Bridging Worlds: Applying Lessons from Sustainability Frameworks to National Security Investing

Lorraine Spradley Wilson, Senior Advisor, Council on Global Competition and Innovation – CGCI

As geopolitical risks intensify and the global balance of power shifts, the imperative for the U.S. to outcompete strategic rivals has grown more urgent. Private capital is being called upon to help shore up resilience in semiconductors, manufacturing advancements, critical minerals, defense technology, and other sectors vital to national security. But in the rush to mobilize investment, a critical toolset is often overlooked: sustainability.

Sustainability is not just about ESG reporting or climate disclosures. At its best, it offers a rigorous, metrics-driven framework for evaluating long-term risk, stakeholder impact, and organizational performance. These are the same elements that define successful national security investments: strategic foresight, resilience under stress, and systems-level thinking. The intersection is not only intuitive, but overdue.

From Frameworks to Foresight

During my tenure as a Chief Sustainability Officer at a data management platform designed for the private markets, I developed reporting frameworks utilized by thousands of private companies. The goal was to move beyond vague commitments and develop usable systems that could measure, compare, and improve performance across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions.

Although ESG and sustainability frameworks have faced criticism, often regarding inconsistent standards, regulatory complexity, and questions about real-world impact, this scrutiny has been a catalyst for improvement. In response, these frameworks have evolved to become more robust, transparent, and adaptable. The process of addressing these challenges has sharpened the tools needed to rigorously assess risk, build resilience, and evaluate long-term value, capabilities that are equally essential in national security investing.

In essence, the evolution of ESG frameworks under pressure has produced methodologies that are well-suited to the complexities and demands of national security. Today, as a Senior Advisor to the Council on Global Competition and Innovation – CGCI, I advocate for applying this refined, metrics-driven logic to national security investing, when and where appropriate.

CGCI’s Methodology Framework is rooted in defining eight critical sectors where investment has both economic and strategic implications: AI and quantum computing, energy security, biotech and biomanufacturing, food security and agtech, critical minerals, manufacturing advancements and supply chain resilience, cybersecurity, space, and defense, and semiconductors and microelectronics. For each sector, the methodology examines key indicators such as supply chain dependencies and foreign ownership risk. These are not unlike materiality maps in sustainability, where relevance, risk, and measurability converge.

Data, Metrics, and Accountability

The sustainability field offers decades of hard-won lessons in how to move from narrative to measurement. Frameworks, such as those from the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), all attempt to bring coherence to what can otherwise be a fractured reporting ecosystem.

That same structure can benefit national security-oriented investing. CGCI asks difficult questions regarding a company’s strategic alignment with national interest and its ability to support resilient supply chains. For example, rather than merely labeling a semiconductor firm as high-risk or high-reward, it asks: Is it enabling domestic chip sovereignty? This is the thinking sustainability has championed for years, moving beyond binary labels and into contextual, forward-looking analysis.

Sustainability Practitioners Reconsider Defense and So Should We

Recently, The Wall Street Journal spotlighted how the sustainability community is rethinking long-standing exclusions of defense stocks in light of the Russia-Ukraine war. For decades, many ESG funds have automatically screened out companies involved in the manufacture of weapons and defense contractors, a process known as, ‘negative screening’. But that binary view has begun to shift. As Ukraine defends itself against unprovoked aggression, many investors now recognize that defense, when exercised by democratic states, is a form of protection, not just of territory, but of values.

This reassessment reflects a broader recalibration that is needed in sustainability investing. It’s no longer enough to apply static screens or exclusionary checklists. Instead, investors must ask more pointed questions: Does the company create long-term public benefit? In a world where authoritarian regimes have weaponized supply chains, finance, and even agriculture, the lines between sustainability, resilience, and security have blurred. Investors must adapt accordingly.

The Role of Training and Capacity Building

Too often, investors lack the tools to understand the geopolitical implications of their portfolios. Conversely, policymakers would benefit from more capital markets literacy to engage private firms more effectively. Bridging these disciplines requires new skill sets. Companies deploying sustainability education often do so across multiple formats, ranging from in-person conversations to online training. These same principles of education, alignment, and continuous improvement that are embraced by sustainability practitioners can and should be brought into the national security capital markets conversation.

A Call for Integration

Rather than seeing sustainability and national security as distinct domains, we should treat them as mutually reinforcing. National security depends on economic strength, democratic resilience, and technological leadership, all of which are shaped by how capital is allocated. Likewise, sustainable investing gains legitimacy when it grapples with the realities of geopolitics, risk, and the creation of long-term value.

By applying the rigor of sustainability frameworks to national security investing, we not only enhance capital stewardship but also strengthen the democratic systems that those investments are meant to defend.

