Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology

Last week CMIST's Harry Krejsa and Phoebe Benich hosted a roundtable discussion in our Washington, DC, office to further expand the dialogue on the "Electrotech Moneyball” threat and opportunity prioritization framework.

Our CMIST Summer Selections series continues with Assistant Professor Justin Key Canfil. From longtime favorites to books on his summer reading list, he shares a collection of titles that have informed his work and captured his interest. See what's on his list and stay tuned for more summer selections from across the CMIST community.

A summer in DC offers opportunities both inside and outside the classroom! Last week, members of the 2026 summer Friedman Fellowship cohort and MS STAIR program attended the Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park during their time in the nation's capital.

Before graduating in May with a major in international relations and political science, Lucia Shen was part of Carnegie Mellon University’s highly selective Fifth Year Scholar program.

Read about Shen's work to bring the past online by digitizing student theater history. https://www.cmu.edu/cmist/news-archive/news/2026/june/digitizing-student-theater-history.html

New Micro & Mini Courses for Fall! CMIST has added two new courses to the mini 2 fall 2026 schedule, including:

84-200 / 84-600 Security War Game Simulation (3 units)
This micro course will be taught over one weekend: Friday, November 6, from 1-5PM, Saturday, November 7, from 9AM-5PM, and Sunday, November 8, from 9AM-5PM.

84-345 / 84-645 Hackers, the Law, & Policy Responses (6 units)
This mini 2 course will meet on Wednesdays from 7:00-9:50PM.

Visit our website for more details, including the full descriptions for each course: https://www.cmu.edu/cmist/academics/courses/undergraduate-courses/index.html

What changes when cybersecurity is viewed as an investment rather than an expense? In CMIST's Scientists & Strategists speaker series, "Digital Frontiers: Technology, Influence, and Security in Central and South America," Minister Paula Bogantes Zamora reflected on how strategic partnerships, diplomacy, and long-term investment can help nations navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape. Watch the full discussion: https://youtu.be/UFvvn8GnPpw?si=prfMjaLBcZJyAjqM

We are thrilled to welcome Andrew Scott to the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST) as our newest Non-Resident Senior Fellow.

Andrew brings over two decades of distinguished public service to CMIST, having held pivotal leadership roles at the White House, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of State.

A former member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service, he led the agency’s worldwide effort against nation-state cyber threats. Later, as CISA’s first Associate Director for China Operations, he drove the U.S. response to the Volt Typhoon and Storm-0558 campaigns. Across two tours at the National Security Council—most recently as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Cyber Policy—Andrew shaped national cyber strategy, strengthened international partnerships, and managed the government's most serious cyber incidents.

Today, he bridges the public and private sectors, leading enterprise and third-party risk management for cybersecurity, technology, and AI at a Fortune 100 financial institution. He is also a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a 2026 Presidential Leadership Scholar.

At CMIST, Andrew’s work will focus on frontier AI security, the future of government cyber defense, critical infrastructure resilience, and strategic competition with China.

Please join us in giving Andrew a warm welcome to the CMIST community.

Our CMIST Summer Selections series continues with Project Administrator Rosalie Woolf! She shares some of the books, podcasts, and audiobooks that have made an impression on her, along with a few titles she's looking forward to this summer. Take a look at what's on her list and stay tuned as we continue sharing summer favorites from across the CMIST community.

On May 27th, Audrey Kurth Cronin gave the keynote address at King’s College London for the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, and the Global Internet Forum on Counterterrorism and Technology. Titled “Technology, Terrorism, and the Risks of Outsourcing Human Judgment,” her lecture analyzed how frontier AI companies and governments can mitigate the risks of emerging innovations, especially AI and biotechnology. The large audience included senior policymakers, academics, and representatives of all the major tech companies.

What is the most memorable part of spending a semester in DC? Recent Carnegie Mellon University graduate Varsha Gaddam, who majored in business administration and ethics, history, and public policy, sat down with Elijah Dourado to reflect on her experience with the Carnegie Mellon University Washington Semester Program.

See what she had to say — including how she balanced her internship with coursework, the mentors she met along the way, and advice she'd share with students searching for internship opportunities.

Read the interview: https://www.cmu.edu/cmist/washington-center/washington-semester-program/internships/interning-in-washington-dc.html