MIND & MACHINE: Exploring the Frontier of Human-Tech Integration in Defense & Beyond

William D. Casebeer, PhD, MA, leads teams of scientists and engineers in developing novel technologies to solve today's hardest defense and intelligence challenges as HRL Laboratories's Director of the Intelligent Systems Center.  Bill has decades of experience leading interdisciplinary groups in for-profit and non-profit roles, including Director, Senior Director, and Program Manager roles at Riverside Research, Scientific Systems Company,  the Innovation Lab at Beyond Conflict, the Human Systems and Autonomy Lab at Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories, and at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as  program manager in the Defense Sciences Office and Biological Technologies Office. Bill retired from active US Air Force duty as a Lieutenant Colonel and intelligence analyst in 2011, and is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, the University of Arizona, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the University of California at San Diego (where he earned his joint PhD in cognitive science and philosophy, building neural network models of human moral cognition).  He can be reached at [email protected].

Michael Miklaucic is the Oswaldo Aranha Chair Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). He concurrently is a Lecturer at the University of Chicago, and Adjunct Lecturer at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. His most recent U.S. government posting (2009-2024) was Senior Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of PRISM Journal at National Defense University where he edited seven books and 41 issues of PRISM. Previously he served in various positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of State, including USAID representative on the Civilian Response Corps Inter-Agency Task Force, as the Senior Program Officer in the USAID Office of Democracy and Governance, and Rule of Law Specialist in the Center for Democracy and Governance. In 2002-2003 he served as the Department of State Deputy for War Crimes Issues. In that position he was responsible for U.S. relations with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), war crimes issues and negotiations in East Timor and Cambodia, and the early implementation of the Sudan Peace Act. His publications have appeared in The Financial Times, The Diplomat, The Hill, Real Clear Defense, and others. He studied at the University of California, the London School of Economics, and the School for Advanced International Studies.

David Vernal, CEO, Mimiri.ai Corporation; former United States Air Force intelligence colonel with experience in cyber operations, including a tour as Director for Defense Cyberspace Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council. A graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, he consults on the adoption of artificial intelligence in defense work. He holds a master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Air Force’s Air War College, a master’s degree in Taiwan Studies from National Chengchi University, and a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard College