I just finished my third year in the Technology, Innovation, and High Power Competition class, which is part of Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.
Joe Felter, Mike Brown, and I teach our classes:
- Help students understand the challenges and opportunities for the United States in persistent strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China, Russia, and other rivals.
- How commercial technologies (AI, autonomy, cyber, quantum, semiconductors, space access, biotechnology, hypersonics, etc.) are changing the way we compete in all elements of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, economic, etc.) provides insight into what is fundamentally changing. , finance, intelligence and law enforcement (our influence and footprint on the world stage).
- Provide students with experiential learning about policy questions. The students formed teams and left the classroom to talk with stakeholders and develop policy recommendations.
Why this class?
The recognition that the United States is engaged in long-term strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China and Russia was central to the 2017 National Security Strategy and 2018 National Defense Strategy. The 2021 Interim National Security Guidelines and the administration’s recently released 2022 National Security Strategy demonstrate that China is rapidly becoming more assertive and is combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might to achieve sustainable growth. It has emerged as the only potential competitor who can mount a challenge.stable and open international system. And as we have seen in Ukraine, Russia remains determined to wage brutal wars in order to play a destructive role on the world stage.
Winning this competition requires more than just capturing the fruits of this technological revolution. It will require a paradigm shift in thinking about how to rapidly integrate this technology with new capabilities and platforms to drive new operational and organizational concepts and strategies that change and optimize the way we compete.
class organization
Readings, lectures, and guest speakers explored how new societies emerged. commercial Technology poses challenges and creates opportunities for the United States in strategic competition with great power rivals, especially the People’s Republic of China. We focused on the challenges that arise when U.S. government agencies, federal laboratories, and government contractors no longer have exclusive access to these advanced technologies.
This course included everything you would expect from a graduate-level class in Stanford’s Master of International Policy program: comprehensive reading, guest lectures from current and former senior officials/experts, and papers. . However, what makes this class unique is that this is experiential policy class. Students formed small teams and left the classroom to undertake a quarter-long project to:
- Identify national security priorities and then…
- We examine problems and propose detailed solutions that are tested against real stakeholders in the technology and national security ecosystem.
The lesson was divided into three parts.
Weeks 1 through 4 of Part 1 cover international relations theories that seek to explain the dynamics of competition between great powers, the United States’ national security and defense strategy, and the policies that guide its approach to great power competition. Particular focus was on the People’s Republic of China (China) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Between the first and second parts of the class, students conducted an interim individual project. You are required to write a 2,000-word policy memo explaining how U.S. competitors are using specific technologies to counter U.S. interests, and suggestions for how the U.S. should respond. It was done.
Weeks 5 through 8 of Part 2 will cover commercial technologies such as semiconductors, space, cyber, AI and machine learning, high performance computing, and biotechnology. Each week, students had to read 5-10 of her articles (see class reading) here. ) And each week featured guest speakers on great power competition, technology and its impact on national power, and lectures and class discussions.
guest commentator
In addition to our teaching team, this course leveraged the experience and expertise of guest instructors from across industry and U.S. government agencies to provide the following background and perspective: commercial Technology and national security.
Students were privileged to hear from special guest speakers with extensive experience and credibility on a variety of topics related to the course objectives. Highlights of this year’s speakers include:
On National Security and American Exceptionalism: U.S. Marine Corps General Jim Mattis (Let), former Secretary of Defense.
On China’s activities and efforts to compete with the United States: Matt Pottinger – Former Vice Presidential National Security Advisor, Elizabeth Economy – Renowned Sinologist and former Commerce Department Senior Advisor for China, Tai Ming Chan – Author of Innovate to Dominate: The Rise of Innovate China’s techno-security state.
On U.S.-China policy: Congressman Mike Gallagher, Chairman of the House Select Committee on China.
On Innovation and National Security: Chris Brose – Author of The Kill Chain, Doug Beck – Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, Anja Manuel – Executive Director of the Aspen Strategy and Security Forum.
