November 10, 2026

CNAS Launches AI Policy Lab

Washington, November 10, 2026 — Today, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) launched the AI Policy Lab, a major expansion of its decade-plus leadership on artificial intelligence and national security. The new lab will deepen the Center’s AI research, bring aboard new experts, and feature new methods for impacting the AI and security debates.

CNAS will inaugurate the new lab by adding five research experts focused on AI compute, economic competition, and frontier security issues. The Center is also seeking extraordinary individuals to serve in multiple operational and editorial positions (details and links below).

Led by CNAS Executive Vice President Paul Scharre, the CNAS AI Policy Lab will integrate the Center’s significant technology, defense, regional, and economic security expertise to address the role of AI in reshaping every dimension of national power. It will build on the Center’s existing research to produce new, cutting-edge and technically informed policy analysis.

Core research areas will include:

  • AI security and safety
  • AI economic security and competition
  • Compute governance
  • Military AI adoption and assurance

“The AI Policy Lab is CNAS’s latest investment to grow its AI policy leadership at this pivotal moment for U.S. national security,” said Scharre. “By fusing technically informed research with deep national security expertise, CNAS will help policymakers meet the moment and navigate the opportunities and risks of this revolutionary technology.”

Scharre will be joined in leading the Lab by Vivek Chilukuri, senior fellow and director of the CNAS Technology and National Security Program, who will direct the lab’s AI technology policy research. Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow and director of the CNAS Energy, Economics and Security Program, will direct the lab’s AI economic security and competition research. Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director of the CNAS Defense Program, will direct the lab’s military AI research. David McKenzie, CNAS vice president of strategy and communications, will lead the lab’s operations, including editorial, design, and AI integration.

By bridging the divide between innovators and national security policymakers, the lab will ensure that policy matches the unprecedented pace of technological innovation. It will serve as a hub for curated discussions, partnerships, and other convenings to bring industry, researchers, and the national security community together to develop policy solutions. The lab builds on a sustained track record of CNAS leadership in the field. CNAS experts and alumni have written the rules for how the Pentagon incorporates autonomous systems, developed policies to preserve the United States’ AI lead, and served in the highest levels of AI policymaking.

“Washington must adapt to the lightning speed of AI development,” said Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer at CNAS. “Through the AI Policy Lab, CNAS will continue its legacy of bold, cutting-edge policy solutions to the most significant technology and national security challenges.”

Read more about the AI Policy Lab and explore previous CNAS work on AI and national security here.

To support the expansion of CNAS’s AI research, the AI Policy Lab is hiring for the following positions: