CMIST connects energy and security research to broader AI policy work, including the report Securing the Race for AI and the Agents of Change project, examining how rapid AI deployment and cost reductions affect cybersecurity and governance.

At Carnegie Mellon University, CMIST is producing policy-focused research on securing the United States’ energy infrastructure amid rising cybersecurity threats to the power grid and AI-driven digital systems.

The electrotechnical stack — batteries, power electronics, electric motors, and embedded software — underpins modern infrastructure, but China’s dominance in manufacturing these components creates a strategic supply vulnerability.

The white paper Electrotech Moneyball offers a risk-and-opportunity framework that prioritizes policy actions by evaluating urgency, risk versus mitigability, and domestic competitive advantage, and it categorizes components into tiers: tight domestic control, trusted-ally sourcing, and managed global procurement.

Overall, the article frames a moment of opportunity to leverage collaboration and innovative policy to harden the grid and supply chains against geopolitical and cyber threats while accelerating modernization.

Key priorities include expanding electrical capacity, strengthening open-source AI development, establishing governance for new agentic systems, and promoting locally executable AI to mitigate risk and preserve security.

Researchers argue that while some Chinese components are avoidable, treating all hardware as equally high-risk would impede grid expansion and reliability.

Open-source and diverse ecosystem advocacy appears across CMIST outputs, including commentary on America Lost the 5G Race and Sun Shield, addressing national security risks from foreign-dominated supply chains and the need for modern, digitally-native technologies.

The Moneyball framework has influenced policymakers and industry, with a widely circulated launch event, War on the Rocks coverage, and ongoing briefings and testimony requests across government and private sectors.

A central theme is the shift of great-power competition toward electricity and compute, with a focus on integrating security into grid modernization as AI use surges.

CMIST’s policy work also covers allied defense innovation and deterrence in Asia, highlighting gaps in the US defense export system for delivering critical technologies to partners and proposing solutions to bolster allied security.