For biotechnology: Ben Kirukup – Senior Biologist, U.S. Navy, Ed You – FBI Special Agent Biological Countermeasures Unit, Deborah Rosenblum – Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs, Joe DeSimone – Professor of Chemical Engineering.
About AI: Jared Dunmon – Defense Innovation Unit AI Technical Director, Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan (Retired) – Director, Center for Integrated Artificial Intelligence, Anshu Roy – Rhombus AI CEO
Cyber: Anne Neuberger – Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber
Semiconductor Contact: Larry Diamond – Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Significantly, the students were able to hear China’s views on US-China competition from Dr. Jia Qingguo, Standing Committee Member of the Chinese Central Committee.
The class concluded with an inspiring address and call to action from former National Security Advisor Lt. Col. McMaster.
The intervening weeks featured lectures from our education team, followed by speakers leading discussions on important commercial technologies.
Team-based experiential project
The third part of the class was unique and was a quarter-long team-based project. Students formed their teams of four to six people and selected a national security challenge facing an organization or agency within the U.S. government. They developed hypotheses about how commercial technology could be used in new and creative ways to help the United States exercise its instruments of national power. And, consistent with all Gordian Knot Center classes, They walked out of the classroom. We then interviewed over 20 beneficiaries, policy makers and other key stakeholders to test our hypotheses and proposed solutions.
Hacking for Policy – Final Presentation:
At the end of the quarter, each student team’s policy proposals were compiled into a 10-minute presentation. The presentation told the story of the team’s learning journey, explaining where it started, where it ended, and key turning points in its understanding of the problem. (This was followed by his 3,000-word report, which focused on recommendations to address selected security challenges and explained how solutions could be implemented quickly and urgently.)
By the end of the class, all teams realized that the policy problem they had chosen had become bigger, deeper, and more interesting.
Their policy presentations are below.
Teaching classes is just as exhausting as taking them. We have amazing teaching assistants.
Team 1: Precision Match (Department of Defense Commercial AI)
Click here to view the presentation.
What makes teaching worthwhile is the feedback you get from your students.:
TIGPC was the best class I took at Stanford, and it made me think a little bit about what I wanted to do after my time at Stanford. I’m only a sophomore, but I’m starting to dig deep into energy, get out of the building (as Steve would say), and seriously consider a career in clean energy security after graduation.
Team 2: Outbound investing in China
Click here to view the presentation.
Team 3: Open Source AI
Click here to view the presentation summary.
Team 4: Alphachem
Click here to view the presentation.
One of the lessons I took away from this class was that you can be the smartest person in the room, but you will never know as much as everyone else combined, so people Let’s talk. You will become much smarter by doing so.
Team 5: South China Sea
Click here to view the presentation.
Great class! …It’s great to have prominent guest speakers come into your class and have engaging discussions. Although my background was not in national security, this class provided an important perspective on the opportunities for technological innovation to impact and serve national security.
Team 6: China’s real estate investment in the US
Click here to view the presentation.
Team 7: Public-private partnerships
Click here to view the presentation.
As a senior, I want to tell you that this was one of the best classes I took in my four years at Stanford.
Team 8: Ukraine aid
Click here to view the presentation.
lessons learned
- We combined lectures and experiential learning to help students address problems rather than just praise.
- The external input students received was a force multiplier.
- Lecture materials are now realistic, concrete, and actionable
- Effectively employ lean problem-solving techniques to address pressing national security and policy challenges
- This course is similar to the “Hacking for Policy” class and can be adapted and reproduced in the future.
- This class has created an opportunity for some of the best and brightest to tackle and address challenges at the nexus of technology, innovation, and national security.
- When students are presented with opportunities like this, they seize them proactively and achieve great results.
- The final class presentation and report is proof that it happens
- When students push beyond what they think is reasonable, extraordinary results can be achieved.Most people rise far beyond their opportunities
Categories: National Security, Innovation, Great Power Competition |