Dr. Daniel Gerstein has served as a Senior Executive Service (SES) government civilian, in uniform, in think tanks, in industry and in academia. He served in the Department of Homeland Security from August 2011 to December 2014 as Under Secretary (Acting) and Deputy Under Secretary leading the Science and Technology Directorate.
Gerstein is a retired Army Colonel who served on four continents in combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism, and homeland security. He also served for more than a decade in the Pentagon in various high-level staff assignments including serving on the Holbrooke Delegation that negotiated the peace agreement in Bosnia-Hercegovina and as the Principal Director for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction.
He has been an Adjunct Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. since 2009 and at George Mason University since 2020. He is a national security author with eight nonfiction books and a novel on a range of national security topics including science and technology, national security, countering weapons of mass destruction, biological warfare, bioterrorism, arms control, and the commitment of military forces.
He is a frequent national security contributor and has published numerous books, commentaries, articles, and research on a variety of national and homeland security issues. He is a frequent contributor on television and radio including CNN, CNBC World, C-SPAN, FOX, Voice of America, WUSA9 News and Federal News Radio. He has testified to Congress on numerous occasions.
Dr. Gerstein has been awarded numerous foreign, military, and civilian awards, including the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award and the U.S. Army Soldiers Medal for heroism. He is a member of several boards and advisory committees and is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy and has master’s degrees from Georgia Tech, the National Defense University and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, and a PhD in Biodefense from George Mason University.
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Dr. Gerstein is a national security professional who has had a unique insider perspective on the United States' national security strategy and policy having been a close advisor to many of the key decisionmakers over several decades. By the end of his time in government, he had become a senior principal responsible for developing and executing the policies of the U.S. government. His service included advising foreign governments on a range of sensitive issues. He continues to speak and write extensively on these issues.
He has worked on a range of issues from assessment of threats and risks, development of strategies and policies, and has deployed on a variety of operations. In the U.S. Army, he served on four continents while participating in combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism and homeland security. During his time in uniform, he served in sensitive positions as an aide-de-camp for the four-star Vice Chief of Staff, Army (General Gordon Sullivan); speechwriter for the three-star Director of Strategy and Policy (J-5), The Joint Staff (General Wesley K. Clark); Director for Army Transformation for the Chief of Staff, Army (General Eric Shinseki); executive officer for the Under Secretary of the Army (Raymond DuBois and Pete Geren). He also worked on several national security documents such as the National Security Strategy, the National Military Strategy and the Chairman’s Program Assessment (CPA). He also led teams that conducted analysis, modeling and simulations of various threats and risks.
He has extensive experience in international negotiations and arms control having served on the Holbrooke Delegation that negotiated the peace settlement in Bosnia; developed and analyzed negotiating positions for the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) talks; developed a counternarcotics initiative to improve cross border communications between Andean Ridge nations and negotiated the destruction of SS-24 intercontinental ballistic rocket motors in Ukraine. Additionally, Dr. Gerstein led the Army’s most comprehensive restructuring since World War II and guided an effort to develop a comprehensive biosurveillance system for the Department of Defense.
He has served in and worked with organizations across the U.S. government. He served in the Department of Defense and retired as a Colonel and served later in the Department of Homeland Security as Under Secretary (Acting) and Deputy Under Secretary in the Science and Technology Directorate. In these assignments, Gerstein worked closely with the Intelligence Community, and the Department of Energy (nuclear weapons issues), Commerce (export control and technology management), Health and Human Services (medical countermeasures, countering biological warfare and bioterrorism) and Department of Agriculture (agricultural biodefense).
Gerstein has authored several books on national security, strategy, policy and decision making including War Without Humanity: Conflict in the Post-Human Era (Casemate, 2026); Tech Wars: Transforming U.S. Technology Development (Praeger. September 2022. (Paperback version released in 2024)); National Security and Arms Control in the Age of Biotechnology: The Biological Weapons Convention (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013); Bioterror in the 21st Century, (Naval Institute Press, 2009); Assignment: Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy (5th Edition) (University of Nebraska Press, 2020); The Story of Technology: How We Got Here and What the Future Holds (Prometheus Books, 2019); Leading at the Speed of Light: New Strategies for U.S. Security in the Information Age, (Potomac Books, 2006); Securing America's Future: National Strategy in the Information Age, (Praeger Security International, 2005).
Daniel Gerstein brings a unique perspective to the understanding of technology and it's impact on society. In this formulation, Gerstein offers that the history of humanity and the history of technology are one and the same.
Throughout recorded history, humankind has used science discovery, technology development and innovation to solve practical problems, build economies, growth societies and improve the quality of life. As the capabilities of humankind have increased, the quest for gaining a fundamental understanding of the world has driven greater scientific study which has in turn fueled greater technological achievements.
Today, the world is more connected than ever -- some might even say smaller -- where events in one part of the world have implications for nations and peoples thousands of miles away. Advances in information technologies, communication and cyber are allowing for sharing of ideas, data and information in real-time. Dual use technologies allow individual actors to have state-like capabilities. Areas of science and technology that once were the exclusive domain of nations, such as global positioning systems or GPS, have become parts of our daily lives. Multi-national corporations are complicating controls on science and technology proliferation.
Today emerging technologies are resulting in complementary increases in legal, policy and ethical questions and issues. Often, advances are so rapid, they are outpacing policymakers’ ability to place adequate controls on research, development and behaviors with potentially devastating consequences, and certainly before treaties, laws, policies and regulations are in place.
Dr. Gerstein is an expert in military and homeland security technologies. From precision guided munitions in the first Gulf War to drones and humanoid robots in Ukraine, Gerstein has written and spoken about a range of technologies including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity and communications, quantum, material science and advanced manufacturing, autonomous systems and robotics, social media and deep fakes. Dr. Gerstein led the U.S. Army’s most comprehensive restructuring since World War II and guided an effort to develop a comprehensive biosurveillance system for the Department of Defense.
He is also the author of several books on technology including War Without Humanity: Conflict in the Post-Human Era (Casemate, 2026); Tech Wars: Transforming U.S. Technology Development (Praeger. September 2022. (Paperback version released in 2024)); Assignment: Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy (5th Edition) (University of Nebraska Press, 2020); The Story of Technology: How We Got Here and What the Future Holds (Prometheus Books, 2019); Leading at the Speed of Light: New Strategies for U.S. Security in the Information Age, (Potomac Books, 2006).
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