Senior Fellow for Technology and National Security, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
Drawing on her leadership at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and expertise in foreign malign influence, Jessica Brandt equips audiences to better understand evolving threats, emerging opportunities, and the policy challenges surrounding AI.
The conventional wisdom says the U.S. and China are locked in a single AI race — but that framing is wrong, and the stakes of getting it wrong are high. Drawing on deep expertise in AI and national security, this talk reframes the competition across five distinct dimensions and explains what it means for policy, power, and the future of the global order.
Your company is already a target — you just may not know it yet. This talk translates the national security threat landscape into concrete risks for business leaders, from deepfakes targeting executives to AI-enabled fraud and influence operations that can quietly erode brand trust, and lays out what organizations can do about it.
As the first director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center, she had a front-row seat to the foreign actors working hardest to undermine American democracy, and to the intelligence community’s efforts to stop them. This talk offers a rare insider account of what those actors did, how the IC responded, and what it will take to protect democratic institutions going forward.
Foreign adversaries are waging an information contest — and most of us are caught in the crossfire without knowing it. This talk pulls back the curtain on how foreign actors use social media, AI, and coordinated deception to manipulate public opinion, and what governments, industry, and publics need to do to push back.
Jessica Brandt is a senior fellow for technology and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is a leading expert on the national security implications of AI, foreign malign influence, and the governance of emerging technologies.
As director of the Foreign Malign Influence Center at ODNI, Brandt led the U.S. intelligence Community’s efforts to mitigate foreign influence threats, including during the 2024 U.S. election cycle. Reporting directly to the Director of National Intelligence, she stood up the center and spearheaded efforts to address AI-enabled foreign influence operations. She also revitalized engagement with the technology sector and implemented an innovative public communication strategy that earned bipartisan praise for its transparency and reach.
Prior to ODNI, she was policy director of the Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative and a fellow in the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings Institution. She has also held leadership roles at the German Marshall Fund and the Brookings Institution focused on technology policy and international security.
Brandt regularly testifies before Congress and briefs U.S. policymakers, technology leaders, and international officials on AI, foreign malign influence, and the national security implications of emerging technologies. Her work has appeared in outlets including the AP, BBC, CNN, Foreign Policy, NPR, New Yorker, Washington Post, Washington Quarterly, and Wired.
Brandt holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in public policy from Harvard University.
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