Schar School Featured Stories

Master of Global Commerce and Policy

Schar School Biodefense Students Selected for Distinguished Fellowship

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 18:31:16 +0000

Schar School Biodefense Students Selected for Distinguished Fellowship Andrew J Schappert Thu, 01/23/2025 - 13:31

The Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity (ELBI) Fellowship, offered by the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is one of the most distinguished and prestigious fellowship available to those in the biosecurity profession.

Two students in ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government’s highly ranked biodefense PhD program, Janet Marroquin and Katie Dammer, were chosen for this honor and will be joining 29 other young professionals in the fellowship’s 2025 cohort.

During their fellowship, participants will participate in biosecurity workshops, networking events, and research symposiums, in Washington, D.C., and abroad.

Gregory Koblentz, director of the biodefense graduate program, congratulated the students on their accomplishment.

“Janet and Katie are rising stars in biosecurity, so it’s very gratifying to see their potential recognized by the leading think tank in the field,” he said.

Janet Marroquin: ‘I’m most excited to engage with international perspectives on common problems …’ Photos provided.

Marroquin graduated in 2019 with a master’s degree in biodefense. Her PhD dissertation examines Russia’s motivation and strategy for using vaccine-related narratives in its disinformation operations.

She currently works as a full-time research analyst for a federally funded research and development center. Her work focuses on analyzing national security challenges related to emerging biotechnologies and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) weapons.

“I’m most excited to engage with international perspectives on common problems, especially science communication and public trust in state institutions,” she said.

Her time at George Mason helped prepare her for both her career and the fellowship because of the nature of the program, the diverse student backgrounds, and its comprehensive approach to biosecurity, she said.

“The biodefense courses exposed me to the vulnerabilities that we as a global society have to the spread of disease due, in no small part, to inadequate preparedness,” she said, adding that her favorite classes were Koblentz’s course on biodefense strategy and computational physics and chemistry professor Estela Blaisten-Barojas’s challenging-but-rewarding course on numerical methods.

Dammer is a first-year student in the biodefense PhD program. The ELBI program and those who speak highly of it have surrounded her since her undergraduate studies, so she jumped at the chance to learn more about this ever-changing field.

Katie Dammer: ‘Every year brings changes, but it is exciting to know that this will be a key piece of my professional development …’

“I am so grateful to the Center for Health Security for the acceptance and to colleagues and ELBI alumni for all of the kind words I have received since this year’s cohort was announced,” she said. “Every year brings changes, but it is exciting to know that this will be a key piece of my professional development throughout 2025.”

Her focus is on the intersection of national security and science policy, and her current professional role covers a variety of natural, accidental, and deliberate threats.

She said she is most excited to build a biosecurity community and take time away from her career to “nerd out” over the many topics presented during the fellowship.

Dammer hopes her time as a ELBI fellow will both complement and enhance her research and discussion skills, and she looks forward to engaging with pioneers across the public health and policy fields.

She added that she owes a special thanks to her father who, as a career academic, has been an inspiration as she started her PhD journey and now the fellowship ahead of her.

Marroquin and Dammer join a number of other Schar School biodefense students and graduates who have served as ELBI fellows, including Siddha Hover, MS ’14 (ELBI Class of 2016); Francisco Cruz, MS ’15 (ELBI Class of 2016); Saskia Popescu, PhD ’19 (ELBI Class of 2017); Yong-Bee Lim, MS ’13, PhD ’21 (ELBI Class of 2018); Justin Hurt, PhD ’23 (ELBI Class of 2019); and Matthew Ferreira, MS ’22 (ELBI Class of 2023).

The author is a first-year student in the biodefense master’s program with a special interest in terrorism and the use of pathogens as weapons. This story first appeared in the biodefense program’s The Pandora Report.

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Gregory Koblentz

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Master’s in Biodefense

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Organization Development and Knowledge Management

ODKM Graduate Melvin Brown II Appointed Chief Information Officer of Office of Personnel Management

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 16:55:32 +0000

ODKM Graduate Melvin Brown II Appointed Chief Information Officer of Office of Personnel Management Andrew J Schappert Tue, 01/21/2025 - 11:55

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Tojo Thatchenkery

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The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has named ��AV alumnus Melvin Brown II as its new Chief Information Officer (CIO), following the retirement of former CIO Guy Cavallo. Brown, a seasoned leader in IT and cybersecurity with more than 30 years of experience spanning military, public, and private sectors, steps into the role after serving as OPM’s Deputy CIO since January 2021.

