Ben FitzGerald

Ben FitzGerald was a Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program at CNAS. In this capacity, Mr. FitzGerald led CNAS efforts to explore the national security implications associated with the rapid pace of technological change by exploring the nexus of strategy, technology and business.

Mr. FitzGerald's recent CNAS publications include: Future Foundry: A New Strategic Approach to Military-Technical Advantage; Open Source Software and the Department of Defense; 12 Months in – 8 Months Left: An Update on Secretary Carter’s Innovation Agenda; Crisis Response: Institutional Innovation in the United States Marines Corps; and Creative Disruption: Technology, Strategy and the Future of the Global Defense Industry.

Mr. FitzGerald has wide experience across a range of strategic matters having led and contributed to projects on topics as diverse as military technology strategy, institutional innovation, UN peacekeeping doctrine, transitional law enforcement, the future of urban-littoral combat and the future role of the United States Marine Corps. He has designed and led a variety of wargames for military and civilian audiences ranging from action officers to four-star generals.

Technology has played an ongoing role throughout Mr. FitzGerald’s career. His early experience was gained working in technology companies Unisys, Rational Software and IBM. In these roles he assisted a range of government organizations, including defense and signals intelligence agencies, align their technology strategy, methods and infrastructure with organizational goals. Mr. FitzGerald has also supported OSD AT&L experimentation on integrated tactical technology for urban combat, explored NIH and DoD collaboration on human performance enhancement and led NeXTech, an investigation of game changing technology.

As a business leader, Mr. FitzGerald moved from his native Australia and established, then led as Managing Director and board member, the North American arm of Noetic, a privately owned national security strategy business. He grew the organization from an initial start-up to a highly regarded firm with clients including the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the United States Marine Corps, Joint Forces Command and the United Nations, among others. Ben’s work was recognized with Australian Capital Territory Export Awards in 2007, 2008 and 2011. Mr. FitzGerald’s commentary and opinions have appeared on C-SPAN, Defense News, Foreign Policy, Mashable, NPR, Reuters, and Vice.