Oakland, CA & Washington D.C. — September 10, 2026 — Reflecting the rapidly evolving global security landscape and the organization’s own significant growth, the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) today announced the launch of two new Centers for applied research and policy development. The Centers will drive increased momentum, harmonization, and investment in core areas where IST already has a proven track record:
- The Perry-Shultz Center for Technology & Strategic Stability works to shape technology’s trajectory into a force for stability and forge common cause against its most consequential risks.
- The Center for Advancing Cybersecurity seeks to reshape, reset, and realign the incentives in the technology ecosystem that currently create opportunities for attackers to threaten national security.
“IST is striving to secure our technological future so that democratic societies can safely embrace the benefits of technology without huge inherent risk. As one of very few policy think tanks based in the California Bay Area, we are uniquely positioned to address many of the emerging technology-related threats we see today,” said Philip Reiner, CEO of IST. “These new centers will allow us to double down on our prior successes on these critical issues at a time when evidence of their relevance and the threat to global security is all around us.”
Connecting Security and Technology
Rapid technical innovation and shifting geopolitical landscapes are materially altering society. We live in a time of unparalleled technological dependence, development, opportunity, and risk. Technology underpins every part of our daily lives, providing immense benefits as well as opportunities for abuse, misuse, and unintended harms, as well as evolving existing models of conflict. The intersection of technology and security is absolute: where there is technology there is risk, and likewise, technology now sits at the heart of both national security operations and adversarial behavior. The Centers address two of the most obvious fault lines where technology and security meet: strategic stability and cybersecurity threats and challenges.
IST was built precisely for this convergence. Since its founding in 2017, the organization has developed deep expertise and trusted relationships across government, industry, and civil society, and scaled its impact across jurisdictions and domains. IST delivers timely and pragmatic insight by convening, balancing, and harmonizing the voices of technical experts, business leaders, and policymakers, and supporting this with deep research and operational engagement. While collaborating extensively with these stakeholders, IST’s approach enables it to maintain independence and avoid government or industry biases.
“For much of my career, the danger I feared most was a nuclear one — and it still is,” said Secretary Perry. “But George and I both came to understand that the technologies threatening stability, and those capable of preserving it, keep changing. I’m grateful that IST is taking the baton to carry our work forward.”
Building on Strong Foundations
IST’s approach to policy engineering has enabled it to build a reputation as a trusted advisor and driven real world impacts that promote national security and protect society. These two new Centers will build on this, as well as reflecting IST’s established foundation of creating action through research that leads to recommendations, and recommendations that lead to policy and practice.
The two Centers will build on IST’s prior successes in these areas, which include:
- Providing recommendations and operational support through the Ransomware Task Force, enabling the U.S. and international governments to reduce the harm of ransomware and downgrade the threat.
- Designing a blueprint for the CATALINK system, which would allow leaders to communicate with one another securely and reliably in the event of a nuclear crisis, ultimately aiming to prevent escalation or all-out war.
- Developing the shared norms, standards, and frameworks to mitigate the risks associated with integrating AI with nuclear command, control, and communications.
The two Centers will also build on the relationships, research, and credibility already established in IST’s first decade, from the 13-organization K-12 Cyber Defense Coalition, to the hospital communities bolstering their resilience with UnDisruptable27, to the AI-NC3 working groups that include a former commander of U.S. Strategic Command and a former Deputy Secretary General of NATO.
“Protecting students and everyday Americans, under-resourced organizations, and our nation’s lifeline critical infrastructure from cyber threats is a really big deal, one that takes a lot of different organizations working together,” said Craig Newmark, craigslist founder and long-time supporter of IST’s efforts on cybersecurity and UnDisruptable27. “The Institute for Security and Technology’s new Center for Advancing Cybersecurity will be an important addition to the network fighting ransomware and cyber threats, and I’m proud to support it.”