Melvin Brown II. Photo provided.

Brown earned his master’s degree in New Professional Studies from George Mason’s School of Public Policy, now the Schar School of Policy and Government, in 2003. The degree is now incorporated in the one-of-a-kind Organization Development and Knowledge Management program (ODKM), directed by founder Tojo Thatchenkery.

“I am not surprised at this appointment,” said Thatchenkery. “Melvin has been consistently applying what he learned in the ODKM program and he is active in mentoring students who came after him. I am so delighted to see that one of the most enthusiastic champions for the ODKM program is now the CIO of OPM.”

In his new position, Brown will spearhead the 2,500-employee agency’s digital transformation, focusing on enterprise technology modernization, and bolstering the agency’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The OPM is responsible for overseeing all policies that support federal human resources departments, among other duties.

His leadership has already contributed to OPM achieving an A rating on the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard, a key measure of IT progress across federal agencies.

Before joining OPM, Brown held pivotal roles in government IT leadership, including director of enterprise business management within the Small Business Administration’s Office of the CIO and senior advisor for the Department of Homeland Security’s Presidential Transition Office.

Brown is a board member of the 23,000-member nonprofit FinOps Foundation, where he promotes collaborative approaches to cloud financial management. The organization represents some 10,000 companies.

An OPM spokesperson praised Brown as “an integral leader in delivering many of OPM’s accomplishments in modernizing IT.” His leadership, they said, will continue to drive the agency’s mission of providing efficient, high-quality service to federal employees and their beneficiaries.

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Schar School Student Spotlight

Using AI to uncover human smuggling networks

Teresa Donnellan — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 22:39:59 +0000

Using AI to uncover human smuggling networks Teresa Donnellan Wed, 01/15/2025 - 17:39

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Carlotta Domeniconi

Sean Luke

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera

As vulnerable members of society, migrants are subject to exploitation. Professor Carlotta Domeniconi in the Department of Computer Science at ��AV is using artificial intelligence (AI) to combat that abuse. She is the principal investigator (PI) on a groundbreaking project aimed at understanding and modeling human smuggling networks.

Carlotta Domeniconi

In collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security’s Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA) Center for Excellence, Domeniconi and co-PIs Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera and Sean Luke are developing advanced machine learning techniques to analyze publicly available data and uncover the intricate workings of human smuggling networks between Mexico and the United States. While Domeniconi and Luke, both computer science faculty, bring expertise in machine learning, Correa-Cabrera is a professor in George Mason's Schar School of Policy and Government specializing in border studies, U.S.-Mexico relations, international security, migration studies, and illicit networks.

A significant challenge in this project is the sparsity and complexity of the data, said Domeniconi. Criminal networks are large, dynamic, and constantly evolving.

"The very nature of criminal networks—their secret nature—makes it practically impossible to gather useful data," she explained. This challenge led to the team’s innovative approach of using publicly available text data—past cases of prosecuted smugglers at both the state and federal levels in the United States as well as social media posts and news articles by and about smugglers. They are collecting data from the 1980s to 2024 to analyze the temporal dynamics of these networks.

“There are videos of smugglers actually showcasing people traveling across very difficult areas from Central America,” Domeniconi noted as an example. “You can extract a lot of information about the routes they take, where they cross the borders, and the means they use."

The team is using natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning models that are pre-trained on vast amounts of text data, enabling them to understand and extract meaningful information from the data they are collecting. Two doctoral students will support the co-PIs, one from computer science and the other from the Schar School. The team is working on automating the process of building and analyzing these criminal networks using large language models and graph mining techniques. By visualizing these networks as knowledge graphs, the team aims to mine behavioral patterns and understand how these networks adapt to changes in policy enforcement. Ultimately, this project could provide a methodology applicable to various criminal networks beyond human smuggling.

Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera

“The current project bridges the gap between machine learning and social science,” explained Correa-Cabrera. “We can replicate this same model and methodology to analyze legal cases of drug smuggling, money laundering, and arms trafficking, thereby modeling and explaining the evolution of these activities over the past few decades.”

