Dr. Brandon Kirk Williams
Dr. Brandon Kirk Williams is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Brandon’s research examines the intersection of emerging technologies, innovation, and national security policy. He earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, in May 2020.
Starting as a CGSR postdoctoral fellow, he focused on cybersecurity before developing into a research agenda on quantum and AI as a senior fellow. He organized three CGSR cybersecurity workshops in addition to assisting in workshops on AI, US-China strategic competition, and latent emerging technologies. His outside publications draw upon this research expertise to consider the effect of technology competition on shaping US national security policy. He also contributed to over-the-horizon reports for the National Nuclear Security Administration on emerging technology as well as the nuclear security enterprise’s workforce of the future.
Brandon was selected as a 2022-2023 Wilson Center China Initiative non-resident fellow that culminated in chapter titled "The Innovation Race: US-China Science and Technology Competition and the Quantum Revolution.” He designed and researched a chapter-length project analyzing Chinese initiatives to steer global innovation by seizing the commanding heights of science and technology. The chapter also investigated Chinese investments to incubate a thriving quantum technology ecosystem. Since, he has published on quantum competition that may disrupt security, economics, and everyday life.
As a Ph.D. student, Brandon was a Fulbright-Hays grantee in Indonesia, and conducted multi-sited dissertation fieldwork in Indonesia, India, Switzerland, and throughout the United States. Brandon uses his doctoral training in history to make sense of technology competition and to contribute to discussions on the future of U.S. national security.
Recent Publications
Preparing for Y2Q and Post-Quantum Disruption, CTRL Forward, Wilson Center, December 2023
The Innovation Race: US-China Science and Technology Competition and the Quantum Revolution, Wilson Center, October 2023
The Future of Cyber Competition workshop summary, September 2023
Biden to Private Sector: Cybersecurity is Your Responsibility—Not the User’s, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, May 2023
Strategy & Statecraft in Cyberspace workshop summary, May 2022
America’s Past Offers the Model for Topping China in Science and Technology, Washington Post, April 2022
The Incidents at Sea Agreement is a Poor Model for Cyberspace, co-authored, The Hague Cyber Stability Paper Series, December 2021
China and Multi-Domain Strategic Stability workshop summary, October 2021
From PhD to Policy, American Historical Association Perspectives, October 2021
Latency Unleashed: The Military Implications of Emerging Technologies workshop summary, August 2021
U.S. and Allied Cyber Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific workshop summary, April 2021
An Opportunity for Strengthening U.S.-Australian Cyber Cooperation, Lawfare, September 2020
Did Congress Just Thwart A Russian Pipeline?, Washington Post, December 2019
The New Arms Race: American Businesses vs. China’s Government Money, Washington Post, December 2018