Introducing the New Centers
The Perry-Shultz Center for Technology & Strategic Stability – referenced as PSC – takes its name and its charge from Secretaries William Perry and George Shultz, whose careers modeled something too few institutions exhibit today: the ability to work across the military, economic, and diplomatic dimensions—with allies and adversaries alike—to reduce the risk of catastrophic conflict. This is critical, as no single country or government can manage the risk introduced by emerging technologies alone. The Center will collaborate with national security policymakers and practitioners along with the technology companies and investors whose decisions often shape the strategic landscape ahead of policy. This focused coordination is aimed at building a world where emerging technologies strengthen, rather than erode, the conditions for stability and cooperation among states. The Center’s work builds on the AI-NC3 initiative, the CATALINK crisis communications program, the Strategic Balancing Initiative focused on U.S.-China techno-industrial competition, and bridgebuilding with Chinese counterparts on frontier AI risk. The Center will be led by Steven M. Kelly, who served on the U.S. National Security Council and in the Federal Bureau of Investigation before joining IST.
Learn more about the Perry-Shultz Center for Technology & Strategic Stability: https://securityandtechnology.org/strategic-stability/
The Center for Advancing Cybersecurity — referenced as CfAC — works toward a simple but ambitious vision of technology that is trustworthy and deployed securely and resiliently, with opportunities for abuse minimized to protect national security. To achieve this vision, the Center strives to reshape and realign incentives in the technology ecosystem to advance the delivery of resilient and secure services. It will continue to engineer actionable solutions for policymakers and industry leaders by working in collaboration with them to understand the dynamics that drive their decisionmaking—and how those dynamics are changing in the Intelligence Age. Key priorities for the Center include the recently launched Fragile Foundations Sprint, focused on developing mitigations for the threats AI systems pose to operational technology; UnDisruptable27’s efforts to harden water systems; and policy development focused on bringing cybersecurity solutions to under-resourced sectors, including through K-12 Cyber Defense Coalition. The Center will also continue to engage with international partners, whether through engagements like the Mexico Ransomware Task Force or on developing recommendations for multistakeholder governance to support the cybersecurity vulnerability ecosystem. The CfAC lies atop the strong foundations of the Ransomware Task Force, efforts to secure open-source software, and the coalition established in 2017 to combat Distributed Denial of Service attacks. The Center will be led by Nicholas Leiserson, a legislative strategist and technologist who previously served as the Assistant National Cyber Director for Cyber Policy and Programs at ONCD and worked extensively for Congressman Jim Langevin.
Learn more about the Center for Advancing Cybersecurity: https://securityandtechnology.org/cyber-center/
United Through Aligned Goals
While the two Centers will enable IST to increase its focus and commitment in these key areas, their efforts are still united by an overarching philosophy and goal. In addition to its work on cybersecurity and strategic stability, IST continues its work on security and safety implications of artificial intelligence, including developing governance and oversight mechanisms to protect against models capable of recursive self-improvement, building a framework for assessing AI loss of control indications and warnings, evaluating, monitoring, and planning for the risks associated with multi-agent systems, and surveying national security practitioners on their perspectives on artificial intelligence.
Across the full range of its portfolios, IST is committed to reducing, remediating, or mitigating the security challenges and threats associated with technology—so that its potential can be safely harnessed to benefit democratic societies.
To ensure continued alignment and quality of service across the organization, long-standing IST executive Megan Stifel has assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). In addition to the named Center presidents, each Center is staffed by policy and technology engineers who draw from real-world experience, so the work stays grounded in how these systems actually function.
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About the Institute for Security and Technology:
Technology has the potential to unlock greater knowledge, enhance our collective capabilities, and create new opportunities for growth and innovation. However, insecure, negligent, or exploitative technological advancements can threaten global security and stability. Anticipating these issues and guiding the development of trustworthy technology is essential to preserve what we all value.
The Institute for Security and Technology (IST), the 501(c)(3) critical action think tank, stands at the forefront of this imperative, uniting policymakers, technology experts, and industry leaders to create actionable solutions to emerging security challenges. We take collaborative action to advance national security and global stability through technology built on trust, guiding businesses and governments with hands-on expertise, in-depth analysis, and a global network.
Through landmark initiatives like the Ransomware Task Force, CATALINK, the AI Risk Reduction Initiative, and our work on AI and nuclear command and control, IST pairs deep technical expertise with policy engineering to move beyond identifying problems and toward durable, real-world solutions. Learn more: https://securityandtechnology.org/
