Cara LaPointe is the Director of Analysis at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). She previously served as the Director of Strategic Assessment for the Department of the Navy (DON), where she conducted independent, data-driven assessments and led the Naval Strategic Studies Group. Prior to the DON, she worked at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab where she was the Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, leading multi-disciplinary research to ensure that artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled autonomous systems are safe, secure, and ethical contributors to society. Earlier at the Georgetown University Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, Cara drove the development of the Blockchain Ethical Design Framework.

She spent over two decades as a naval officer serving in diverse operational, technical, and acquisition roles at sea and ashore. Cara holds a Ph.D. in oceanographic and mechanical engineering jointly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a Naval Engineer’s degree and an M.S. in ocean systems management from MIT, an M.Phil. in international development from the University of Oxford, and a B.S. in ocean engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.