NSI Live

As part of NSI’s ongoing series, “A Spotlight on China’s Global Repression,” we are excited to host a discussion examining how China uses digital tools, such as social media platforms like WeChat and TikTok and its social credit system, to further the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive goals. Experts will outline the dangers these tactics pose inside and outside China and how the U.S. can counter these global threats.Participants:Geoffrey Cain, NSI Fellow, Senior Fellow, Lincoln NetworkLindsay Gorman, Senior Fellow, Emerging Technologies, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall FundYaqiu Wang, Senior China Researcher, Human Rights WatchSuzanne Wilson Heckenberg, NSI Advisory Board member, President of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (moderator)

NSI held our inaugural cryptocurrency and blockchain technology event, “Crypto and National Security: How to Validate American Innovation and Verify U.S. National Security.” This event featured a panel of experts discussing critical U.S. national security policy opportunities and challenges related to crypto innovation and adoption.“Crypto and National Security” kicked off NSI’s year-long policy programming initiative focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology – an emerging and important area of policy and innovation. NSI will host a range of conversations throughout 2022 that bring leading experts together to discuss and analyze issues such as crypto’s implications for:U.S. leadership in tech and financial markets;Illicit finance and sanctions policy;Privacy and human rights at home and abroad; andOther key national security objectives.Participants:Jerry Brito, Executive Director, Coin CenterSheila Warren, Chief Executive Officer, Crypto Council for InnovationJuan Zarate, Global Co-Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer, K2 Integrity, and NSI Advisory Board MemberModerator: Laura Shin, Author of The Cryptopians and host of Unchained podcast

As geopolitical competition moves into the digital age, the United States and China find themselves locked in a battle for technological and innovation dominance. As China seeks to decrease their reliance on Western tech – including through Chinese industry’s theft of stolen U.S. technology and state financing by the CCP – how can the U.S. and American industry continue to lead in the years to come?Join NSI for this important discussion featuring Anja Manuel, co-founder and Principal at Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, and Nick Schifrin, Foreign Affairs Correspondent at PBS, which not only answered this question but dove into evolving U.S.-China relations and the implications of an ever transforming digital economy.As a special added treat, Nick Schifrin, having just returned from Ukraine, will also share his experiences on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and will discussthe relationship between Russia and China with Anja Manuel.

NSI hosted Sarah Isgur, political commentator – including at The Dispatch and podcast host of Advisory Opinions – and former spokesperson for the Department of Justice, Lauren Claffey Tomlinson, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security and now President of Claffey Communications, and Heather Molino, who has over two decades of Capitol Hill and communications experience, as well as a decade in broadcast journalism. Tal Kopan, Senior Political reporter and Washington correspondent for the SF Chronicle, moderated the event.These four powerful women in media drew from their extensive and diverse backgrounds to share their stories on how they get to where they are and what lessons they have for those interested in joining the national security and media ranks.

NSI was honored to host Matthew G. Olsen, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division at the Department of Justice, to discuss how DoJ views the new range of threats emanating from nation-state actors, including from China, Iran, and others. AAG Olsen kicked off the event with remarks, which was then be followed by a fireside chat with John Lipsey, Director of Policy at NSI, to further discuss how to counter espionage, trade-secrets theft, and cybercrime cases – all of which pose significant dangers to U.S. economic and national security interests, as well as on American innovation.

Enes Kanter Freedom from the Boston Celtics, Joey Siu, an outspoken Hong Kong activist and Rep. Mike Gallagher (WI-08) joined us for a critical examination of China’s human rights violations happening in the Winter Olympics’ backyard. Josh Rogin from the Washington Post moderated the discussion, which highlighted how everyone can become an ally of the Uyghur community and pressure China now and beyond the Olympic games.All panelists have been outspoken critics of China’s genocide of the Uyghur community and the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive regime. Enes Kanter Freedom has publicly called on American Olympians to boycott this year’s Winter Games and has repeatedly pressured prominent corporation, Nike, to speak out on the genocide. Joey Siu, an exiled Hong Kong activist, led the push for the Biden Administration to announce a diplomatic boycott, which she argued was the first step in holding China accountable at the Winter Games. Rep. Mike Gallagher has been busy in Congress and a year ago, led the international effort with nine other countries to pressure the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to move the Winter Games from Beijing. When Chinese Olympian, Peng Shuai, went missing, Rep. Gallagher also introduced legislation that would sanction senior members of the IOC for being complicit, and called on the Biden Administration to take a stand as well. Josh Rogin has written numerous op-eds for the Washington Post that highlight the ongoing human rights atrocities China has been committing. Most recently his articles focus on the controversy of the Winter Games, and what athletes and lawmakers can do to protest.