Domeniconi's pioneering work in modeling human smuggling networks is a testament to the power of AI in addressing complex social issues. By merging domain expertise with state-of-the-art machine learning techniques, this project not only promises to unravel the clandestine operations of human smuggling but also to create a robust methodology applicable to various criminal networks. The insights gained from this research could significantly enhance national security measures, offering a strategic advantage in the fight against human smuggling and those who perpetrate this crime.

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computer science

Artificial Intelligence

natural language processing

Human Trafficking

CINA

Visiting International Scholars

Strategic Direction

How Visiting International Scholars Contribute to the Academic Community: Meet Maurizio Geri

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 18:04:36 +0000

How Visiting International Scholars Contribute to the Academic Community: Meet Maurizio Geri Andrew J Schappert Wed, 01/15/2025 - 13:04

Maurizio Geri has wasted no time in exploring opportunities at ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government. The voluble Italian is a distinctive presence in the classroom, at panel discussions, and at various social events held throughout the semester at the school.

Visiting international scholar Maurizio Geri: ‘I had great interactions with interested and passionate students.’ Photos provided.

But Geri, it should be noted, is not a student, nor is he a member of the faculty. He is one of about a dozen Schar School visiting international scholars who spend a predetermined amount of time at the university. The scholars, many of them professors elsewhere, come to the Schar School to use George Mason resources in accomplishing their research and contributing to relevant classroom discussions.

In Geri’s case, the senior strategic international security analyst is capitalizing on his more than 20 years of experience with nongovernmental organizations, think tanks, and international institutions to develop “a better strategy for NATO and European Union cooperation to combat hybrid warfare from Russia and China,” he said.

“The work studies the technology and energy sectors in particular,” he said, with hopes to “improve cooperation in dual-use emerging disruptive technologies.”

Geri, an Italian Navy Lieutenant Reservist-POLAD (a political advisor), was awarded the 2023 EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoc Fellowship’s Horizon Europe, a prestigious and competitive flagship program for doctoral and postdoctoral training through a fellowship from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice.

The practice of universities hosting visiting international scholars began in ancient Greece, with cross-border scholarly exchanges, notably Plato’s Academy of Athens and the Library of Alexandria, where scholars from different regions shared knowledge.

In modern times, the practice was institutionalized in the late 19th century, beginning in Germany and spreading across Europe and into the United States. While the scholars benefit from research resources, the schools—including students and faculty—gain new viewpoints and fresh insights.

Maurizio Geri: ‘Maurizio is eager to work with students and colleagues. He is a wonderful addition to the school.’—Professor of Public Policy Desmond Dinan

“Visiting international scholars such as Dr. Geri enrich the academic climate of the Schar School,” said Schar School dean Mark J. Rozell. “They bring diverse perspectives on public policy issues and help build research and academic program collaborations for our faculty and students.”

Desmond Dinan, the Schar School professor of public policy who supervised Geri’s visit, has seen the effects of a visiting professor first-hand.

“International scholars bring different perspectives, experience, and insights to the classroom and, more broadly, to the intellectual life of the school. Maurizio Geri is a great example,” he said, citing Geri’s credentials and activities on campus.

“He also happens to be a reservist in the Italian navy, which made his participation in my European Security class in the fall of 2024 even more interesting. On top of all that, Maurizio is eager to work with students and colleagues. He is a wonderful addition to the school.”

Among the visiting international scholars at the Schar School is Tetiana Khutor, founder of the Institute of Legislative Ideas, a Ukraine-based think tank that devises legislative strategies and policies to combat corruption, assist asset recovery, and encourage good governance. She also teaches anticorruption policy as a professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Khutor came to George Mason as an academic participating in the New School’s New University in Exile Consortium, made up of a global group of colleges dedicated to supporting scholars facing threats at home that force them to leave or prevent them from performing meaningful work. George Mason is one of 12 in the United States participating in the program.

Khutor and Geri participated together in a panel discussion on hybrid warfare with Russia’s economic sector hosted by the Schar School Center for Security Policy Studies (CSPS) and they coauthored an op-ed in the influential political publication, The Hill.