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Graham “Gray” Chynoweth

Founder, The Next Offset
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He holds a B.A. in Political Science with High Distinction from the University of California, Berkeley; an M.A. in Public Policy from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy; a J.D. from Duke University School of Law; and a Certificate in Transnational Law from Duke and the University of Geneva Faculty of Law.

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Jesús Mantas

Jesús Mantas

Former Global Managing Partner, IBM
Board Director, Biogen, IFF, and National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD)

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Jesús holds degrees in Telecommunications, Software Engineering, and Business Administration, was a professor at University of California, Irvine Graduate School of Management, and served as an officer in the Air Force of Spain.

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Glen Dodson

Glen Dodson

Job Title, Cyberistics

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David Ulevitch

General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

David Ulevitch is an entrepreneur and investor. As a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, he leads the firm’s American Dynamism practice, which focuses on investing in companies advancing American interests — including supporting builders in areas such as defense, national security, public safety, nuclear and aerospace. David sits on the boards of Alloy Automation, Anduril, AnyRoad, Charthop, Firstbase, Flock Safety, Orderful, Rewatch, Skydio, Superhuman, Supermove, Vitally, and WorkBoard. David has written extensively on the role of technology in advancing American interests, including how nuclear technology can untether our military, the future of public safety and how the U.S. can rewire the Pentagon for a new era. David was previously the founder and CEO of OpenDNS, a cloud-delivered security service that was acquired by Cisco in 2015 for $635 million. While at Cisco, David was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Security — a $2.4 billion annual revenue business with more than 5,000 team members — where he oversaw the company’s global cybersecurity strategy, product portfolio, and business. Prior to OpenDNS, David founded EveryDNS, an authoritative DNS service, and grew it into the world’s largest free DNS service. He sold it to Dyn (now Oracle) in 2010.

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John M. B. O'Connor

John M. B. O’Connor

Chairman and CEO, J.H. Whitney Investment Management

John M. B. O’Connor is CEO of J.H. Whitney Investment Management, LLC. Previously, Mr. O’Connor was Chairman of JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management. Mr. O’Connor is also CEO of Whitney Strategic Services and Whitney Data Services. Mr. O’Connor serves on the Board of Directors of numerous companies including Oceus Networks, LLC., Sequoia Holdings, Inc., and Boon Logic, Inc.

Mr. O’Connor is a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he lectures on the Economics of National Security. He served as a member of the U.S. Department of War Business Board from 2005 to 2021 and as a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army for New York from 2014 to 2019. He is a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Air Force Distinguished Public Service Award and the Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award. Mr. O’Connor earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tulane University and a Master’s in Business Administration degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

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Sherif Nahas

Sherif Nahas

Director of Private Equity, Ford Foundation

Sherif works at The Ford Foundation, where he manages approximately $7 billion in private investments, including venture capital, private equity, real estate, and natural resources. He previously managed private investments for the University of Virginia endowment, and before that worked at BankBoston and Sand Hill Capital. Sherif started his career as an engineer and product strategist at The Ford Motor Company. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. and M.E in Aerospace Engineering, and received an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

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Byron Loflin

Byron Loflin

Global Head of Board Advisory & Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence, Nasdaq

Byron Loflin is the Global Head of Board Advisory at Nasdaq where he leads the governance team in driving board and governance effectiveness. Byron founded the Center for Board Excellence (CBE) in 2010 and was CEO until it was acquired by Nasdaq in 2019.

Prior to CBE, Byron was the CEO and president for two private companies between 1992-2009. Along with speaking on and teaching corporate governance effectiveness, Byron is a graduate of James Madison University (BA) and Harvard Business School (OPM) and several HBS Executive Education Certificates including Havard’s Board Effectiveness program.

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Gen. David Stilwell

General David Stilwell

Ret. General USAF; Fmr Assistant Secretary of State (Asia)

Brig Gen (Ret) David Stilwell is the Fox Fellow for Future Pacing Threats at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Institute for Future Conflict. In this role, he educates cadets and faculty on the growing military threat presented by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including its use of political and information warfare to undermine democracies. His teachings help prepare future officers for the challenges they will face immediately after commissioning. Stilwell most recently served as the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of EastAsian and Pacific Affairs from 2019 to 2021. Before that, he served in the U.S.Air Force for 35 years. Stilwell enlisted as a Korean linguist in 1980, served as a fighter pilot and commander for 25 years, and was later the Defense Attaché in Beijing. He retired in 2015 as the Asia advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He speaks Korean, Chinese, and some Japanese.
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Adam Segal

Ira A. Lipman Chair in Emerging Technologies and National Security, and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)

