Memos to the President

Episode 3: Foreign Policy with Joe Wang and Stephen Nordin

Episode Summary

Our third episode features SCSP Senior Advisor, Joe Wang, and Director for Foreign Policy, Stephen Nordin, offering their insights on how the United States' foreign policy should reflect the technology era we are in. Read the Memo here: https://www.scsp.ai/reports/memostothepresident/foreign-policy/

Episode Notes

The United States must act decisively to maintain its global leadership in the face of rising challenges from the People's Republic of China (PRC) and other authoritarian powers. This memo outlines five key objectives to ensure U.S. victory, focusing on:

• Expand American-led technology platforms globally: The United States should secure critical technology platforms by partnering with allies and launch an American "tech package" initiative to counter the PRC's Digital Silk Road and demonstrate that the U.S. can offer more than just cheap infrastructure.
• Integrate the private sector into foreign policy: The U.S. government needs a new paradigm of public-private alignment to leverage the reach, ingenuity, and resources of the American technology sector as critical enablers of U.S. foreign policy to advance national interests in the global competition.
• Reignite the Allies+Maximum Pressure campaign: The United States must organize its allies and partners to curtail adversaries' access to critical technologies and protect shared technology ecosystems, using offensive tools like joint export controls and defensive measures like reciprocal trade policies.
• Champion a 'Disruptive Freedom' agenda: To push back against authoritarian influence, the United States should invest in technologies that promote free expression in closed environments, build coalitions with emerging democracies on championing new ideas of freedom, and develop a whole-of-government strategic communications approach.
• Transform U.S. foreign policy institutions: Transformational change is needed at the State Department and across the foreign policy apparatus, including appointing a Presidential Envoy for Tech Competition, restructuring the Department to put technology at the core, and building a new "joint" National Security Service workforce.

Key questions addressed:

1. How can the United States push back against the PRC's growing tech spheres of influence?
2. What new public-private partnerships, talent pipelines, and institutional reforms are needed to leverage American innovation for international advantage?
3. How can the U.S. harness emerging technologies to champion freedom and counter authoritarian influence in the global battle of ideas?