As China continues to increase its influence in the Americas, one area that deserves particular attention is science and technology. While it is sometimes considered outside the scope of traditional diplomacy, science and technology are increasingly important for economic development and encompass a large range of sectors that are critical to the region's growth. These include defense, the green energy transition, and healthcare. Join Leland Lazarus as he sits down with Adam Ratzlaff about China's New Silk Road of Science in the Americas.

Adam Ratzlaff is a PhD candidate in International Relations at Florida International University and the Deputy Director of Global Americans, a DC-based think tank on Hemispheric affairs. Prior to coming to FIU, Ratzlaff conducted political and economic analysis for organizations including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Southern Pulse Correspondents.

His research interests include U.S.-Latin American foreign policy, Sino-Latin American foreign policy, Pan-American cooperation, the defense of democracy in the Americas, fiscal policy, and economic and social development in Latin America. He has published extensively on these topics in popular venues including Diplomatic Courier, The National Interest, and Charged Affairs among others. Ratzlaff’s dissertation examines how the Organization of American States (OAS) responds to and shapes the evolving threats to democracy in the Americas.

He holds a MA from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies (University of Denver) as well as a BA from Tulane University where he triple-majored in International Relations, Economics, and Latin American Studies.

The U.S.-China competition is reaching up into the stars. In the past decade, the PRC has quickly developed its space capabilities, including space-enabling infrastructure across Latin America. National security researchers have raised alarms about how the PRC could leverage its space infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere to monitor U.S. and other country satellites, intercept sensitive information, and even potentially help guide its hypersonic missiles. What is the true extent of the PRC’s space capabilities in the Western Hemisphere, and how does the PRC threaten U.S. and partner nations’ security in the region? This week, Leland sits down with Guido Torres, Executive Director of the Irregular Warfare Initiative, and Laura Lopez Delgado, former Visiting Fellow of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Americas Program, to discuss China’s long march into the final frontier.

Check out their full report: https://www.csis.org/analysis/space-speed-and-sovereignty-hypersonic-tensions-southern-hemisphere

Guido Torres is the Executive Director of IWI and a national security professional with over two decades of experience working on sensitive special operations, supporting military and interagency campaigns. He is a Department of Defense Civilian and was a National Security Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center (2022-2023), where he worked with the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Project. Guido is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Forward Defense program of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Laura Delgado López was a Visiting Fellow with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she wrote on international space cooperation in Latin America. During her tenure, she was funded by a 2023-2024 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship.

Artificial Intelligence has continued to force industries to evolve, but legislation has struggled to keep up at the same pace. Earlier this year, the Jack D. Gordon Institute held the inaugural Florida AI Policy Summit which aimed to address AI policy changes to the state’s legislative body. Today, Mike Asencio joins us once more, this time as guest co-host, as we speak to Gordon Institute Director Brian Fonseca on key policy takeaways from the summit. Together we explore AI’s impact across academia, industry, and the private sector and determine the framework of governance needed.

Brian Fonseca is Director of the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and an adjunct professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University’s (FIU) Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He is the founding Executive Director of Cybersecurity@FIU, FIU's university-wide interdisciplinary emerging preeminent program. Brian also serves as a Cybersecurity Policy Fellow and International Security Fellow at the D.C.-based think tank New America. His analysis has been featured in local, national, and international media and he serves as the on-air political analyst for South Florida’s WSVN-Fox News. Brian has testified before the U.S. Congress in 2019 and 2021.