Cortney Weinbaum

Photo of Cortney Weinbaum
Senior Management Scientist
Washington Office

Education

B.S. in physics, University of Michigan

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Cortney Weinbaum (she/her) is a senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation. She specializes in intelligence and space topics, and she has worked with the Intelligence Community (IC) and Department of Defense to improve policies, practices, and technologies. She has improved analytic and collection tradecraft; identified emerging technologies and their impact on space architectures, special operations, countering weapons of mass destruction, and intelligence; and examined new workforce models for intelligence agencies. She facilitated cross-discipline teams to apply structured analytic techniques to intractable intelligence topics, and she has applied wargaming and scenario-based planning against both operational and enterprise topics. 

Weinbaum led two teams to receive the Director of National Intelligence's Meritorious Unit Citation for advancing the IC's knowledge of two intractable intelligence topics. Since joining RAND, she has studied emerging technologies and their implications for intelligence; unclassified intelligence; the ethics of scientific research; and other topics. She began her career as an intelligence officer developing radio frequency and electromagnetic MASINT collection systems. 

She serves on the boards of directors of Carrie Simon House, a charity that provides housing, financial literacy, and life skills to homeless mothers with young children in Washington, D.C.; and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of D.C., which provides trained and dedicated volunteers to support children who have open abuse and neglect cases in D.C. Family Court. Weinbaum earned her B.S. in physics from the University of Michigan.

Research Focus

Honors & Awards

  • Defense Intelligence Agency Humanitarian Award, 2005
  • Defense Intelligence Agency Sustained Superior Performance Award, 2004
  • General Electric Fellowship and Grant for Women in Physics & Computer Science, 2000

Commentary

  • Social networking service, streaming video, communication network, photo by metamorworks/Getty Images

    The Intelligence Community's Deadly Bias Toward Classified Sources

    Even when relevant data is publicly available, U.S. intelligence analysts are not including it in their analytic products during their routine course of business. This willful ignorance of publicly available information is hurting U.S. national security.

    Apr 12, 2021 Defense One

  • A scientist working late in a laboratory, photo by SolStock/Getty Images

    Scientific Research Integrity Demands Transparency—the Law Should Require It Too

    China pays U.S. scientists for their innovations in exchange for money and access to research laboratories and speaking and publication opportunities. They require the researchers to keep these agreements secret from their employers or the U.S. government. Perhaps it is time to codify scientific transparency into law.

    Apr 12, 2021

  • Artificial Intelligence, Graphical User Interface, photo by kontekbrothers/Getty Images

    A Code of Conduct for AI in Defense Should Be an Extension of Other Military Codes

    An AI code of conduct for defense should look a lot like all other defense codes of conduct. A global society that would create the Geneva Convention is a society that believes in a moral code for warfare. This same code could extend into its weaponized algorithms.

    Sep 11, 2019 Friends of Europe's Debating Security Plus 2019 Programme

  • Cortney Weinbaum at the Roberta Wohlstetter Forum on National Security in Arlington, Virginia, October 24, 2018, photo by Grace Evans and Khorshied Samad/RAND Corporation

    Intel, Ethics, and Emerging Tech: Q&A with Cortney Weinbaum

    Cortney Weinbaum studies topics related to intelligence and cyber policy as a senior management scientist at RAND. In this interview, she discusses challenges facing the intelligence community, the risks of using AI as a solution, and ethics in scientific research.

    Aug 23, 2019

  • A pilot flies an MQ-9 Reaper drone from Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, July 10, 2017, photo by SrA Chase Cannon/U.S. Air Force

    Here's What an AI Code of Conduct for the Pentagon Might Look Like

    Advocates want a code of conduct for how artificial intelligence will be used and oversight to ensure it is being followed. DoD could identify areas where it might use AI in the foreseeable future and set rules and guidelines for business uses, non-lethal military uses, and lethal uses.

    Jun 24, 2019 C4ISRNET

  • Elizebeth Smith Friedman, United States Government image

    Book Review: 'The Woman Who Smashed Codes' by Jason Fagone

    'The Woman Who Smashed Codes' by Jason Fagone is the story of Elizebeth Friedman, the mother of modern cryptoanalysis and cryptography. She broke coded messages of organized crime, broke the Nazi Enigma cryptography machine, and deciphered, mapped, and monitored Nazi activities in South America, though it is her husband William who often gets credit.

    Feb 19, 2019 Modern War Institute (West Point)

  • The Security Operation Centre for Telstra, Australia's biggest telecoms firm, which is used to monitor, detect and respond to security incidents, including cyber attacks, in Sydney, Australia, August 24, 2017

    Financial Frameworks for Cybersecurity Are Failing

    Cybersecurity has become a team sport. But all participants on the field are playing without clear rules, without a team approach, and without knowing when to pass the ball or to whom.

    Oct 25, 2018 The RAND Blog

  • World map showing connections

    Business Model of the Intelligence Community Needs an Upgrade

    The workplace practices of most intelligence agencies are outdated. Rethinking and redesigning the intelligence business model could help agencies better respond to current-day threats.

    Oct 24, 2018 The Hill

  • Congressman Adam Schiff speaks at a House Intelligence Committee meeting about Russian use of social media to influence U.S. elections, Washington, D.C., November 1, 2017

    Covert Influence Is the New Money Laundering

    Anti-money laundering laws provide lessons for combating covert influence operations, such as Russian meddling in the U.S. election. These laws could be adapted for online media models that do not require users to be paid customers.

    Nov 6, 2017 TechCrunch

  • Cyber illustration of a judge's gavel

    The Future of Cyber Investigations at the FBI Is Unclear

    Evidence presented by the FBI in the case of U.S. v. Jay Michaud was excluded because the agency was unwilling to reveal the software exploit used to collect it. If the FBI exposes its capabilities, other criminals can patch their computers, but concealing its techniques risks the ability to prosecute cyber criminals.

    Aug 24, 2016 Inside Sources

  • Aerographer's mates stand by as an unmanned underwater vehicle leaves the surface to search for mines as part of a training exercise

    The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Intelligence Agencies

    The defense community has already begun a healthy dialogue about the ethics of AI in combat systems. The intelligence community should develop standards for AI risk assessments and assign responsibility for conducting them.

    Jul 18, 2016 The National Interest

  • A person looking at top secret files with a magnifying glass

    Defining a New Paradigm for Government Secrecy

    Technology has afforded the U.S. national security apparatus incredible capabilities, along with equally monumental challenges and risks. The government has the option to choose whether to adjust by taking a proactive approach or to allow external forces to determine the future of its secrets.

    Oct 13, 2015 U.S. News & World Report

Publications