Fireside Chat with Joshua Baron of the White House National Security Council

Josh Baron will discuss -- in the format of a fireside chat -- a range of technical topics, with a primary focus on data security and privacy-enhancing technologies (PETS). PETS technologies range from zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption to secure multi-party computation and differential privacy. He will also discuss some of the challenges of bringing technical advances in these and related areas to bear on pressing problems in national security. 

Dr. Joshua Baron is a Director for Technology and National Security at the White House National Secuirty Council. There, he advises NSC leadership and helps develop and coordinates policy across US departments and agencies.  Prior to NSC, Baron was a program manager in DARPA’s Information Innovation Office (I2O) for six years. He ran programs in areas including cryptography, privacy, and online anonymity. Prior to his position at DARPA, Baron was at RAND Corporation, where he conducted policy analysis for the Department of Defense. Baron holds a PhD and MA in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles and a BA in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. Baron’s doctoral work focused on secure multiparty computation.