Benjamin Boudreaux

Mobile Health Surveillance Is Here to Stay, So How Do We Protect Privacy?

Mobile phone surveillance can augment public health interventions to manage COVID-19 and might help countries prepare for the next outbreak. But these programs collect sensitive health and behavior data. That raises significant risks to personal privacy and civil liberties.

Does the U.S. Face an AI Ethics Gap?

Instead of worrying about an artificial intelligence “ethics gap,” U.S. policymakers and the military community could embrace a leadership role in AI ethics. This may help ensure that the AI arms race doesn't become a race to the bottom.

When Cyber Attacks Occur, Who Should Investigate?

Data breaches and cyberattacks cross geopolitical boundaries, targeting individuals, corporations and governments. Creating a global body with a narrow focus on investigating and assigning responsibility for cyberattacks could be the first step to creating a digital world with accountability.

Draft

How Can AI Help People Become Better Versions of Themselves?

Explores the near-term policy implications of a transformed, AI-enabled future and the questions surrounding it.

Testimony

Ensuring That Government Use of Technology Serves the Public: Addendum

Document submitted August 2, 2023, as an addendum to testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation on June 22, 2023.

Testimony

Ensuring That Government Use of Technology Serves the Public

Testimony presented before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, on June 22, 2023.

Report

The Metaverse and Homeland Security: Opportunities and Risks of Persistent Virtual Environments

This Perspective provides an initial review of the metaverse concept and its relevance to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The authors map department objectives to key metaverse characteristics and identify areas for proactive efforts.

Report

Emerging Technology Beyond 2035: Scenario-Based Technology Assessment for Future Military Contingencies

This report presents the development and implementation of a technology assessment process to help the Army understand the implications of key emerging technologies that could be important for Army missions in the years 2035 to 2050.

Report

Securing U.S. Elections: A Method for Prioritizing Cybersecurity Risk in Election Infrastructure

Researchers from the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center have developed a methodology for understanding and prioritizing cybersecurity risk in election infrastructure to assist state and local election officials.

Report

Planning for Significant Cyber Incidents: An Introduction for Decisionmakers

This report describes contingency planning for a significant cyber incident, focusing on the importance of planning, the process of developing a plan, and options for operationalizing it. It summarizes a companion how-to guide by the same authors.

Report

The Department of Homeland Security's Use of Emerging Technologies: Why Public Perception Matters

This Perspective explores how public perception can influence the success of government technology deployments, ways to assess public perception, and how government agencies might account for public perception across that deployment life cycle.

Report

Competition and Restraint in Cyberspace: The Role of International Norms in Promoting U.S. Cybersecurity

The authors discuss the need and potential for norms constraining cyber aggression. They review the history of cyber norms and the current policies surrounding them and propose a renewed agenda for the United States to encourage their development.

Journal Article

Steps Towards Value-Aligned Systems

This paper argues for a more structured systems-level approach for assessing value-alignment in sociotechnical systems. We highlight how adopting a system perspective improves our ability to explain and address misbehaving algorithms better.

Report

The Internet of Bodies: Opportunities, Risks, and Governance

"Smart" devices are increasingly being used to monitor the human body. The authors examine these technologies; explore benefits, risks, and ethical implications; survey the regulatory landscape; and make recommendations to balance risks and rewards.

Report

Counter-Radicalization Bot Research: Using Social Bots to Fight Violent Extremism

As the online recruitment of violent extremist organizations grows, the U.S. government may benefit from promising emerging technology tools to rapidly detect targets of such recruitment efforts and deliver counter-radicalization content to them.

Journal Article

Private-Sector Attribution of Cyber Incidents: Benefits and Risks to the U.S. Government

This article addresses four questions on the relationship of private sector cyberintelligence companies with the U.S. Government.

Report

Data Privacy During Pandemics: A Scorecard Approach for Evaluating the Privacy Implications of COVID-19 Mobile Phone Surveillance Programs

As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments worldwide have deployed mobile phone surveillance programs to augment public health interventions. The authors examine how these programs can be implemented in ways that protect privacy.

Research Brief

Strengthening Privacy Protections in COVID-19 Mobile Phone–Enhanced Surveillance Programs

This report examines the privacy implications of the use of mobile phone surveillance programs for pandemics.

Report

Military Applications of Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Concerns in an Uncertain World

The authors of this report examine military applications of artificial intelligence (AI); compare development efforts in the United States, China, and Russia; and consider the ethical implications of employing military AI in war and peace.

Report

Algorithmic Equity: A Framework for Social Applications

This report is an examination of pathologies in social institutions' use of algorithmic decisionmaking processes. The primary focus is understanding how to evaluate the equitable use of algorithms across a range of specific applications.

Report

Stateless Attribution: Toward International Accountability in Cyberspace

This report reviews the state of cyber attribution and examines alternative options for producing standardized and transparent attribution that may overcome concerns about credibility.