Innovation With Allies Now—The US, UK, and Forging a Technological Edge

Speakers: Representative James R. Langevin (Democrat, Rhode Island, US Congress); Representative Michael J. Gallagher (Republican, Wisconsin, US Congress); Chi Onwurah (Labour Party, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Digital and Business, UK); and Lord David Willetts (Conservative Party, Member of the House of Lords, Former Minister for Universities and Science, UK)

Date: 8 July 2021

Speaker Session Summary

SMA hosted a panel discussion with Representative James R. Langevin (Democrat, Rhode Island, US Congress), Representative Michael J. Gallagher (Republican, Wisconsin, US Congress), Chi Onwurah (Labour Party, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Digital and Business, UK), Lord David Willetts (Conservative Party, Member of the House of Lords, Former Minister for Universities and Science, UK), and moderator Dr. Nicholas Wright (Intelligent Biology, University College London, and Georgetown University) as a part of its SMA NDU Innovation Speaker Series.

Representative Gallagher highlighted the bipartisanship of the work of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. This bipartisan cooperation is mostly because of a widespread recognition of the cyber security threats a rising China brings to the US and its allies. He proposed that the USG has conceded political influence around the world to its adversaries, including China, and to correct this the USG must double down on investment on critical technology. Furthermore, China’s rise as an industrial power and leading global investor in infrastructure is threatening the United States’ global supply chain for valuable materials and goods. To strengthen US economic and national defense security, the USG must cooperate with the private sector, partly to identify outward and inward foreign direct investments that create technology which can be used against the US in a military conflict.

MP Onwurah emphasized China’s growing influence on developing countries’ telecommunication networks, using her past work experience before becoming a member of the UK’s Parliament as an anecdote. She commented that China’s largest telecommunication company, Huawei, was able to win contracts in Nigeria by approaching companies directly. Furthermore, the US and the UK do not have a vendor that is currently able to compete with Huawei in 5G technology. However, the US and UK can learn from each other’s legislation and cooperate with allied nations to confront China’s growing influence over countries 5G networks. She accentuated the need to continue to strengthen the trans-Atlantic partnership between the US and UK, increase cross parliamentary collaboration, and increase government backed investments into emerging markets.

Representative Langevin echoed the others’ sentiment that there is a need to strengthen the US-UK alliance, and emphasized that there are not enough security measures in place for cyber security. He focused on two technologies that encapsulate the current dilemma facing decision makers in Washington: artificial intelligence (AI) and next generation technologies. Representative Langevin commented that decision makers in Congress must figure out how to fund the development and implantation of AI quickly, because “science fiction is now fact.” Benefits of AI include better decision making, quick mental health support for soldiers, fewer casualties, and streamlined logistics. He pointed out that new technologies which are currently only prototypes will soon be deployed on the battlefield.

Lord Willetts acknowledged that while an industrial policy runs contrary to conventional capitalistic thinking, it is still necessary to counter China’s increasing global economic influence. He added that the USG’s larger pool of resources allows it to procure technology more quickly and on a larger scale than the UK. However, an allied supply chain is still the best and most secure option to combat China. Furthermore, in new theaters such as space, it is advantageous to have one cohesive network of allies to work with. He emphasized that while China is viewed as the USG’s and UK’s largest geopolitical rival, there are still areas where it is advantageous for all parties to collaborate with China. It will be up to political leaders to decide in what areas of science and research China can be trusted to participate. 

Speaker Session Recording

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Briefing Materials

Biographies:

Representative Michael J. Gallagher was first elected in 2016. Congressman Mike Gallagher represents Wisconsin’s 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mike is a 7th generation Wisconsin native, born and raised in Green Bay. Mike joined the United States Marine Corps the day he graduated from college and served for seven years on active duty as a Counterintelligence/Human Intelligence Officer and Regional Affairs Officer for the Middle East/North Africa, eventually earning the rank of Captain. He deployed twice to Al Anbar Province, Iraq as a commander of intelligence teams, served on General Petraeus’s Central Command Assessment Team in the Middle East, and worked for three years in the intelligence community, including tours at the National Counterterrorism Center and the Drug Enforcement Agency. Mike also served as the lead Republican staffer for Middle East, North Africa and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prior to taking office, Mike worked in the private sector at a global energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, Mike went on to earn a master’s degree in Security Studies from Georgetown University, a second in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University, and his PhD in International Relations from Georgetown. Mike currently serves on the House Armed Services and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

Congressman Jim Langevin (LAN’-jih-vin) is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, where he is the Chairman of the Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, and also serves on the Subcommittees on Seapower and Projection Forces and Tactical Air and Land Forces. A national leader on securing our nation’s technology infrastructure against cyber threats, Langevin co-founded the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus to increase awareness around the issue and co-chaired the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency, which made policy recommendations to President Obama. As co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus, Langevin advocates to improve and increase access to training that gives students and workers the skills that best fit the needs of expanding industries. He has successfully fought for strong CTE funding under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and, in Rhode Island, has worked to foster employereducator partnerships and career training programs across a variety of career fields. A voice for those facing serious challenges, Langevin championed passage of a bipartisan bill to expand services for families caring for their elderly and disabled loved ones and authored a breakthrough law to protect foster youth. He is a strong advocate for inclusion and independence for people with disabilities and helped pass the ADA Amendments Act that strengthened the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Langevin was inspired to enter public service by the tremendous outpouring of support he received during the most challenging time of his life, after a gun accident paralyzed him at age 16 and left him a quadriplegic. He is driven by a belief that everyone deserves a fair opportunity to make the most of their talents. After serving as secretary for the state’s Constitutional Convention in 1986, Langevin won election to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, and in 1994, became the nation’s youngest Secretary of State. His leadership resulted in reforms to 3 Rhode Island’s outdated election system and a landmark report documenting widespread violations of the state’s Open Meetings Law. He served in that role until winning election to Congress in 2000.

