June ’26 CGCI Newsletter – CGCI Insights

Dear CGCI Community,

Beyond the devastating realities of active warfronts in places like Ukraine and the Middle East, another theater has been coming into sharper focus: the systems that keep a country running when crises hit. The last year has shown how vulnerable that theater can be. In February, a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare disrupted claims and pharmacy services nationwide, forcing hospitals and clinics to delay care and improvise workarounds as payments stalled and patients struggled to get prescriptions filled. In Mississippi, a separate cyberattack earlier this year led the state’s largest health system to shut down 35 clinics across the state while it rebuilt systems, with the Medusa ransomware group later claiming responsibility. These are far from isolated incidents; recent analyses indicate that a majority of U.S. healthcare organizations have faced ransomware in the past year, with hundreds of attacks on providers and vendors and tens of millions of patients caught in the blast radius.

Our June CGCI Insights opens with “Defense On the Home Front: Why America Must Invest in Civilian Resilience Now,” by national security expert and senior DHS executive Stephanie Dobitsch. Drawing on incidents like Change Healthcare and the Mississippi shutdown, prior attacks on pipelines and local utilities, and years of FEMA disaster response, she argues that these are previews of how the U.S. homeland will be contested in the next major crisis—not as a single “Pearl Harbor” moment, but as compound events where cyber operations, infrastructure failures, and natural disasters stack faster than legacy systems and institutions can respond. Her core point is that the gap between America’s exposure and its preparedness should change how leaders see infrastructure: not as a cost center to be patched after each crisis, but as a national‑security‑grade asset where deliberate, long‑term investment in resilience can both crowd in private capital and reduce systemic risk while creating durable value.

Separately, “How the Brain Computes, and Where Capital Should Follow,” by B. Thomas Edman, Strategy & Technology Lead at Xtremis.AI, looks at a very different frontier: the physics and architecture of AI compute. Edman writes at a moment when the AI buildout has crossed a new threshold, with multiple U.S. data centers expected to hit or exceed one gigawatt of power draw and flagship projects like OpenAI’s Stargate and Meta‘s Hyperion complex symbolizing a wave of AI infrastructure that grid planners warn will take years longer to support than it does to stand up the data halls themselves. He contrasts this with a simple benchmark: a human brain running continuous, multimodal cognition on roughly twenty watts, versus the hundreds of megawatts now being planned for single AI campuses. From there, he argues that what looks like an “energy problem” is fundamentally an architecture problem, and lays out a brain‑inspired compute stack—neuromorphic chips, photonic interconnects, probabilistic and spiking algorithms, and a missing orchestration layer—that could deliver far more capability per watt, especially in environments where power, latency, and security constraints are tightest.

Dobitsch is focused on the “analog layer” of security—grids, hospitals, water, and payments—while Edman is focused on the digital and hardware layer, where new compute architectures will determine how and where advanced AI can safely run. Each essay stands on its own. Together, they frame the problem set at the heart of CGCI’s work: a world in which the resilience of civilian systems and the design of frontier technologies will do as much to shape national power as traditional measures of military strength.

For the Council on Global Competition and Innovation – CGCI and our National Security Research Alliance, this is the center of gravity. On the home front, the work is to help boards, allocators, and operators see incidents like Change Healthcare and the Mississippi shutdown not as unfortunate one‑offs, but as signals about where to harden civilian systems and how to use existing authorities to crowd in private investment before the next shock. On the frontier, the work is to help decision‑makers separate hype from structure in AI: to recognize that the real leverage now sits in the compute and market architectures underneath the current boom, and that the choices made there will shape both economic competitiveness and national security for the next decade.

Thank you for being part of this community—and for the roles you play in steering capital, institutions, and technology through an operating environment that is getting more demanding, not less.

Sincerely,

Christina Alfonso, Executive Director, Council on Global Competition and Innovation – CGCI

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The Buffer is the Strategy

Five months of war have driven the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve to a 43-year low—while China has spent the past decade building its energy buffer.

