The Team

Leadership built
for this mission.

Frontier Security Institute is led by people who have already made decisions at the senior levels of the Uniformed Services, the Federal Government, the Intelligence Community, and international non‑governmental organizations.

Leadership

Our directors.

Operational experience across the Navy, the Commerce Department, the Intelligence Community, and international humanitarian institutions.

Executive Director

Isaac "Ike" Harris

Former U.S. Navy Destroyer Captain. Veteran of the House Select Committee on the CCP. Brings operational and legislative credibility across military and congressional audiences.

Chief Operating Officer

Jeremy Pelter

Former Acting U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security. Leads institutional infrastructure, contracting, and interagency coordination.

Director of Federal Research

Aaron Frank

Former RAND analyst and Intelligence Community project lead.

VP of Communications

Susan Malandrino

Former federal contractor and Senior Advisor to the President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Leads external engagement and institutional positioning.

Affiliation

Same roots. Distinct mandate.

Frontier Security Institute is an independently governed affiliate of the Center for AI Safety (CAIS), which funds our work. Our missions are complementary: CAIS conducts broad research and analysis on the responsible development of frontier AI, while Frontier Security Institute concentrates on the institutions that will field, govern, and compete with those systems.

Frontier Security Institute maintains independent leadership, editorial standards, and a distinct mission to support the National Security Enterprise.

Network

Frontier Security Institute Fellows.

The Fellows program is a standing affiliation between Frontier Security Institute and a vetted network of practitioners — researchers, engineers, operators, and policy specialists working at the intersection of frontier AI and national security. Fellows typically hold primary roles at universities, AI labs, defense contractors, FFRDCs, think tanks, or as independent consultants, and use their FSI affiliation as a durable institutional home for the national security AI work that doesn't fit elsewhere.

Fellows publish under the Frontier Security Institute brand — papers, evaluations, policy memos, congressional testimony — and may be engaged on specific projects, including red-teaming, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and advisory work for federal partners. The affiliation is open-ended; admission is by invitation or application, with editorial review on all branded work.

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Work with our team.

If your decision needs the operational experience and institutional independence of our directors and fellows, we'd like to hear from you.

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