New Voices in National Security

Bridging the Gap is excited to introduce its latest project, the New Voices in National Security initiative. Made possible through support from the Frankel Family Foundation, New Voices extends current national security debates by incorporating the most up-to-date research findings from both established and emerging scholars who are not typically part of the Washington, DC policy orbit. New Voices workshops are aimed to build connections between innovative national security scholars and members of the policy community, and result in a tailored outreach strategy aimed at informing sound national security decisions.

Bridging the Gap’s second New Voices in National Security workshop, “Digital Authoritarianism: Tools, Diffusion, and Responses,” took place on September 12 and 13 in collaboration with the Center for a New American Security. The workshop kicked off with a keynote discussion with Congressman Tom Malinowski (NJ-7), and convened leading policy practitioners and cutting-edge academics for a what strategic and policy options are available to the U.S. and others for challenging the harmful effects of digital illiberalism. Academic experts, including Shazeda Ahmed, Steven Feldstein, Seva Gunitskiy, Sheena Greitens, Molly Roberts, and Jessica Chen Weiss, shared their analyses and recommendations with the policy community.

Bridging the Gap’s inaugural New Voices in National Security workshop, “The Deterrent and Signaling Effects of Sanctions,” took place on January 31-February 1, 2019 in collaboration with the Center for a New American Security. The workshop convened leading policy practitioners and cutting-edge academics for a discussion on the use and implications of sanctions. Academic experts, including Shannon Carcelli, Daniel Drezner, Bryan Early, Sue Eckert, Rupal Mehta, Nicholas Miller, Richard Nephew, Dursun Peksen, and Timothy Peterson, shared their analyses and recommendations with the policy community.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor from CNAS published a Foreign Affairs piece, The Digital Dictators: How Technology Strengthens Autocracy drawing on the conclusions of our sanctions workshop!

A recent report by GAO, Economic Sanctions: Agencies Assess Impacts on Targets, and Studies Suggest Several Factors Contribute to Sanctions’ Effectiveness, cited research presented at our workshop. We are thrilled to see such immediate impact from our newest program!

For a closer look at some of the ideas and policy recommendations discussed during the workshop, we invite you to review the Center for New American Security series of commentaries, “Grappling the Growing Use of Sanctions: Bridging the Academic-Policy Divide,” as well as pieces published by Carcelli, Mehta, and Peterson in the International Affairs Blog. A white paper with further policy prescriptions based on the workshop will be published in the fall.