptive deep tech companies such as Oxford Nanopore (LSE IPO), Igenomix (acquired by EQT), Iyzico (acquired by Prosus), Octo Telematics, Veritas Int. and Travel Lab Global. Andrea has a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Cambridge University. Away from work Andrea enjoys studying epistemology, reading quantum computing academic papers, exploring nature in Costa Rica, playing tennis and attempting to reach his daily 10,000 steps target.

Andrew Sollinger is the publisher and CEO of Foreign Policy, which he joined in 2018. Previously, he was executive vice president at Business Insider, executive director of Capital New York (now Politico NY) and managing director of the Financial Times Americas. Sollinger was part of the executive team that built Money-Media, a digital news startup focused on the fund management industry, and sold it to the FT. A former reporter and editor for Institutional Investor magazine’s newsletter division, Andrew has lived in London, Hong Kong and New York. He is a graduate of Clark University, where he was executive editor of The Scarlet.

Brandon Tseng is Shield AI’s Co-Founder and President. As of December 2023, Shield AI is one of two multi-billion-dollar defense-tech companies founded in the past 20 years and has raised over $700M in venture capital to build AI pilots for unmanned aerial systems to protect service members and civilians. Prior to founding Shield AI in 2015, Brandon proudly served in the Navy for seven years as a SEAL at SEAL Team 5 and SEAL Team 7, and as a Surface Warfare Officer aboard the USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52). While in the Navy, he deployed to Afghanistan (x2), the Pacific Theater, and the Arabian Gulf. At Shield AI, he leads all aspects of growth – business development, corporate development, strategy, fundraising, marketing, and government relations – to help Shield AI achieve its mission at a global scale. Brandon earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Andy Weber is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks’ Janne E. Nolan Center on Strategic Weapons. Mr. Weber has dedicated his professional life to countering nuclear, chemical, and biological threats and to strengthening global health security. Mr. Weber’s decades of U.S. government service included five-and-a-half years as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. He was a driving force behind Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts to remove weapons-grade uranium from Kazakhstan and Georgia and nuclear-capable MiG-29 aircraft from Moldova, to reduce biological weapons threats, and to destroy Libyan and Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles. In addition, he coordinated U.S. leadership of the international Ebola response for the Department of State.

Prior to joining the Pentagon as Advisor for Threat Reduction Policy in December 1996, Mr. Weber was posted abroad as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in Saudi Arabia, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong. Mr. Weber is an independent consultant and a Strategic Advisor for Ginkgo BioWorks. He serves on the Board of Healthcare Ready and the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies International Advisory Council.

He taught a course on Force and Diplomacy at the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service for seven years, and was a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Mr. Weber graduated from Cornell University and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) degree from Georgetown University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.