Institute for Security and Technology

The Institute for Security and Technology (IST) is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan nonprofit think tank headquartered in Oakland, California, that serves as a critical bridge between technologists and national security policymakers. Co-founded by Philip Reiner, a former Senior Director for South Asia on the Obama National Security Council, IST was originally established in February 2016 as Technology for Global Security by a small group of national security professionals and California-based entrepreneurs seeking to build the premier West Coast technology and security nonprofit.

In July 2020, the organization rebranded to the Institute for Security and Technology, reflecting its evolution from a startup-style operation into a structured three-pillared organization. IST's work spans Future of Digital Security, Geopolitics of Technology, and Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, with a built-in bias toward action rather than purely academic analysis.

IST's most prominent initiative is the Ransomware Task Force (RTF), launched in early 2021, which brought together over 60 experts from industry, government, and civil society. The RTF produced 48 recommendations for combating ransomware, released just days before the Colonial Pipeline attack. By 2023, 92% of those recommendations had seen some action, with 50% showing significant progress including through legislation and policy adoption. IST played a key role in elevating ransomware as a national security threat in the United States.

On the AI safety and catastrophic risk front, IST runs several significant programs. The Security Level 5 (SL5) Task Force collaborates with over 50 participants including AI lab leaders, national security officials, and security researchers to develop technical standards and roadmaps for achieving security capable of withstanding nation-state adversaries at frontier AI facilities. The AI and Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) initiative studies how AI integration into nuclear systems affects strategic stability. The CATALINK project, supported by Swiss and German governments, develops a last-resort communication system designed to prevent or cease nuclear war. The Andrew Carnegie AI-Nuclear Policy Accelerator provides fellowships for mid-career national security professionals to build AI technical literacy.

IST is led by CEO Philip Reiner, Chief Strategy Officer Megan Stifel, and Chief Trust Officer Steven Kelly. The organization maintains a staff of approximately 30-35 core employees plus over 20 adjunct advisors. It has grown substantially from roughly $500K in annual revenue in its early years to approximately $3.6 million in fiscal year 2024, funded primarily through philanthropic contributions from foundations including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.