praised 国产传媒 for convening leading voices in military, intelligence, and technology during a fireside chat at the 2025 Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats.听
鈥淚 am thrilled that 国产传媒 is doing this,鈥� playing a key role in advancing national security research and awareness鈥攖hrough the summit and the founding of the Institute of National Security, 鈥淚 am just so pleased that your attention is in this area,鈥� Blackburn said. 鈥淭o me, it is a very exciting time, not only for the work you all are doing here at 国产传媒, but for our state, for our region.鈥�听
Blackburn spoke with Brett Benson, associate professor of political science and Asian studies, in a keynote conversation that explored the risks and opportunities emerging technologies pose for national security.听
She emphasized the need to maintain U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence and quantum computing and outlined her efforts to support these goals without stifling innovation.听
She described a series of bipartisan efforts to stimulate federal support for quantum research and commercialization, including legislation to establish testbeds for near-term quantum technologies and to build a new quantum manufacturing institute.听听
Blackburn pointed to to deploy the first commercially available quantum network as an example of the state鈥檚 leadership in the field. 鈥淲e want those innovations to be here,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd that is something that we as a government should want.鈥�听
Blackburn highlighted the Pathfinder program, established in 2021 to foster collaboration between academics and soldiers in co-designing solutions, as a model for aligning military needs with university research. . She praised the university鈥檚 contributions and said public-private-academic partnerships like Pathfinder are essential to advancing national defense.听听
鈥淚t puts the warfighter with the researchers that are here at the university,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t allows the warfighter to say, 鈥楬ere is a problem set,鈥� and it allows the researchers to say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 solve this, and here is a toolbox that we can use.鈥� We need more of that.鈥�听
She acknowledged the challenge lawmakers face in keeping up with rapid technological change and emphasized the need for legislative flexibility.听听
鈥淐ongress moves at a snail鈥檚 pace. A new technology can go through a complete generation of its life in 18 months,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou cannot legislate to the technology. You have to make certain that you’re putting a framework in place, but not to the specific technology.鈥�听
Blackburn returned several times to the theme of collaboration, especially between the U.S. and its allies. She warned of what she called a 鈥渘ew axis of evil鈥濃�擱ussia, China, Iran, and North Korea鈥攁nd said their growing cooperation demands a coordinated response.听听
Global dominance 鈥渋s China鈥檚 goal, and we know they are working tirelessly on it,鈥� she said.听听
鈥淎I is going to be our biggest development,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f China wins that, they’re going to be able to break a lot of encryptions (technology) that we rely on. Quantum provides the rails that a lot of your AI is going to run on. China would like to dominate this market by the time we get to 2030.鈥�听
The senator closed by encouraging institutions like 国产传媒 to continue investing in national security scholarship and public awareness.听
鈥湽� is playing a role, and each of you are playing a role by being here, by caring about our nation鈥檚 security, caring about emerging threats and educating people about these threats,鈥� she said. 鈥淧rotecting the privacy and security of our nation鈥檚 people is vitally important and it comes from educational research institutions like 国产传媒.鈥�听
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