In addition to guest lecturing and auditing several classes, Geri published his initial studies on Russian hybrid warfare against Europe’s energy sector and on NATO-EU cooperation in technologies last year in the Journal of Strategic Security and the Security and Defense Journal published by the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.

At the moment, Geri is continuing his work via the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium. He returns to the Schar School in the fall before finishing his fellowship in Venice in 2026.

“I had great interactions with interested and passionate students” at the Schar School, Geri said. “The faculty is always kind and very prepared. I look forward to being back in the fall.”

In This Story

Mark J. Rozell

Desmond Dinan

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The full study can be read at this page.

Campus News

Scholar in Exile

international scholars

Chaos on Bourbon Street: The Growing Threat of ‘Rampage Terrorism’

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:40:35 +0000

Chaos on Bourbon Street: The Growing Threat of ‘Rampage Terrorism’ Andrew J Schappert Fri, 01/10/2025 - 10:40

A man in a pickup truck drove down a crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing 14 and wounding at least 35 others. The driver engaged police in a shootout, wounding two before being fatally shot and ending the spree of violence.

Zak Kallenborn: Rampage terrorism ‘possesses unique characteristics that warrant attention.’

Authorities discovered the assailant, a 42-year-old American-born resident of Texas and an Army veteran, had an Islamic State flag in the truck and had been radicalized by ISIS.

The New Orleans tragedy is an example of what Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV’s Zak Kallenborn calls “rampage terrorism.”

Rampage terrorism happens when “the terrorist is physically present at the attack location, attacks targets of opportunity, and the attack continues for an indefinite period, either until the terrorist is subdued or chooses to end the attack,” said Kallenborn, a Schar School policy fellow and the lead author on a new paper on the subject.

The study, “The Logic of Rampage Terrorism,” cowritten with the University of Albany professor of emergency management and homeland security Gary Ackerman and University of Arizona PhD candidate Herbert Tinsley, was published last February in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism.

“In popular thinking, the archetypal terrorist attack consists of a preconceived plan, where terrorists carefully select the location, targets, and timing of their operation,” he said. “Bombings, hijackings, and targeted assassinations are all tactics that fit with such perceptions.

“However, increasingly, terrorists have chosen to engage in what can be termed ‘rampage terrorism’ … Examples include stabbing attacks, shootings in crowded areas, and driving vehicles through crowds.”

The study, which offers policy implications and points to future research, examines five recent cases in depth and defines rampage terrorism as a specific subset of terrorist tactics. The conclusion: Rampage terrorism “possesses unique characteristics that warrant attention.”

“For as long as extremist views inspire some towards violence, rampage terrorism can be expected to persist within terrorist tactical repertoires,” the authors conclude. “Since rampage terrorism will likely linger, states should seek opportunities to reduce the harm by emphasizing resilience in the face of the threat, building civil defenses, and countering influencers.”

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2024: A Transformative Year for Schar School’s Public-Private Partnerships Center

Kristin Heydt — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 19:18:09 +0000

2024: A Transformative Year for Schar School’s Public-Private Partnerships Center Kristin Heydt Wed, 01/08/2025 - 14:18

The Center for Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Policy at ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government closed out 2024 with groundbreaking achievements that reflect its expanded mission to shape the future of infrastructure through research, education, and collaboration.

The center is led by founding Director Jonathan Gifford, a professor of policy and transportation in the Schar School.

Founding Director Jonathan Gifford

The center, which supports objective evaluations of public-private partnerships (P3s) for infrastructure development, broadened its scope this year, reaching new heights in addressing challenges across sectors.

A New Name, A Broader Horizon

This year marked a pivotal shift for the center as it redefined its mission to encompass infrastructure beyond transportation.

“With a broader focus, the center now considers critical areas such as higher education, K-12 schools, energy, and communications,” said Gifford. “The change underscores a commitment to addressing infrastructure challenges that are increasingly interwoven into every facet of modern life.”

A Forum for the Ages

September saw the 11th annual P3 Forum take place, called Inflection Point: New Capital, New Markets, and New Challenges. The event brought together leading voices from the public and private sectors to explore how P3s are adapting to evolving infrastructure needs.

