Cybersecurity & Defense - WestExec Advisors

Lisa Monaco launches United Security podcast

Lisa Monaco and Ken Wainstein have managed national security issues at the highest levels of government. Now, they co-host United Security. "On this inaugural episode of United Security, 'Bounties, Bolton, and COVID-19,' Lisa Monaco and Ken Wainstein discuss recent reporting that the Russians paid bounties to Taliban linked militias to kill U.S. service members in Afghanistan, make sense of the Bolton saga including a breakdown of the pre-publication review process for former government officials, and provide an update on the resurgence [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-07-21T20:45:50-04:00July 10, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Lisa Monaco quoted in The Hill article, “Trump Administration Planning Pandemic Office at the State Department: Report”

"Former Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, who served under Obama, said that the Trump administration ran the risk of secluding the office from other government agencies by placing it within the State Department rather than the NSC. "'This move now to set this unit, re-set this unit up, although in a different building, on the one hand is the recognition that you do indeed need a specific identified place to constantly be focusing on pandemic response,' Monaco told CNN..." Read the [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-07-10T09:49:13-04:00July 2, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy interviewed on CNAS’ Brussels Sprouts podcast, “Defense Priorities in a New Administration”

"Michèle Flournoy joins Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss how a Biden administration can work with NATO to confront transnational threats. Flournoy has been a leader in defense policy under several administrations, including as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2009 to 2012. She is the managing partner of WestExec Advisors and former co-founder of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS)..." Listen to the full episode here: Full Episode

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T15:16:59-04:00June 26, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy quoted in Yahoo News article, “Former Pentagon Officials Blast Trump for Politicizing the Military”

"'Trump has constantly tried to use the military as a political prop,' said Michèle Flournoy, former undersecretary of defense for policy under Obama, citing, among other examples, the president’s interference in the military justice system to pardon two convicted war criminals and his decision to prevent the Navy from punishing a third — Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. "Flournoy... is not shy about what she thinks is needed to right the ship. 'The way it can be repaired is by having a [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-08-01T12:53:11-04:00June 25, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy testifies before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, “The Chinese View of Strategic Competition with the United States”

Commissioner Kamphausen, Commissioner Lewi, other distinguished members of the Commission, it is truly an honor to testify before you today on the U.S.-China strategic competition. Nature and Features of the U.S.-China Competition As you well know, the strategic competition between the United States and China is multi-faceted, with economic, technological, political, ideological, and military dimensions. Any successful approach to this competition must take account of each of these dimensions. Economic Dimensions: First and foremost, strategic competition between the U.S. and China [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T08:46:12-04:00June 24, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Avril Haines quoted in Foreign Affairs article, “When the CIA Interferes in Foreign Elections”

"'If the United States were identified as having promoted disinformation or tampering with votes in an election, it would undermine our credibility and our policy efforts, given how inconsistent such actions would be with the values we promote, which are at the heart of our soft power,' said Avril Haines, a former deputy CIA director. 'The same is not true for Russia...'" Read the full article here: Full Article

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T08:48:55-04:00June 21, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy and Josh Hochman write in the Financial Times: “Treat China’s Border Clash with India as a Clarion Call”

"India and China engaged in their first deadly border skirmish since 1975 this week. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, a disputed Himalayan border region. "The news reminded me of working at the Pentagon a decade ago, leading the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, an assessment of US defence strategy and priorities. It was clear to us even then that the rise of China, the world’s most populous country, and India, the world’s [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T09:31:48-04:00June 19, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy writes in Foreign Affairs: “How to Prevent a War in Asia”

"Amid all the uncertainty about the world that will follow the pandemic, one thing is almost sure to be true: tensions between the United States and China will be even sharper than they were before the coronavirus outbreak. The resurgence of U.S.-Chinese competition poses a host of challenges for policymakers—related to trade and economics, technology, global influence, and more—but none is more consequential than reducing the risk of war. Unfortunately, thanks to today’s uniquely dangerous mix of growing Chinese assertiveness and [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T09:34:39-04:00June 18, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Danny Russel interviewed in Business Insider article, “Kim Jong Un Has Quietly Built a 7,000-Man Cyber Army That Gives North Korea an Edge Nuclear Weapons Don’t”

"The North Korean cyber operation documented by a lot of cybersecurity firms lists this principal group as starting circa 2010. But that gives the impression that we know a lot more about North Korea's cyber activity than I think we really do. "North Korea has been cultivating and has been investing in an elite cyber force under the control of its military, the Korean People's Army and the Reconnaissance General Bureau — Kim Jong Un's clandestine security apparatus. It's estimated to [...]

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T10:02:31-04:00June 17, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|

Michèle Flournoy participates in Middle East Institute Leadership Series

"In this episode, MEI Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense and Security Program Bilal Y. Saab speaks to former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michèle A. Flournoy. The conversation [focuses] on the future of U.S. defense strategy and posture in the Middle East in an era of great power competition..." Watch the full event here: Full Event

Rebecca Skoryanc2020-06-26T09:50:56-04:00June 16, 2020|Cybersecurity & Defense|