I’m incredibly honored to announce Ash Carter, the sitting U.S. Secretary of Defense, will join me for a fireside chat at Disrupt SF 2016. After we chat for a few minutes he will take questions from the audience.
The United States is sitting at a crossroads right now between fighting traditional battles with guns, tanks and warships and battles that will be fought online with sophisticated networks and complex systems. Secretary Carter is currently leading America’s armed forces into the future and we’re excited to have him at Disrupt SF to talk through this shift in strategy and what it means to Silicon Valley.
Lately he has been trying to build a bridge between Washington and Silicon Valley. He clearly knows that in order to stay a step ahead, the United States needs help innovating its services. And the best innovators are in the technology sector.
We’ll be asking him about his Silicon Valley initiatives and much more during our chat. Then it’s your turn to ask him about pressing issues in a Q&A session from the Disrupt audience.
Ash Carter is the 25th Secretary of Defense and the fourth to serve under President Barack Obama. He was appointed to the position in February 2015 after serving as the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense to Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel. Prior to that, Carter served as the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, where he was in charge of the Department of Defense’s logistical and innovation plans.
A big part of his current agenda is modernizing the U.S. Military by ensuring it has access to the best technology and talent available.
Carter has a double B.A. in Physics and Medieval History from Yale University and a doctorate in Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford. He conducted postdoctoral research at Rockefeller University and was a research fellow at MIT Center for International Studies. Needless to say, if there is a person who can lead the U.S. Military into the age of cyberwarfare, Ash Carter has the smarts to do so.
The secretary joins our incredible list of individuals speaking at Disrupt SF 2016 including Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen, and Padmasree Warrior. You can get still get tickets to Disrupt SF here.