Release: Klon Kitchen Joins AEI to Work on the Intersection of National Security and Defense Technologies and Innovations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington, DC (February 8, 2021) — Kori Schake, the director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), announced today that Klon Kitchen is joining AEI as a resident fellow and will be working on the intersection of national security and defense technologies and innovation. Through his research, Mr. Kitchen works to understand and explain how emerging technologies are shaping modern statecraft, intelligence, and warfighting, while focusing on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, robotics, and quantum sciences.

“I’m elated Klon Kitchen is adding his talents to AEI’s Foreign and Defense Policy team. We’ve needed greater expertise on cyber so it can become integral to our work on alternative defense strategies, including which elements of technology require shielding from Chinese investment or participation. And we’re excited about his research agenda, too!” said Ms. Schake.

Before joining AEI, Mr. Kitchen was director of the Center for Technology Policy at the Heritage Foundation. He has also served as Sen. Ben Sasse’s (R-NE) national security adviser, during which time he worked on the creation of the US Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a blue-ribbon commission tasked with developing an American grand strategy for cyber. While working for Sen. Sasse, Mr. Kitchen served as the staff director of the National Security and International Trade and Finance Subcommittee for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Mr. Kitchen has also worked on cyber strategy at the National Counterterrorism Center; as a senior program assessment officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence; and as the lead analyst on al Qaeda senior leadership at the Defense Intelligence Agency. He was also the National Counterterrorism Center chair at National Defense University.

Said Klon Kitchen, “I am very excited to join AEI. The organization’s commitment to intellectual rigor and freedom is the foundation on which it has built a world-class reputation, and it is an honor to be counted among its ranks. Emerging technologies are reshaping modern militaries and statecraft, and I’m confident our work in the Foreign and Defense Policy program will help our nation thrive in the midst of this dynamic context.”

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