Anna Puglisi was a Senior Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Previously, she served as the National Counterintelligence Officer for East Asia, advising senior U.S. and foreign government officials at the highest levels, academia and the private sector on counterintelligence (CI) issues. She played a prominent role in drafting the recently released U.S. National Counterintelligence Strategy, and in designing mitigation strategies for both the public and private sectors to protect technology. As a member of the Senior Analytic Service, she developed multidisciplinary efforts to understand global technology developments and their impact on U.S. competitiveness and national security, as well as efforts to target U.S. technology. Anna also started a government-wide working group looking at developments in biological sciences and has worked on several bio-security issues. She has received numerous awards including the FBI Director’s Award for Excellence. Anna holds an MPA, an MS in environmental science and a BA in Biology with honors, all from Indiana University. She studied at the Princeton in Beijing Chinese language school and was a visiting scholar in Nankai University’s Department of Economics, where she studied China’s S&T policies, infrastructure development and university reforms. She is a co-author of the 2013 study Chinese Industrial Espionage, the first book-length treatment of the topic, as well as countless related proprietary studies.
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CSET Senior Fellow Anna Puglisi testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on "Beijing's Long Arm: Threats to U.S. National Security." She offered recommendations to counter China's S&T collection efforts. Read More
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Biosafety Level-3 laboratories (BSL-3) are an essential part of research infrastructure and are used to develop vaccines and therapies. The research conducted in them provides insights into host-pathogen interactions that may help prevent future pandemics. Read More
China’s State Key Laboratory system drives the country’s innovation in science and technology. A key part of China’s aim to reduce its dependence on foreign technology, these labs conduct cutting-edge basic and applied research, attract… Read More
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China is banking on applying AI to biotechnology research in order to transform itself into a “biotech superpower.” In pursuit of that goal, it has emphasized bringing together different aspects of the development cycle to… Read More
This brief illuminates the scale of Chinese government funding for higher education, science, and technology by exploring budget and expense reports for key government organizations and 34 of China’s most elite “Double First Class” universities. Read More
Privacy is Power
January 2022In an opinion piece for Foreign Affairs, a team of CSET authors alongside coauthors make the case for the use of privacy-enhancing technologies to protect personal privacy. Read More
CSET Senior Fellow Anna Puglisi testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on "Beijing's Long Arm: Threats to U.S. National Security." She offered recommendations to counter China's S&T collection efforts. Read More
For the first time, a Chinese company—Huawei—is set to lead the global transition from one key national security infrastructure technology to the next. How did Washington, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, fail to… Read More
“Science and technology diplomats” act as brokers as part of China’s broader strategy to acquire foreign technology. Each year, they file hundreds of official reports on their activities. This issue brief illuminates trends in the… Read More
Establishing a new open-source National Science and Technology Analysis Center… Read More
As the U.S. government considers banning genomics companies from China, it opens a broader question about how the United States and other market economies should deal with China’s “national champions.” This paper provides an overview… Read More
China’s Hybrid Economy: What to Do about BGI?
February 2024As the U.S. government considers banning genomics companies from China in the Biosecure Act, it opens a broader question of how the U.S. and other market economies should deal with China’s national champions. This blog… Read More
Testimony before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on “recent advances in artificial intelligence and the Department of Energy’s role in ensuring U.S. competitiveness and security in emerging technologies”
September 2023CSET Senior Fellow Anna Puglisi testifies before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on the DOE lab complex and the research security threats it faces. Read More
Gain- and loss-of-function research have contributed to breakthroughs in vaccine development, genetic research, and gene therapy. At the same time, a subset of gain- and loss-of-function studies involve high-risk, highly virulent pathogens that could spread… Read More
Vaccines keep the U.S. public healthy while safeguarding economic stability and biosecurity. This report assesses the domestic vaccine manufacturing landscape and identifies two major vulnerabilities: a reliance on foreign manufacturers and a lack of manufacturing… Read More
Pandemic threats are increasing as globalization, urbanization, and encroachment on animal habitats cause infectious outbreaks to become more frequent and severe. It is imperative that the United States build a pipeline of medical countermeasure development,… Read More
This is a Hungarian translation of the May 2021 CSET Issue Brief “China’s Foreign Technology Wish List.”… Read More
This is a Russian translation of the May 2021 CSET Issue Brief “China’s Foreign Technology Wish List.”… Read More
Anna Puglisi’s Testimony Before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
February 2023CSET Director of Biotechnology Programs Anna Puglisi testified before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission at a hearing on "China’s Challenges and Capabilities in Educating and Training the Next Generation Workforce."… Read More
Democracies Must Empower a Biotech Future for All
November 2022CSET's Anna Puglisi and Andrew Imbrie discuss actions democracies can take to shape the development of biotechnology. Read More
Biosafety Level-3 laboratories (BSL-3) are an essential part of research infrastructure and are used to develop vaccines and therapies. The research conducted in them provides insights into host-pathogen interactions that may help prevent future pandemics. Read More
China’s State Key Laboratory system drives the country’s innovation in science and technology. A key part of China’s aim to reduce its dependence on foreign technology, these labs conduct cutting-edge basic and applied research, attract… Read More
China’s State Key Laboratory system drives innovation in science and technology. These labs conduct cutting-edge basic and applied research, attract and train domestic and foreign talent, and conduct academic exchanges with foreign counterparts. This report… Read More
China is banking on applying AI to biotechnology research in order to transform itself into a “biotech superpower.” In pursuit of that goal, it has emphasized bringing together different aspects of the development cycle to… Read More
This brief illuminates the scale of Chinese government funding for higher education, science, and technology by exploring budget and expense reports for key government organizations and 34 of China’s most elite “Double First Class” universities. Read More
Privacy is Power
January 2022In an opinion piece for Foreign Affairs, a team of CSET authors alongside coauthors make the case for the use of privacy-enhancing technologies to protect personal privacy. Read More
CSET Senior Fellow Anna Puglisi testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on "Beijing's Long Arm: Threats to U.S. National Security." She offered recommendations to counter China's S&T collection efforts. Read More
For the first time, a Chinese company—Huawei—is set to lead the global transition from one key national security infrastructure technology to the next. How did Washington, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, fail to… Read More
“Science and technology diplomats” act as brokers as part of China’s broader strategy to acquire foreign technology. Each year, they file hundreds of official reports on their activities. This issue brief illuminates trends in the… Read More
Establishing a new open-source National Science and Technology Analysis Center… Read More