NSI Live

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.

On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, as part of NSI’s Tech Innovation and American National Security project, NSI hosted the third panel of a four-part series examining the national security implications of antitrust challenges at home and abroad. This third event took a look at how U.S. adversaries are addressing antitrust questions related to the tech industry as well as the implications of such efforts for our national security. Our panel features Maureen Ohlhausen, Matt Perault, and Alex Petros, and was moderated by NSI Founder and Executive Director, Jamil N. Jaffer.Adversarial nation-state governments, such as China’s, are known to bolster their own economy through government financing of certain private sector industries, including companies in the tech industry, in order to effectuate national goals, including national security related goals. In particular, while China has encouraged rapid growth in its domestic tech sector in a bid to challenge its biggest economic competitor—the United States—it has at times, placed a heavy regulatory hand on both foreign and domestic tech companies, including using the levers of antitrust policy at home. China’s antitrust challenges are seen by many to have little to do with protecting competition; rather, Beijing’s antitrust and other policies appear to punish companies and executives that don’t adhere to the party line. This panel will look at the ways in which China and other adversarial nations both encourage and discourage foreign and domestic tech competition and how such nations choose its antitrust targets.

On Thursday, September 23, from 12:30 – 1:30 PM ET, as part of NSI’s Tech Innovation and American National Security project, NSI hosted the second panel of a four-part series examining the national security implications of antitrust challenges at home and abroad. This second event took a look at how U.S.-allied governments are addressing antitrust questions related to the tech industry as well as the implications of such efforts for American and allied national security.Our panel features Dr. Roslyn Layton, Professor Jan Rybnicek, and Dr. Hal Singer, and was moderated by NSI Founder and Executive Director, Jamil N. Jaffer.European governments, including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Ireland, are increasingly raising antitrust challenges against U.S. tech companies causing friction between our nations and potentially undermining our collective national security posture, particularly relative to key nation-state competitors like China. This event examined how European nation-states, in exercising their own regulatory authorities to regulate, dissolve, and monitor companies, are moving forward with laws targeting American companies, as well as how these new regulations potentially impact these companies as well as their impact on American and allied national security. The panel also explored the critical role that U.S. and U.S. allied joint bodies, as well as tech industry, can play in promoting a democratic value-based global digital ecosystem to counter digital authoritarianism and the importance for allied national security of maintaining relative unity amongst the allies on innovation policy. 

On Thursday, August 26th, from 12 – 1 PM ET, as part of NSI’s Tech Innovation and American National Security project, NSI hosted the first of a four-part series examining the national security implications of antitrust challenges at home and abroad. This first event will provide an introduction of domestic and international antitrust laws, examine the role of the U.S. tech industry in promoting U.S. national security and economic interests, including providing historical frameworks leading up to the current call by U.S. lawmakers to introduce antitrust lawsuits to protect consumers here in the United States. Panelists include:Ashley Baker, Director of Public Policy, Committee for JusticeMike Davis, Founder and President, Internet Accountability Project (IAP)Glenn Gerstell, Senior Adviser (Non-resident), International Security Program, Center for Strategic & International StudiesProfessor Joshua Wright, Executive Director of the Global Antitrust InstituteJamil N. Jaffer, Founder and Executive Director of the National Security Institute (moderator)

The National Security Institute hosted the next event in its China's Rise 2020/21 series, featuring Patrick Jenevein, CEO of Pointe Bello, and Jessie Liu, former U.S. Attorney for D.C., as they discuss U.S.-China business relations.