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Interview with Lauryn Williams

Lauren Williams headshot
June 24, 2025

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

The Brooks Tech Policy Institute is pleased to welcome Lauryn Williams as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow. On the occasion of Lauryn’s first talk hosted at the Institute, she was interviewed by BTPI’s Junior Fellow Danyal Herlaar-Hassan.

Lauryn previously served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), where she spearheaded release of the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan. Immediately prior, Lauryn was Director for Strategy in the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and drove the White House strategic initiative on space system cybersecurity. This work – which leveraged extensive interagency, industry and international collaboration – resulted in the first-ever minimum cybersecurity requirements for federal space systems included in President Biden’s January 2025 cybersecurity executive order. The White House simultaneously released a report capturing findings from a series of regional technical workshops that brought together over 125 U.S. and multinational space companies to discuss cyber challenges and opportunities.

Lauryn joined ONCD from the DoD space policy office, where she led efforts to better leverage commercial space capabilities – which earned her an Office of the Secretary of Defense Achievement Award – and to develop the first-ever U.S. norms of responsible behavior in space. She has also served in the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration as an international export control project manager and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Lauryn received her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and masters degree from Princeton University.

Dan: Congratulations on your new role as a Senior Fellow at the Brooks Tech Policy Institute! Are there specific areas or research themes that you’re looking forward to exploring now that you’re seeing things from an academic perspective?

Lauryn: Thank you! I’m excited about the research opportunities here. I’m particularly interested in stepping back to examine how governments have navigated engagement on technology policy with the private sector and non-government players.

Since I hope to return to government one day, learning from different cases during my time outside government will help make me a better policymaker. It’s valuable to view these dynamics from multiple angles after my direct policy-making experience.

Dan: How do you see the partnership between government and industry evolving with emerging technologies?

Lauryn: One of the major challenges we faced in government was how policy can keep pace with rapidly changing technologies, whether it’s nation-state cyber threats or AI developments.

There’s no perfect solution, but policies need to be able to evolve and adapt. What’s relevant today might not be relevant a few years from now. The best approach is to stay aware of the latest threats, regularly review and update policies based on the current landscape, and try to project future developments.

This is especially important in the space industry where systems have such long development timelines. Thinking about space systems’ cybersecurity, we had to determine whether to focus on securing systems already in orbit or to develop forward-looking policies. We chose the latter, creating requirements for future space systems based on current threats and projections, recognizing that the private sector often innovates at a faster pace than the government.

When I was in government tackling space and cyber issues, it was surprising how novel our approach was. As far as I’m aware, our method of going out and having open discussions with industry hadn’t been done before at that level. We held regional meetings with an open-door policy for U.S. companies, industry representatives, and academic institutions. We also had conversations with multinational companies and international government partners. We went into these discussions primarily to learn and listen, while also sharing insights from the federal government. We were constantly explaining our approach because it was unusual at the White House policy level.

Now being on the outside, I’ve learned that having an open door for engagement with industry and non-government experts is crucial. I’d like to see this become the rule rather than the exception for technology-related policy development.

Dan: What role do you see for academia in this dynamic, where cutting-edge research is happening?

Lauryn: Academia plays an incredibly important role. As policymakers in the White House, we rarely had time to conduct deep research into the topic areas we were working on. I frequently leveraged research from institutions like Cornell, drawing on existing expertise rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. This allowed me to see where forward thinking was already happening and reach out to those experts to help inform policy development.

Dan: How important do you see the semiconductor supply chain being, especially regarding security for space systems?

Lauryn: The semiconductor supply chain is incredibly important and the Brooks Tech Policy Institute is doing research on this very issue. Some of the key challenges include supply chain security and integrity, which requires cooperation with and reliance on international partners, recognizing that many supply chain bottlenecks exist outside the United States.

One of my firm beliefs from my government experience is that dialogue between industry and government is essential. This means bringing key players together, which is even more challenging when many industry players are outside the United States. Regardless, finding opportunities for private sector and government collaboration to discuss key policy challenges and hear from each other is critical.

Dan: Many students and young professionals are considering working in tech policy. What advice would you give them?

Lauryn: My first piece of advice is don’t count yourself out. The space industry might seem like it has a high barrier to entry, and you might think you need to be an aerospace engineer or have some other technical expertise, but that wasn’t my path. I’ve been able to learn as I go, often through trial by fire.

There are many ways to enter the field. Consider internships that allow you to understand how the private sector navigates government affairs, or that let you dive deep into a specific company’s work and learn from there. These sectors need diverse backgrounds and perspectives, not just technical specialists.

Dan: Finally, for anyone interested in reading more about the space field, would you recommend any books?

Lauryn: I really love a book that I read early on in my space journey called “The Space Barons” by Christian Davenport. It’s a little bit dated now, but it’s about the early growth of commercial space launch companies. It focuses specifically on Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, Elon Musk and SpaceX, and Tory Bruno and United Launch Alliance. There’s drama, science, policy – it’s great reading for anyone interested in the field.