Adam Segal is the Ira A. Lipman chair in emerging technologies and national security and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on security issues, technology development, and Chinese domestic and foreign policy, Segal was the project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force reports Confronting Reality in Cyberspace, Innovation and National Security, Defending an Open, Global, Secure, and Resilient Internet, and Chinese Military Power. His book The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age (PublicAffairs, 2016) describes the increasingly contentious geopolitics of cyberspace. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Affairs, among others. From April 2023 to June 2024, Segal was a senior advisor in the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, where he led the development of the United States International Cyberspace and Digital Policy. Before coming to CFR, Segal was an arms control analyst for the China Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists. There, he wrote about missile defense, nuclear weapons, and Asian security issues. He has been a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for International Studies, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has taught at Vassar College and Columbia University. Segal is the author of Advantage: How American Innovation Can Overcome the Asian Challenge (W.W. Norton, 2011)
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Nazak Nikakhtar Portrait

The Honorable Nazak Nikakhtar

Partner and National Security Chair, Wiley Rein LLP
Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce

The Honorable Nazak Nikakhtar brings over two decades of experience in international trade and national security to help clients succeed in the domestic and global marketplace. Through leadership roles in the U.S. government and private sector, Nazak has leveraged her valuable insights into the expansive range of U.S. and international laws, regulatory and policy processes, and federal agency resources to achieve clients’ business objectives. 

 

From 2018 to 2021, with unanimous confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Nazak served as the Department of Commerce’s Assistant Secretary for Industry & Analysis at the International Trade Administration (ITA). Nazak also served the duties of the Under Secretary for Industry and Security at Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). In these roles, Nazak was the agency’s primary liaison with U.S. industry and trade associations, and she shaped major initiatives to strengthen U.S. industry competitiveness, promote innovation, and accelerate economic and job growth.

 

As one of the key national security experts in the U.S. government, she developed and implemented innovative laws, regulations, and policies to safeguard strategically important technologies, strengthen the U.S. industrial base, and protect the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. As the Department’s lead on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), she played a key role in shaping U.S. investment policy. As the head of the agency’s trade policy office, she advised the U.S. government on legal and economic issues impacting critical technologies, advanced manufacturing, financial services, e-commerce, data privacy, cybersecurity, critical minerals/rare earths, and energy competition. Finally, as the federal agency’s lead on supply chain assessments, Nazak spearheaded the United States’ first-ever whole-of-government initiative to evaluate and strengthen supply chains across all strategic sectors of the economy.

 

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R.P. Eddy

R.P. Eddy

CEO, Ergo

R.P. Eddy is the CEO of Ergo, a geopolitical and economic intelligence firm known for forecasting critical world events. Leaders of allied governments and the world’s most consequential global businesses rely on Ergo to navigate what the firm calls “The Fastest Year in History”—with each year faster still.

Previously, R.P. served as a Director at the White House National Security Council and as a senior U.S. and UN diplomat. He has represented the U.S. in peace negotiations, played a role in the (flawed) creation of the International Criminal Court, and led attempts to recover American hostages. He was an initial architect of the Global Fund, which has since been credited with saving over 50 million lives; the UN team was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize. Recognized by Foreign Policy magazine as one of “America’s most respected national security experts,” R.P. was also named a “Global Leader for Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum.

R.P. co-authored the award-winning bestseller Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes (HarperCollins). His advocacy work spans leading counterterrorism programs for the NYPD and LAPD, promoting Western industrial competitiveness with DARPA, advocating for safe social media, and supporting the responsible development of AI. He has testified before Congress, spoken at the UN General Assembly and the Nobel Prize Summit, and is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

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Christina Alfonso

Executive Director, CGCI

Christina Alfonso is a senior advisor to leaders across government and industry, specializing in national security, economic competitiveness, and emerging technology policy. As the Executive Director of the Council on Global Competition and Innovation (CGCI), she leads an initiative championed by the U.S. Department of War and private sector executives to advance resilient, market-driven security investments and foster strategic growth. As a Senior Advisor at DARPA, Christina prioritized developing public-private partnerships and advised on strategies to strengthen the U.S. defense innovation ecosystem.

Previously, as co-founder/CFO of Novata, a Microsoft and S&P-backed technology platform, Christina enhanced private market transparency through non-financial data reporting. As co-founder/CEO of Madeira Global (2012-2020), she pioneered values-based investment solutions for the private equity and credit sectors.

She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in National and International Security program. Christina holds an M.B.A. from ESADE Business School (Spain) and a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Fordham University. Christina is a trustee and treasurer of the RWJBH Monmouth Medical Center Foundation and has served on the advisory boards of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle, PathNorth, and the Women’s Society for the Economy and Society. She has extensive international experience, most recently in São Paulo, and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.