The keynote address, delivered by Beau Memory, North America president for global infrastructure giant Transurban, showcased major projects in Northern Virginia and across the United States. Panels examined new sources of capital, innovative technologies, and the expanding role of P3s in areas such as electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Leading Research, Building Talent

The center’s academic initiatives flourished in 2024. Masters and PhD students produced pioneering research on P3 opportunities and challenges, contributing to a growing body of knowledge. Their work also addressed the urgent need to develop a robust talent pipeline to support the future of infrastructure development in both the public and private sectors.

Bridging Communities

The center’s faculty and students forged connections with stakeholders from government, industry, academia, and local communities. These partnerships aim to tackle the pressing challenges of creating infrastructure that can adapt to society’s changing demands.

As 2024 draws to a close, the center stands at the forefront of shaping the next generation of infrastructure solutions. Its continued growth signals exciting possibilities for 2025 and beyond.

AI and Cybersecurity: In 2025, the center will explore how artificial intelligence can both improve infrastructure development and introduce new vulnerabilities, such as cybersecurity risks, requiring careful analysis.
Expanding Student Engagement: The research program will continue to support master’s and PhD students, as well as reintroducing undergraduate engagement through the Schar School’s Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP).
2025 P3 Forum: The next forum will take place in Van Metre Hall at Mason Square in Arlington, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Information will be announced soon.

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Jonathan L. Gifford

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Schar School News for December 2024

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Strategic Direction

Leading With Purpose: Betsy Zorio’s Journey to Save the Children

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 17:37:14 +0000

Leading With Purpose: Betsy Zorio’s Journey to Save the Children Andrew J Schappert Wed, 01/08/2025 - 12:37

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Betsy Zorio plays with a child at one of Save the Children’s Head Start centers in North Carolina.

From her home in Park City, Utah, Betsy Zorio leads the global nonprofit Save the Children’s efforts in the United States, overseeing childhood education initiatives in more than 250 rural and high-poverty communities.

“I love the work that we do and that we are giving every child a chance to succeed,” she said with a smile. “Every child is born with their own unique gifts and talents and they should have a right to share them with others.”

Zorio, vice president of U.S. programs for Save the Children, is a 2000 graduate of the Schar School of Policy and Government’s bachelor of arts degree program, Government and International Politics.

“My time at George Mason was transformative,” she said. “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted from life, which I suspect is the case for many college students.”

Betsy Zorio: ‘My time at George Mason was transformative.‘ Photos provided.

Also like many students, she was hesitant to commit to a major field of study.

“I started on a pre-med track, thinking I would be a pediatrician or obstetrician, then switched to government and politics with a pre-law minor, thinking I would be a lawyer and work on social justice issues,” she said. “While my career path has been in nonprofit management, the ability to explore different subjects helped crystalize my interests and strengths.”

Besides coursework in the Schar School’s Government and International Politics program, Zorio discovered important abilities outside of the classroom.

“I had the privilege of managing George Mason’s Best Buddies chapter for three years, which helped build my leadership skills,” she said. “Those experiences combined to give me a strong foundation upon which to build my career and life.”

Best Buddies International works to foster inclusion and social connections for people with developmental disabilities.

Since its launch in 1919, Save the Children has been dedicated to providing health, education, and protection to children living in poverty. The global charity is credited for cutting the mortality rate in half for children under the age of 5, reducing school absenteeism by a third, and decreasing child marriage by 33 percent.

“We believe that every child deserves a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm,” she said.

“With in-school and after-school programs in more than 14 states, Save the Children focuses on kindergarten readiness and increased proficiency in third grade reading and fifth grade math. Reaching these thresholds is an enormous indicator if a child finishes school and is successful in their later years.”

The nonprofit is stationed in the most vulnerable parts of the world. In the United States, this is in places such as Native American reservations, the Appalachian and Ozark mountains, and throughout the Mississippi Delta.

Save the Children provides strategies to complement a community’s existing social programs, Zorio said. Oftentimes, the organization is the only child-focused nonprofit providing assistance to a vulnerable area.

She also works to spark change at the community level, and to support emergency response and recovery programs. However, she believes at-home visits cultivate the most dramatic results for young children.