Chi Onwurah (Labour Party, Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for Digital and Business, UK) I was born in Wallsend, grew up on Hillsview Avenue in Kenton and went to Kenton School before studying Electrical Engineering in London. I have lived in many different cities around the world, without ever for a moment forgetting where I am from: Newcastle. My values and beliefs were formed in Newcastle based on the people I grew up with and my own experiences. My family: My maternal grandfather was a sheet metal worker in the shipyards of the Tyne during the depression. My mother grew up in poverty in Garth Heads on the quayside. In the fifties she married my father, a Nigerian student at Newcastle Medical School. In 1965 I was born, whilst they were living in Long Benton where my father had a dental practise. I was still a baby when my father took us to live in Awka, Nigeria. But two years later the Biafran Civil War broke out bringing famine with it and, as described vividly in an Evening Chronicle article in 1968, my mother, my brother and sister and I returned as refugees to Newcastle, whilst my father stayed on in the Biafran army. This early experience of the impact of war on ordinary families left me with a strong sense of my own good fortune in living in a peaceful parliamentary democracy where it is possible to bring about change without taking up the gun or the sword. I am not a pacifist, I believe that our country is worth defending and fighting for. But we do live in a democracy and, increasingly, there are international institutions at the European and global level to enable us to pursue and defend our legitimate interests through debate and discussion. My education: I benefited from a comprehensive, inspirational and free education for which I will always be grateful. I attended Hillsview nursery, infants and junior schools. A good start in a good school is critical in determining a child’s experience of education and the opportunities that it can bring. At Hillsview I learnt to enjoy learning, and to think that anything was possible. My mother made sure I understood how lucky I was to be able to walk two hundred yards to a great school when some children had to walk for hours to share a classroom with a hundred others. At 11 I went to Kenton Comprehensive School. I studied for my O and A levels, but also played for our netball and hockey teams, had my first taste of public speaking and learnt to play the saxophone moderately badly. My education enabled me to hold my own with people from every walk of life, and to earn my living doing something I love, engineering. I want every child in Newcastle to have that opportunity. When I was 17 I was elected Kenton School’s MP in a mock election. My working life: Newcastle’s great industrial past was my inspiration to become an engineer and I enjoyed a fulfilling career in engineering after I graduated from Imperial College in 1987. I worked in hardware and software development, product management, market development and strategy for a variety of mainly private sector companies in a number of different countries – UK, France, US, Nigeria, Denmark. During this time I also studied for an MBA from Manchester Business School and gained Chartered Engineering status. As an engineer I specialised in building out infrastructure in new markets and standardising wholesale Ethernet access. My last role before entering parliament was as head of Telecoms Technology for Ofcom the Communications Regulator My interests: I have always campaigned for the causes I believed in. As a student I campaigned against the Federation of Conservative Students at Imperial College. Later I was very active in the Anti Apartheid Movement, and spent many years on its National Executive, and that of its successor organisation, ACTSA. Anti apartheid was one of the most successful popular movements ever and undermines the claims of those that believe real people are never interested in politics. People are interested in the politics that matters to them. Before being selected as Labour’s candidate for Newcastle I was on the Advisory Board of the Open University Business School, reflecting my belief in educational opportunity at every stage in life and for every level of ability. Outside of politics and work I enjoy music, reading and long walks in the countryside.

Lord David Willetts was appointed Minister for Universities and Science in May 2010. He was elected Conservative MP for Havant in Hampshire on 9 April 1992.

Education: David was educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham and Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied philosophy, politics and economics.

Career in politics: David began his career in Parliament as the MP for Havant in 1992. He served as Paymaster General and then in the Shadow Cabinet in a range of roles, including Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Shadow Secretary for Education and Skills, and Shadow Secretary for Innovation, Universities and Skills. He has also worked at HM Treasury and in the Number 10 Policy Unit.

Career outside politics: David was a visiting fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation and a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He has written widely on economic and social policy. In 2011 he published a book, ‘The Pinch: How the baby boomers took their children’s future – and why they should give it back’.

Personal life: David is married to the artist Sarah Butterfield, with whom he has 2 children.

Dr. Nicholas Wright is an affiliated scholar at Georgetown University, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London (UCL), Consultant at Intelligent Biology and Fellow at New America. His work combines neuroscientific, behavioural and technological insights to understand decision-making in politics and international confrontations, in ways practically useful for policy. He leads international, interdisciplinary projects with collaborators in countries including China, the U.S., Iran and the UK. He was an Associate in the Nuclear Policy Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC and a Senior Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has conducted work for the UK Government and U.S. Department of Defense. Before this he examined decision-making using functional brain imaging at UCL and in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. He was a clinical neurologist in Oxford and at the National Hospital for Neurology. He has published academically (some twenty publications, e.g. Proceedings of the Royal Society), in general publications such as the Atlantic and Foreign Affairs, with the Pentagon Joint Staff (see www.intelligentbiology.co.uk) and has appeared on the BBC and CNN. Wright received a medical degree from UCL, a BSc in Health Policy from Imperial College London, has Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (UK), has an MSc in Neuroscience and a PhD in Neuroscience both from UCL.

The SMA NDU Innovation Speaker Series description and list of the other sessions in this series can be downloaded here.