To think deeply, to act quickly – Think deep, act fast
75 years ago, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) helped launch innovation in Silicon Valley, with a series of grants to Stanford Engineering School Dean Fred Terman. Terman used the money to establish the Stanford Electronics Research Laboratory. In WWII he worked with the laboratory managers who developed the first electronic warfare and electronic information systems. This laboratory pushed the envelope of basic and applied research in microwave devices and electronics and within a few years made Stanford a leader in these fields. The lab became ground zero for Stanford’s wave of entrepreneurship and innovation in the 1950s and ’60s and helped create what would later be known as Silicon Valley.
After 75 years, ONR has made a bet again, which we believe will make an equal difference. They are the first sponsors of the new. Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation It started with Joe Felter, Raj Shah and myself at Stanford.
Gordian What?
The Gordian Knot is an insurmountable problem metaphor. Today, the United States faces many seemingly insurmountable national security challenges simultaneously.
At Stanford, we intend to help solve them. Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. Our motto To think deeply, to act quicklyThink Deep, Act Fast, embraces the unique combination of deep problem understanding, fast solutions. The center combines Stanford’s six unique strengths and its location in Silicon Valley.
- Stanford’s understanding and knowledge of international and national security policy leaders
- Stanford Engineering Technology Insights and Knowledge
- Special students who are willing to help the country win the great energy race
- Silicon Valley’s deep tech ecosystem
- Experience in understanding problems quickly, iterating quickly and deploying solutions quickly and urgently
- Access to quantitative risk capital
Our focus aligns with our motto. At Stanford and Peer Universities and the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem, we coordinate resources for:
- Scale national security innovation education
- Train the creators of national security
- Provide awareness, integration and policy understanding
- Provide continuous results of small viable products that can serve as a catalyst for solutions to the most difficult problems
why now why us
Over the past decade, we’ve created a series of episodes on entrepreneurship, agile innovation, and national security: Lean LaunchPad; National Science Foundation I-Corps; Hacking for protection; hacking for diplomacy; Technology, innovation and modern warfare last year; And this year technology, innovation and great energy competition. These units have been widely accepted in the US and internationally.
Likewise, each of us was actively involved in helping the various branches of government understand, respond to, and deliver solutions in a rapidly changing and challenging environment. For the first time in three decades, it is clear to us that the US is now participating in a great power race. And we’re behind. Our national power (our influence and footprint on the world stage) is being challenged and effectively negated by autocratic regimes like China and Russia.
GKC joins the group of national security thinkers
The Gordian Knot Center at Stanford will be housed at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, directed by Mike McFaul, former ambassador to Russia. And Mike has graciously agreed to be our Principal Investigator with Reita Katila in the Management Science and Engineering Department (MS&E) at the School of Engineering. MS&E is where disruptive technology meets national security, and has long-standing contributions from Bill Perry, Sig Hecker, and Elisabeth Pat Cornell, among others. (Stanford’s other policy institute is the Hoover Institute, run by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.) All are world-class leaders in understanding international problems, policies, and institutions. Other U.S. foreign affairs and national security considerations include:
We intend to focus the new center on addressing the various functions that create and maintain national authority. National power is a combination of a country’s diplomacy (soft power and alliances), information, military and economic strength, as well as financial, intelligence and law enforcement – or DIME-FIL. Our projects will be at the intersection of DIME-FIL with the attack of commercial technologies (AI, machine learning, autonomy, biotech, cyber, semiconductors, commercial space access, and others). And to hit the ground running by moving two of our national security departments — Hacking for Defense, and Technology Innovation and Great Power Competition (an important course in the international policy program this year) — to the center.
Our special charter hopes,“Think Deep, Act Fast” These other institutions can meet the extraordinary work that is offered.
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been planning, promoting, and encouraging scientific research since 1946—and reimagining the Navy. His grant to Stanford that year was the first for any university.
Today, the Navy and the US Marine Corps are looking for ways to accelerate the advancement of technology and deliver it to our Navy. There is a widespread consensus that the current rate of technological development and adoption is unsatisfactory and that without major reforms, China will lose its competitive edge in the South China Sea for maritime supremacy.
Chief of Naval Research, Rear Admiral Selby, noted that it was not “business as usual”. That ONR’s delivery of sustainable innovations to existing ships and navies is not enough to prevent war or keep us in the fight. And that ONR must be driven by disruptive technologies, new operational concepts, new program management and thinking. It is on a mission to supply the Navy and the US Marine Corps. When we were approached about the idea of the Gordian Knot Center, he reminded us that ONR not only sponsored Stanford in 1946, but since 2016 they have sponsored our Hacking and Defense Unit. They are now a charter sponsor for the Gordian Knot Center.
We hope we get it – for him, for ONR and for the country.
Steve, Joe and Raj
Lessons learned
The center combines Stanford’s six unique strengths and its location in Silicon Valley.
- Stanford’s understanding and knowledge of international and national security policy leaders
- Stanford Engineering Technology Insights and Knowledge
- Special students who are willing to help the country win the great energy race
- Silicon Valley’s deep tech ecosystem
- Experience in understanding problems quickly, iterating quickly and deploying solutions quickly and urgently
- Access to quantitative risk capital
Our focus aligns with our motto. At Stanford and Peer Universities and the Silicon Valley innovation ecosystem, we coordinate resources for:
- Scale national security innovation education
- Train the creators of national security
- Provide awareness, integration and policy understanding
- Provide continuous results of small viable products that can serve as a catalyst for solutions to the most difficult problems
Filed under: Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation |
