- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Will Hurd
Will Hurd
Former Republican Congressman from Texas
Will Hurd is currently a managing director at Allen & Company and former member of Congress, cybersecurity executive, and undercover officer in the CIA.
For almost two decades he’s been involved in the most pressing national security issues challenging the country whether it was in the back-alleys of dangerous places, boardrooms of top international businesses or halls of Congress.
After stopping terrorists, preventing Russian spies from stealing our secrets, and putting nuclear weapons proliferators out of business, Will helped build a cybersecurity company that prepared businesses for the next domain of conflict - cyberspace.
While in Congress, Texas Monthly and Politico Magazine called Will “The Future of the GOP,” because he put good policy over good politics at a time when America was often consumed with what divides us rather than what unites us. He was able to get more legislation signed into law in three terms than most congressmen do in three decades - substantive legislation like a national strategy for Artificial Intelligence.
Will is a native of San Antonio and earned a Computer Science degree from Texas A&M University. Additionally, he is growing the US transatlantic partnership with Europe as a trustee of the German Marshall Fund, an OpenAI board member, and most recently served as a fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. He is also the author of American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done, due March 2022. Visit www.willbhurd.com for more information about Will.
Seminars
"The New Cold War"
The nature of warfare has changed. During the Civil War, we fought traitors on land; during World War II, we fought Nazis and imperialists in the air. The next generation’s defining battle, which has already begun, is against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in cyberspace. This current conflict is happening at the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where technological change over the next thirty years is going to make the last thirty years look insignificant.
We know the CCP is trying to supplant the United States as the sole superpower in the world by 2049, the year the Middle Kingdom celebrates one hundred years of communist rule. Foiling the CCP’s ambitions will not be easy because we have entered an age where America’s military and economic dominance is no longer guaranteed.
Every American should care about this struggle because we face a potential future where Mandarin and the yuan, not English and the dollar, dominate the global economy. Whoever wins this generation-defining struggle will not just affect our economy, but will shape the rest of the century for the entire world. It will be through U.S. government policy and domestic politics where a strategy will be developed and carried out to deal with the CCP’s ambitions.
As demonstrated by the tumultuous events of the past few months, political partisanship in the United States has reached almost unprecedented levels. In this seminar, we’ll discuss how this domestic political dynamic has far-reaching ramifications for the country’s intelligence cycle, international relations and national security.
Join Congressman Hurd for a discussion with Chris Krebs, former United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, about his work keeping the 2020 election secure, and the newly changing landscape of cyber-attacks and cybersecurity.
Special Guest: Chris Krebs, former United States Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
His Excellency Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, will join Congressman Hurd for a discussion on United States foreign policy, including the historic Abraham Accords, and how the United States’ allies see its foreign policy during a time of transition of power in the U.S.
Special Guest: Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States
Greg Vogle, former Director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA and member of President Biden’s transitional intelligence team, will discuss how intelligence plays a key role in U.S. foreign policy, including the changing role that human intelligence plays in crucial areas such as terrorism and great power competition.
Special Guest: Greg Vogle, former Director of the National Clandestine Service of the CIA and Member of President Biden’s Transitional Intelligence Team
Join Congressman Hurd to learn about the impact politics has on national security and military strategy from an experienced professional who has committed his professional life to service in the highest levels of government, former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta.
Special Guest: Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama
What do we mean by “Good” and “Bad” artificial intelligence? How does the rise in technology and capabilities of artificial intelligence affect governance and security? Join Congressman Hurd for a discussion with Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee of the Brookings Institute on the ethics of artificial intelligence and its impact on new global conflict.
Special Guest: Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation and Co-Editor-in-Chief of TechTank at Brookings and former Vice President and Chief Research and Policy Officer at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and Vice President of the Media and Technology Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
IOP Pritzker Fellow and journalist Tim Alberta will join Congressman Hurd to discuss his approach to covering politics and his thoughts on the future of politics and political journalism.
Special Guest: Tim Alberta, Staff Writer at The Atlantic and Winter 2021 Pritzker Fellow at the UChicago Institute of Politics
Join Congressman Hurd for his final seminar at the Institute of Politics, where he’ll discuss the realities of working for the CIA and running for Congress, as well as the need for a new generation of intelligence officers and politicians to meet the demands of the changing landscapes of national security and domestic policy.