APRIL 15 | The Unforgiving Hour: New Technologies, Old Ideas, and the Fragility of American Power
APRIL 15 | The Unforgiving Hour: New Technologies, Old Ideas, and the Fragility of American Power
Tuesday, April 15, 202512:40 PM - 2:00 PM (Pacific)
Stanford Law School Building, Manning Faculty Lounge (Room 270)
559 Nathan Abbott Way Stanford, CA 94305
Join the Cyber Policy Center on April 15th from 1PM–2PM Pacific for The Unforgiving Hour: New Technologies, Old Ideas, and the Fragility of American Power, a seminar with Amy Zegart, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. It will be moderated by Jeff Hancock.
Stanford affiliates are invited to join us at 12:40 PM for lunch, prior to the seminar. The Spring Seminar Series continues through the end of May; see our Spring Seminar Series page for speakers and topics.
About the Seminar:
The foundations of American power are eroding due to a failure to adapt to a new era in which knowledge and technological innovation are the primary sources of national strength. Traditional measures of power—military might, natural resources, and economic scale—are increasingly insufficient. Instead, intangible assets such as education, research capacity, and control over emerging technologies determine long-term geopolitical influence. The United States is losing ground in these areas, with declining K–12 educational outcomes, reduced federal investment in basic research, outdated immigration policies, and growing reliance on private-sector actors whose interests may diverge from national objectives. Meanwhile, global competitors—particularly China—are rapidly expanding their innovation capacity. The U.S. must look toward a strategic shift in policy to enhance knowledge power through educational reform, immigration modernization, increased public research funding, and improved coordination between government, academia, and industry.
About the Speaker:
Amy Zegart is the Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. She is also a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Institute and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Zegart is an internationally recognized expert in U.S. intelligence, emerging technologies, and global political risk management. At Hoover, Zegart currently serves as the Director of the Robert and Marion Oster National Security Affairs fellows program and as Director of the Technology Policy Accelerator, which produces the annual Stanford Emerging Technology Review. She frequently advises senior U.S. officials on intelligence and emerging technology matters. She is the author of five books, including the bestseller Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence. Zegart holds a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Harvard University and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University.