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Andy Baker

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Omer Rafiq

Vice President, CGCI

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Benedetta Berti

Secretary General, NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Dr Benedetta Berti

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Dr. Stephen Tankel

PhD: Associate Professor, American University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council

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Gen. Samuel C. “Bo” Mahaney, USAF (Ret.), JD, MPA: Founding Director, Strategic Policy and Armed Forces R&D Institute at Missouri S&T; National Security Fellow, Harvard University.

Samuel C. Mahaney, Major General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), is the Founding Director of the Strategic Policy and Armed Forces R&D Institute (SPARDI) at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), a Carnegie R1 research university at the center of America’s national security technology future. With 36 years of executive leadership in aerospace, defense, logistics, and technology, he is building public-private partnerships that advance innovation, strengthen secure supply chains, and accelerate the transition from research to commercialization and manufacturing. Currently, he leads national-scale efforts in nuclear energy, smart grids, critical materials, microelectronics, AI, drone tech, robotics, and advanced materials.

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Andrew J. Grotto

Andrew J. Grotto

JD, MPA: William J. Perry International Security Fellow, Stanford University and Co-Director, Program on Geopolitics, Technology and Governance at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center.

Andrew J. Grotto founded and co-directs the Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), where he is also a William J. Perry International Security Fellow. He is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. 
 
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Dr. CHRISTOS A. MAKRIDIS

PhD (Senior Researcher, Gallup; Research Associate Professor, W. P. Carey School of Business – Arizona State University; Digital Fellow, Stanford University Digital Economy Lab)

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Managing Director, Head of Macro & Country Risk, Head of Credit Risk, TIAA; Fmr. Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Dept. of State

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Mark Pascale

Director, Harvard Belfer Center Intelligence Project

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Stephen Rubley

Stephen Rubley

Fmr. President, Government Division, Thomson Reuters; CEO, TRSS LLC

Mr. Steve Rubley served as the Founder, CEO and President of TRSS, a U.S. subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, where he oversaw the delivery of innovative, data-driven solutions to U.S. federal government and commercial clients, supporting critical missions related to national security, public safety, and commerce. In his additional, dual-hatted role, Steve led Thomson Reuters’ portfolio serving U.S. Federal, State, and Local Government customers, overseeing the strategic direction and implementation of innovative growth initiatives. The Government segment is dedicated to enhancing public safety through data-driven solutions.

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CEO, BearBig.ai; Operating Partner, AE Industrial Partners; Former Acting Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

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Michael Montelongo

President and CEO of GRC Advisory Services, LLC

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Lorraine Wilson

Senior Advisor, CGCI

As Lorraine is an expert in methodology and framework development. She leverages her extensive financial services and technology background to excel in research and coalition building. Lorraine is a senior advisor to the Council on Global Competition and Innovation. Lorraine founded Blue Horizon Economy, a business advisory firm in Washington, D.C. Prior to founding Blue Horizon, she was head of methodology and a member of the executive leadership team at a Microsoft-backed data management platform for the private markets. Lorraine’s early career included roles at the Department of Justice and Council on Foreign Relations. Her financial services experience includes roles in investment management in New York at Bank of America Merrill, Third Avenue Management, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

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Philip Root

CTO, GRVTY
Former Director (STO), DARPA

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Dame Fiona Murray

Associate Dean of Innovation, MIT
Chair, NATO Innovation Fund

Dame Fiona Murray is the Associate Dean of Innovation at the MIT School of Management and the William Porter (1967) Professor of Entrepreneurship. She is the Faculty Director of MIT’s Office of Innovation and also Faculty Director of The MIT Kuo Sharper Center for Prosperity and Entrepreneurship. Fiona is an associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. She received her BA ’89 and MA ‘90 from the University of Oxford in chemistry. She subsequently moved to the United States and earned an AM ’92 and PhD ’96 from Harvard University in applied sciences.

