September 9, 2020
Event recap | Western society at the crossroads, part I: Data, people, and tech
Find the full GeoTech Hour Series here.
Event description
On Wednesday, September 9 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. EDT, the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center hosted an engaging expert panel discussion about the geopolitical ramifications of both new data capabilities and new technologies as well as the challenges they pose to defense and national security in Western governments and open societies.
Today, citizens upload information about themselves willingly to the internet that would have been the envy of former authoritarian oversight regimes. Journalists are embedded with the frontline troops of armies, investigative bloggers publish state of the art analysis freely available to all, and Twitter provides near-live feedback on events and movements of insurgent forces. Western governments, and an increasing number of non-Western governments, publish defense and security policies and strategies and seek public consultation that would have been secret in years gone by. The array of information available freely in the West has raised the bar of expectation on governments, but not all information is equal, nor equally available. Not all technology is necessarily positive or progressive. How can we do the business of defense and national security with the public in an era of increasing information overload? How can we involve people in the business of defense and national securities? How can data and technologies assist in finding new roles to involve the public?
Speakers
Joseph T. Bonivel, Jr., PhD
Nonresident Senior Fellow, GeoTech Center
Atlantic Council;
Subject Matter Expert
United States Department of Defense
Carol Dumaine
Cofounder
20-20 Foresight
Thammy Evans
Senior Security Sector Reform Advisor
Defense and Governance
Lewis Shepherd
Senior Director, Research and Emerging Technologies Strategy
VMware
Hosted by
David Bray, PhD
Director, GeoTech Center
Atlantic Council