“Parents are their child’s first and best teachers,” she said. “I remember when I made a home visit to a mother of two boys, 4 and 2 years of age. When the 4-year-old was a baby, the mother felt silly talking or reading to him, as she thought he was too young to understand. Incidentally, he was delayed with his speech, comprehension and vocabulary.

“I explained to the mother that it’s good to hold conversations and to read to babies. It’s all about the bonding and interaction. The mother followed my advice and was constantly engaging with her youngest. The toddler became very social and verbal. The mother said she wished she had known about the benefits of interacting, talking, and reading when her oldest was a baby.”

Even after joining Save the Children, Zorio continued to contribute her time to other humanitarian efforts. In 2022, she went on an excursion with Trekking for Kids—a nonprofit that offers hiking expeditions to iconic locations whereby the proceeds benefit orphaned children in the area.

The expedition also turned out to be where she met her future wife, Joyce.

With the Scottish Highlands as their backdrop, the two met and fell in love. Once back in the States, they continued dating despite being more than 2,000 miles apart. Soon, however, they decided to live together, and Zorio packed her bags and moved from Washington, D.C., to Joyce’s home in Park City.

Reprinted by permission from the Park Record, Utah. Additional reporting by Buzz McClain, Schar School of Policy and Government.

Topics

Government and International Politics

Nonprofits

Best Buddies

Schar School Student Spotlight

Schar School BA in Government and International Politics

2024: A Transformative Year for Schar School’s Public-Private Partnerships Center

Jessica Bates — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:42:45 +0000

2024: A Transformative Year for Schar School’s Public-Private Partnerships Center Jessica Bates Wed, 12/18/2024 - 10:42

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Jonathan L. Gifford

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The center is led by founding Director Jonathan Gifford, a professor of policy and transportation in the Schar School.

Founding Director Jonathan Gifford

A New Name, A Broader Horizon

This year marked a pivotal shift for the center as it redefined its mission to encompass infrastructure beyond transportation.

A Forum for the Ages

Leading Research, Building Talent

Bridging Communities

As 2024 draws to a close, the center stands at the forefront of shaping the next generation of infrastructure solutions. Its continued growth signals exciting possibilities for 2025 and beyond.

AI and Cybersecurity: In 2025, the center will explore how artificial intelligence can both improve infrastructure development and introduce new vulnerabilities, such as cybersecurity risks, requiring careful analysis.
Expanding Student Engagement: The research program will continue to support master’s and PhD students, as well as reintroducing undergraduate engagement through the Schar School’s Undergraduate Research Assistant Program (URAP).
2025 P3 Forum: The next forum will take place in Van Metre Hall at Mason Square in Arlington, on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Information will be announced soon.

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Schar School News for December 2024

Center for Infrastructure P3 Policy

Campus News

Schar School Expert: A Statement About the Eastern Seaboard Drone Flap

Jessica Bates — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 17:38:59 +0000

Schar School Expert: A Statement About the Eastern Seaboard Drone Flap Jessica Bates Tue, 12/17/2024 - 12:38

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Zak Kallenborn is an official Army Mad Scientist—one of a network of experts exploring advanced warfare capabilities—and an authority on drone swarms and killer robots.

Zak Kallenborn: ‘National hysteria like this event no doubt will raise adversary interest in and attention to drones.’

The Schar School of Policy and Government policy fellow at ��AV believes the recent rash of sightings of drones over New Jersey and other eastern states could be, in the end, a good thing if it galvanizes public policy attention enough to address existing drone vulnerabilities.

“Although the public response has often been hysterical, I'm hopeful the hysteria can be useful,” he said. “Experts have been sounding the alarm for years about the vulnerabilities of our airspace to drones operated by terrorists, organized crime, and hostile countries. And federal policies and regulations limit the ability of states to respond. If any of the New York and New Jersey drones turn out to be hostile, there is little local police can do.”

The threat is only going to get worse, he warns, “as technology evolves with drones being used autonomously, equipped with artificial intelligence, operating on more land and sea, and operating in collaborative swarms.”

He also warns that others are watching Americans watch the skies.

“National hysteria like this event no doubt will raise adversary interest in and attention to drones,” he said. “This hysteria shows that if you want to freak out the United States, you don't need a bomb—just a simple drone and a paranoid bystander with a camera."

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Schar School News for December 2024