CSF 2024 | Keynote Address - Mr. David E. Sanger, The New York Times

Keynote Address: An Interview - Mr. David E. Sanger,
The New York Times
with Dr. Derek S. Reveron, U.S. Naval War College

Mr. David E. Sanger is the White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times, reporting on President Biden and his administration, with a particular focus on foreign policy and its intersection with technology, politics and superpower conflict. over President Biden, his administration and the foreign policy, intelligence and military advisers who shape the nation’s national security policy. As a White House reporter, he spends his days (and nights and weekends, alas) interviewing members of the president’s staff or other national security officials, attending speeches and conferences, and talking with critics of the president’s policies. He often travels with the President around the world, sometimes on Air Force One, which looks more luxurious in the movies than it is in reality. Because he focuses on foreign policy and national security issues, he often ranges beyond the White House, interviewing foreign leaders, members of Congress, and academics. His analytical articles explain the underlying factors that lead to a major decision, or place a major event in a historical frame that gives readers some context of how hard choices are made.

Sanger has worked at The Times for more than four decades, starting two months after he graduated from Harvard. That makes him — for better or worse — one of the longest-serving correspondents, dating back to when the printed paper was our only product. He served as a business correspondent covering the early days of Silicon Valley, and worked on the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for uncovering the causes of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. He was a foreign correspondent and bureau chief in Japan for six years. In Washington, he covered five presidents, from Clinton to Biden, and served on teams that won two other Pulitzers, most recently for uncovering Russia’s role in the 2016 election.

He has written three books, including The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age, which later became an HBO documentary by the same title. A second documentary, Year One, also on HBO, describes the tumultuous first year of the Biden presidency. His latest book is the New Cold Wars that focuses on the re-emergence of superpower conflict. He also co-teaches a course at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government entitled “Central Challenges in American National Security, Strategy and the Press.”

Dr. Derek S. Reveron chairs the National Security Affairs Department at the U.S. Naval War College. He oversees all aspects of teaching international security, regional studies, and foreign policy analysis. Students learn to assess the future security environment, draft national, military, maritime, and theater strategies, develop concepts and force structure, and assess political, budgetary, bureaucratic, organizational, and leadership factors influencing decision making and implementation of U.S. foreign policy and strategy. He is also a part-time faculty affiliate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School where he co-teaches strategic problem-solving.

He served on the Rhode Island Cybersecurity Commission. As a governor-appointed commissioner, he worked closely with industry, government, and academia to develop Rhode Island’s strategic roadmap to promote resiliency of government operations, incorporate cybersecurity in public schools, and improve information sharing. Additionally, he served on the board of thinkers for the Boston Global Forum, which produced several technology and policy reports in support of G-7 summits that addressed cybersecurity. His 2024 book Security in the Cyber Age: An Introduction to Policy and Technology breaks-down how cyberspace works, analyzes how state and non-state actors exploit vulnerabilities in cyberspace, and provides ways to improve cybersecurity.

A retired Navy Captain, he brings 33 years of active and reserve military service with four tours as a commanding officer leading analytic units in support of operations in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, crisis management in the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center, and as a special advisor in Afghanistan.

Reveron graduated with distinction from the College of Naval Command Staff and completed the Maritime Staff Operators Course at the U.S. Naval War College. He received an MA in political science and a Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the University of Illinois at Chicago.