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From global health threats to the refugee crisis, to privacy and cybersecurity, international organizations and the private sector are often in a better position and more effective on the frontlines of transnational threats than governmental entities. Join the Global Head of Public Policy for Google, a doctor working to get vaccines to the world’s neediest, and the former...

As a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia wearily sustains, Ukraine’s government still feels the two-year-old burn of Russia’s unlawful Crimea annexation. And although this defining geopolitical provocation still sets the governments of Moscow and Kiev at odds, Ukraine has many competing priorities. What is the future of economic sanctions on Russia? Can Ukraine defeat cor...

So much of who we are and what defines us—as individuals, businesses, and organizations—is captured in data that resides in the cloud. A few lines of code can dismantle business, shut down infrastructure, and reveal critical personal details. It’s widely accepted that code moves faster than law, so how do we protect the intangible? What is the government’s role in keeping...

Hear first-hand from four extraordinary social entrepreneurs who are working in communities around the world to solve some of society’s most complex issues from education to healthcare and human rights.

Hostage-taking presents nations with a conundrum: How can governments bring their citizens home while also preventing further captures? The United States’s top hostage negotiator, a leading scholar, and a former hostage discuss navigating the difficult waters of hostage diplomacy.

If you assume things have quieted down on the US-Mexico border, think again. The chaos and questions that have plagued the region for decades are reaching fever pitch while tens of thousands of lives remain in flux. How did we get here? Where — and how — are the children who were separated from their families? Are the administration’s latest crackdowns making any progress...

For 60 years, the US government has been laying secret doomsday plans to save itself in the event of nuclear war — even while the rest of us die. Today, a third generation of doomsday planners are settling into life inside a network of bunkers that are staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, ready to house top government officials in the event of catastrophe. How did thes...

Around the world, people who are angry at stagnant wages and growing inequality have rebelled against established governments and turned to political extremes. Liberal democracy, history's greatest engine of growth, now struggles to overcome unprecedented economic headwinds — from aging populations to scarce resources to unsustainable debt burdens. Democracies risk falling...

The US government misjudged the rise of China over the last decade — as the country has grown in economic power, it's become more rambunctious internationally, not less. Its Belt and Road Initiative is winning over countries that used to be US allies. It’s expanding its military power and reach in the South China Sea, attacking US companies in cyberspace, and advancing in...

Cities are responsible for 70 percent of global carbon emissions, and by 2050, two out of every three people will live in one. Fortunately, cities are getting serious about environmental footprint — New York announced its own Green New Deal, Melbourne aims to be carbon neutral by 2020, and Los Angeles will use 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. Mayors are often more nim...

While the public once considered the digital world merely a space for communication and information access, perhaps we should think of it as a landscape of its own: As we know at this point, the cyber world is defined by unique security threats, physical restraints, and power dynamics. Likewise, on the Internet, monitoring and mediating insecurities, threats, and attacks h...

The grand European experiment of a shared currency, economy, and joint governance — a Nobel Peace Prize-worthy idea that has kept the continent at peace longer than ever before — today faces unprecedented tests, including Brexit, terrorism, a new anti establishment government in Italy, and rising nationalism fueled (at least in part) by a flood of immigrants from the Syria...

Recent years have seen rising political extremism in both Europe and the United States, from Neo-Nazi rallies in Charlottesville to ISIS jihadists in Brussels. One of the hardest challenges facing counterterrorism officials is what to do with the thousands of extremists who, for a variety of reasons, decide to step back from the battlefield. Hear former extremists discuss...

In the age of big data and the rise of the digital economy, no government agency plays a more central — or less understood — role than the mysterious National Security Agency. For years, the so-called Puzzle Palace was so secret that officials joked its acronym stood for “No Such Agency,” — until Edward Snowden published many of its biggest secrets online. Hear one of the...

In a time of uncertainty, rapid change, and disruption, who is best positioned to move society forward? Many are losing faith not only in government, but in the institutions of journalism, nonprofits, and higher education. What role should these organs of civil society play in today’s fractured world, and how can people of good will come together to best make a difference?...

The public optimism that came with the launch of social media a decade ago has settled into a wariness that we might instead face a long, grueling daily fight for truth and facts in the face of unrelenting, automated disinformation online. As the 2020 elections gear up, how should our country face the threat from Twitter bots and Facebook trolls? What responsibility should...

Semiconductors are the brains powering essential technologies. A shortage is hammering industries ranging from automotive to consumer electronics to equipment makers, making clear how critical semiconductors are to American economic competitiveness and national security. But the US share of global semiconductor manufacturing stands at just 12 percent today, down from near...

In an age of cyber warfare, where weapons are simply Internet-connected devices, are we prepared to face the evolving threat posed by state and non-state actors who would do us harm? As a recent attack in Ukraine has shown, hackers can and will cripple critical infrastructure by accessing control systems inside utilities. And we’ve seen time and again what happens when int...

Fake news. Extremist propaganda. Religious intolerance. Trolling. Sexual harassment. Bullying. And we haven’t even talked about grumpy cat emojis. Social media is being successfully used and abused by hate groups to promote a toxic agenda that often marginalizes and targets religious and ethnic minorities and women. Every day, it seems that a handful of bad guys have the u...

In the United States, there is growing debate over the role of antitrust and competition policy in protecting competition and American consumers. Digital platforms, corporate mergers, and consolidation are profoundly changing the global competitive landscape. Can antitrust law temper the power of digital platforms like Google and Facebook? Is the current antitrust legal re...