The Annual Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture

Ambassador Yvette Stevens, Former Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the UN in Geneva, dives into the various aspects of security that should be considered by governments and nations in modern times. Ambassador Stevens provides her perspective on how science and technology can support better national and global security.

Ambassador Mircea Geoană, NATO Deputy Secretary General, explores how the nature of competition between the world's great powers is evolving in response to disruptive technologies. In an era of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and synthetic biology, how and where do the great powers compete with one another? What are they competing for?

Jeremy Fleming, Director of GCHQ, considers the impact fundamental changes in the tech environment have had on our economy and society. The global pandemic has accelerated those trends at home but has also enabled our adversaries in new ways. He examines the challenges surrounding geopolitical competition in technology, and the need to reform the international approach to cyber and technology for the 21st century. From cyber power through to combatting Covid-19, he will explore the UK’s unique opportunity to lead the next phase of the global digital revolution.

Gordon Corera, BBC Security Correspondent, will chart the intertwining history of technology and espionage over the last century. He will reveal how the twin stories have moved from the most classified heart of the national security state to the every-day world with implications for all of us. From Bletchley Park through the Cold War to Google and Huawei he will explore how data, encryption and computers have transformed what we think of as secret and look at what that means for both intelligence agencies and citizens around the world.

Digital policing: The changing role of technology in law enforcement.

Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Service, Cressida Dick, discusses effective digital policing and the need for careful, ethical application of technology in law enforcement.

Professor Bill Durodie explores the contribution that the social sciences ought to be making to every aspect of security science and technology. The achievements and authority of the latter are truly remarkable. But they form just one element of our human pursuit of purpose and meaning.

Obstructing those we oppose is not the same as articulating what we are for. Addressing risks is a means to an end, not the end in itself. The biggest threat we face may be an emerging cultural disconnect within society. Engaging the human dimension has never been more vital.

Anne Harrington

9 November 2016

In this lecture, NNSA Deputy Administrator Anne Harrington describes the historical development of nuclear nonproliferation, whether our technical and dialogue-based means for nonproliferation are still appropriate, and what the international policy and science community must do to maintain and further advance efforts towards nuclear threat reduction.

The Rt Hon Baron David Willetts

28 October 2015

Former UK Science Minister David Willetts considers ways in which a safe and secure space environment can be sustained and how we must work with international partners and the industrial and academic community to safeguard this 'global commons' which is so important to our critical infrastructure.

Jamie Bartlett

29 October 2014

Jamie Bartlett (Demos) explores dark internet subcultures, hidden encrypted websites and the people behind them. He covers the rise of citizen-led encryption systems, the crypto-currency bitcoin, the anonymous browser 'Tor', online drugs markets, and how extremist groups and criminals use the internet. Jamie explains how this world operates, and what it means for public safety and security.

Professor Bruce Hoffman

20 November 2013

Terrorist success depends not only on an ability to keep one step ahead of the authorities, but also one step ahead of counter-terrorist technology. But curiously, as radical or fanatical as terrorists may be, both politically and ideologically, they are technologically conservative. Bruce Hoffman (Georgetown University) explores this paradox and assesses terrorism’s ongoing technological trajectory.

Michael Chertoff

17 October 2012

Former US Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff asks when is a cyber attack a genuine act of war? What is the line between the development of offensive versus defensive cyber capabilities? How can law enforcement most effectively combat cyber crime and cyber terrorism while maintaining civil liberties and privacy?

Professor Keith Jeffery

Author of the first official history of MI6, Professor Keith Jeffery (Queens University Belfast) investigates the extent to which the profession of intelligence might be described as a science, and also explores the role of science itself in both the working and the targeting of British intelligence operations in peace and war.

Professor Christopher Andrew

25th October 2010

MI5's first official historian, Christopher Andrew, delivers the inaugural Vincent Briscoe annual security lecture. He explores the interaction between science, technology, and secret intelligence over the last century, from the world wars to the era of transnational terrorism.