Fiona is Chair of the NATO Innovation Fund and has served on the British Prime Minister’s Council on Science and Technology and was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for her services to innovation and entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom. She is also a member of the Ministry of Defence Innovation Advisory Panel and the European Innovation Council Joint Expert Group. She also sits on a number of Boards including Prime Coalition (a not-for-profit creating new venture fund with catalytic capital to support start-ups focused on climate impact) and MassChallenge (one of the first large-scale accelerators in New England supporting entrepreneurs solving significant global issues).

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Dawn Meyerriecks

Corporate Board Member, Advisor, Speaker, Technologist
Former Deputy Director of Science and Technology, CIA

As an independent director and board member, government and commercial technical powerhouse leader, Dawn brings more than 40 years’ experience pioneering new products and services and leading transformation for iconic brands around the world, including CIA, AOL, and U.S. DoW. She is a recognized expert in delivering entrepreneurial technical capabilities and processes to international markets, leveraging unparalleled stakeholder acumen into strategy, development, integration, and operations.

Dawn’s multi-industry experience dealing with international start-ups through multi-national Fortune 10 companies delivers unique insights to private and public company boards at all life stages. She is recognized for her deep understanding of user and chief stakeholders needs, effecting innovative and essential changes wherever she has served.

From 2014-2021, Dawn led the iconic CIA Directorate of Science and Technology, directing the organization’s first restructure in their fabled 57-year history, defining and delivering global capabilities beyond state-of-the-art even in the midst of significant workforce societal and health concerns. Prior to this role, Dawn redefined technical oversight for the Intelligence Community while serving at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with a topline of +60B, enabling on-time, on-budget delivery while returning 30% of her own budget and staff to mission.

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Before entering government service, Dawn was an executive at AOL and led the restructure of AOL Products to ensure alignment to business objectives, leading M&A technical assessments and ribbon-cutting new global facilities.

Dawn is a highly sought technical leadership speaker. She maintains a current TS/SCI clearance. Additionally, Dawn has been a Virginia Master Gardener Volunteer for the last 13 years, nurturing her local community. She lives in Virginia with her family.

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Graham “Gray” Chynoweth

Founder, The Next Offset
Former Director of Global Activities, Office of Strategic Capital at the U.S. Department of War

Graham Chynoweth’s career has seen him drive change and impact across the areas of innovation, finance, and national security.

As an operator, he has served as CEO and in executive leadership roles overseeing operations, engineering, finance, legal, and talent functions in companies ranging from early-stage startups to firms with over 450 employees. He has raised more than $100 million in capital across private and public markets for companies in internet infrastructure, software, hardware, and biotech. He has also served as CEO and Director of a NASDAQ-listed company and as a Director of a publicly traded commercial bank.

As an investor, Graham has backed more than 25 startups, led New Hampshire’s largest angel investor network, and served as a General Partner in a venture fund focused on early-stage companies in New Hampshire.

In parallel with his civilian career, Graham has served as a Naval officer, leading multiple innovation initiatives. He was Deputy Director of NavalX, the U.S. Navy’s innovation cell; Director of Global Technology Scouting and Co-Investments at the Office of Strategic Capital within the Office of the Secretary of War; and a technology scout with Task Force 59 under the U.S. Navy’s Central Command.

Graham, a New Hampshire native, is also deeply involved in civic and nonprofit work, having served as a Director or Advisor to organizations such as New Hampshire Public Radio, the St. Anselm College Ethics in Governance Program, and the Business School at Southern New Hampshire University.

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)

Jesús Mantas is the former Global Managing Partner responsible for Business Transformation Services in IBM. Prior to this, he led IBM Business Consulting, IBM Global Process Services, and IBM GBS Latin America. Before IBM, he was a Partner in the High Technology practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, and worked at Procter & Gamble in Spain.

He serves as the Chair of Compensation and Management Development of the Board of Director of Biogen Inc.(NASDAQ: BIIB), as well as a Board Director of IFF (NYSE: IFF) and NACD. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global AI Council and serves on the Boards of HITEC and NACME, non-profits focused on leadership development of diversity in technology. He is the emeritus chair of IBM’s Hispanic Diversity Council.

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 Portrait2

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.