Welcoming new board members

The Science and Security Board and the Governing Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists are delighted to announce new members, effective immediately. We welcome Asha George and Robert Latiff to the Science and Security Board and Robert Cohen to the Bulletin’s Governing Board.

George is the executive director of the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense. She served in the US House of Representatives as a senior professional staffer and subcommittee staff director at the House Committee on Homeland Security in the 110th and 111th Congresses. George also served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer and as a paratrooper and is a decorated Desert Storm Veteran. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is also a graduate of the Harvard University National Preparedness Leadership Initiative.

Latiff retired from the US Air Force as a major general in 2006. He is a fellow at the University of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and a research professor at George Mason University’s School of Engineering. He is also a member of the Air Force Studies Board, as well as the Intelligence Community Studies Board and the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Latiff’s book, Future War, looks at how future technology will change virtually every aspect of war as we know it and how we can respond to the serious national security challenges ahead.

“The breakneck speed at which technological breakthroughs occur brings enormous benefits, but also raises serious ethical and security concerns that would seem to be the imaginings of the most creative science fiction authors,” said Robert Rosner, chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. “The Bulletin has long been concerned with how advances in technology outpace humanity’s ability to control it, and the addition of Asha George and Robert Latiff to the board strengthens the organization’s ability to track developments and separate fact from fiction in a wide range of critical areas. An increasingly complex world demands that we confront these serious issues before it is too late to rein them in.”

Cohen is a leading media management consultant with extensive executive and operations experience in multi-platform media companies. He was publisher of The New Republic magazine in Washington DC, executive vice president of Primedia Consumer Magazines in New York, and President of PlanetOut Publishing in Los Angeles. He is president of Four Corners Media, a full-service media management outsourcing company specializing in consumer marketing, production, finance, and brand development. Cohen specializes in developing profitable business strategies for existing digital and print businesses, launching and repositioning media brands, integration of print and digital media, and improving subscription, membership, and retail sales for websites, magazines, newspapers, newsletters and other properties. He received his BA in Psychology from Yale University and his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

“I am delighted to welcome Bob Cohen to the board,” said John Balkcom, chair of the Governing Board. “His deep and wide-ranging experience has already proven invaluable to the organization as he has worked with us for several months in a volunteer capacity, advising the organization on a variety of important digital marketing and growth initiatives. His presence as an official member of the board is sure to bring even deeper gains to the Bulletin as we navigate an ever-changing media landscape.”

The Bulletin’s Governing Board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organization and for ensuring the organization operates in a legal, ethical and professional manner.

The Bulletin’s Science and Security Board is composed of a select group of globally recognized leaders with a specific focus on nuclear risk, climate change, and/or disruptive technologies, and provides the organization with objective external perspective on trends and issues in these fields. Responsibilities include serving as the editorial advisory board of the Bulletin, setting the time of the Doomsday Clock, and tracking trends in global security

Note: Both Asha George and Robert Latiff will be presenting at the Bulletin’s Annual Meeting on November 7th. For more details, visit the Annual Dinner and Meeting page on our website.