National security has become a dominant le ns for AI policy in Washington. But what does that framing clarify\, and wh at does it obscure? What role should frontier AI labs and academic research ers play in the American AI ecosystem? And when it comes to technological c ompetition with China\, is "race" even the right paradigm?
Ben Buchan an brings firsthand insight to these questions. From 2021 to 2025\, he serv ed as the White House Special Advisor for Artificial Intelligence\, where h e helped coordinate the Biden Administration's major AI efforts. He also se rved as Director for Technology and National Security on the National Secur ity Council. Now a professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS and author of The Ne w Fire\, The Hacker and the State\, and The Cybersecurity Dilemma\, Buchanan studies the intersection of AI\, cybersecurity\, a nd national security.
Buchanan will join the Berkman Klein Center's E xecutive Director Alex Pascal for a conversation on how AI policy gets made and contested in Washington\, the dynamics of U.S.-China AI competition\, and what comes next as the current administration continues to chart its co urse.
Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP here.
CATEGORIES:Speaker/Panel LOCATION:Lewis Hall\, 5th floor at the Berkman Klein Center's Multi-Purpose Room 515 GEO:0.000000;0.000000 ORGANIZER;CN="Lucas C Ferrer":MAILTO:lferrer@law.harvard.edu URL;VALUE=URI:https://hls.harvard.edu/events/a-conversation-with-ben-buchan an-on-national-security-and-ai-policy/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Ben-Buchanan.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20251102T060000 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR