Martijn Rasser on CIA and Emerging Technology
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 12 October 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
Last week, CIA director William Burns issued a statement with a number of organizational changes and other initiatives regarding the CIA. Most media attention was drawn to the creation of a new China Mission Center, but there were several new initiatives on the technology front that also warrant attention. He talked about a new Technology Fellows program, a new Transnational and Technology Mission Center, a new chief technology officer, and a corporate board devoted to technology issues.
To talk through these initiatives, David Priess sat down with Martijn Rasser, who used to serve as a senior intelligence officer and analyst at CIA on emerging technology and tech innovation issues. He also served as a senior advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as a director at a venture-backed A.I. startup in Silicon Valley, and he is now at the Center for a New American Security as a senior fellow and director of the Technology and National Security Program.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising to access an ad-free version of the LawFair |
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| 0:18.2 | Also, check out LawFair's other podcast offerings, rational security, chatter, LawFair |
| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.0 | Ultimately I think what this new CTO announcement is all about is essentially an acknowledgement |
| 0:41.8 | that that broader strategic vision either wasn't there or hadn't been implemented properly |
| 0:49.2 | and hopefully this will write the ship in that regard. |
| 0:52.6 | I'm David Priests and this is the LawFair podcast, October 12th, 2021. |
| 1:00.3 | Last week C.I. director William Burns issued a statement with a number of organizational |
| 1:05.2 | changes and other initiatives regarding the CIA. |
| 1:09.6 | Most media attention was drawn to the creation of a new China Mission Center but there were |
| 1:14.1 | several new initiatives on the technology front that also warned attention. |
| 1:19.3 | He talked about a new technology fellows program, he talked about a new transnational and |
| 1:24.3 | technology mission center, he talked about a new chief technology officer and a corporate |
| 1:29.2 | board devoted to technology issues. |
| 1:32.5 | It sure would be nice if we had someone who worked in a senior role in the intelligence |
| 1:36.6 | community on emerging technology issues who also has experience in other parts of the government |
| 1:41.6 | and also has experience in Silicon Valley with AI startups who also happens to be a think |
| 1:48.9 | tank expert now on emerging technology and national security issues. |
| 1:53.3 | We have just such a person. |
| 1:55.6 | I sat down in the virtual jungle studio with Martin Rasser who used to serve as a senior |
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