August 15, 2024, 11:00-12:00 CST
Dr. Daniel M. Gerstein joined the RAND Corporation in December 2014. Previously, he served in the Department of Homeland Security from August 2011 to December 2014 as Under Secretary (Acting) and Deputy Under Secretary in the Science and Technology Directorate. He also has been an Adjunct Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. since 2009 where he teaches courses on technology policy and national security, military strategy and policy, countering biological warfare, and global health security.
Dr. Gerstein has extensive experience in the security and defense sectors in a variety of positions while serving as a Senior Executive Service (SES) government civilian, in uniform, in think tanks, in industry and in academia. In DHS, he was responsible for developing the vision for and executing the Science and Technology Directorate’s over $1 billion annual budget. He was also responsible for managing the directorate’s 1,100-person research staff, five laboratories (including two high containment biological labs), academic centers of excellence, and international collaborative research and development programs with foreign partner nations.
He began his professional career in the U.S. Army, serving on four continents while participating in combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism and homeland security. Dr. Gerstein also served for more than a decade in the Pentagon in various high-level staff assignments. Following retirement from active duty, Dr. Gerstein joined L-3 Communications as Vice President for Homeland Security Services, where he led an organization providing WMD preparedness and response, critical infrastructure security, emergency response and exercise support to U.S. and international customers. Before joining DHS, Dr. Gerstein served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) as Principal Director for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).
Dr. Gerstein has extensive experience in international negotiations having served on the Holbrooke Delegation that negotiated the peace settlement in Bosnia; developed and analyzed negotiating positions for the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) talks; developed a counternarcotics initiative to improve cross border communications between Andean Ridge nations and negotiated the destruction of SS-24 intercontinental ballistic rocket motors in Ukraine. Additionally, Dr. Gerstein led the Army’s most comprehensive restructuring since World War II and guided an effort to develop a comprehensive biosurveillance system for the Department of Defense.
He is a frequent national security contributor. He has published numerous books, articles, commentaries, and research on a variety of national and homeland security issues. Also a frequent contributor on television and radio including CNN, CNBC World, Hill Online, Voice of America, WUSA9 News and Federal News Radio. He has testified in front of Congress on many occasions.
Dr. Gerstein has been awarded numerous foreign, military, and civilian awards, including the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award and the U.S. Army Soldiers Medal for heroism. He is a member of several boards and advisory committees and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy and has master’s degrees from Georgia Tech, the National Defense University and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, and a PhD in Biodefense from George Mason University.
Speaker presentation
Emerging Technology and Risk Analysis: Artificial Intelligence and Critical Infrastructure
This talk is based on a report is one in a series of analyses on the effects of emerging technologies on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) missions and capabilities. As part of this research, the authors were charged with developing a technology and risk assessment methodology for evaluating emerging technologies and understanding their implications within a homeland security context. The methodology and analyses provide a basis for DHS to better understand the emerging technologies and the risks they present. This report focuses on artificial intelligence (AI), especially as it relates to critical infrastructure. The authors draw on the literature about smart cities and consider four attributes in assessing the technology: technology availability and risks and scenarios (which the authors divided into threat, vulnerability, and consequence). The risks and scenarios considered in this analysis pertain to AI use affecting critical infrastructure. The use cases could be either for monitoring and controlling critical infrastructure or for adversaries employing AI for use in illicit activities and nefarious acts directed at critical infrastructure. The risks and scenarios were provided by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate and the DHS Office of Policy. The authors compared these four attributes across three periods: short term (up to three years), medium term (three to five years), and long term (five to ten years) to assess the availability of and risks associated with AI-enabled critical infrastructure.