--- aliases: - CSET - Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology category: AI & Effective Altruism created: 2026-09-22 location: Washington, D.C. relations: - fn: 1 reverse: true role: 55 million dollars over five years, raised by 42 million in 2021 to more than 100 million through 2025 start: 2019-01 type: funded with: '[[Open Philanthropy]]' - fn: 2 role: Walsh School of Foreign Service type: part_of with: '[[Georgetown University]]' - fn: 4 reverse: true role: director of data science, then director start: 2021-03 type: head_of with: '[[Dewey Murdick]]' start: 2019-01 summary: Georgetown think tank on emerging technology and national security, launched in 2019 under former IARPA director Jason Matheny with 55 million dollars from Open Philanthropy, its main funder. tags: - Organization - ThinkTank - Georgetown - OpenPhilanthropy - ArtificialIntelligence - NationalSecurity updated: 2026-09-22 --- The Center for Security and Emerging Technology is a policy research center in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. [Open Philanthropy](/organizations/open-philanthropy/) recommended a grant of 55 million dollars over five years in January 2019 to launch it as "a new think tank dedicated to policy analysis at the intersection of national and international security and emerging technologies," led by [Jason Matheny](/people/jason-matheny/), former director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. The grant investigator was [Luke Muehlhauser](/people/luke-muehlhauser/). The founding team named on the grant page included Dewey Murdick, director of data science, formerly chief analytics officer and deputy chief scientist at the Department of Homeland Security and an IARPA program manager; William Hannas, lead analyst, formerly a member of the Senior Intelligence Service at the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) and "the Open Source Enterprise's primary China science and technology analyst," who had also served with the Foreign Broadcast Information Service; and [Helen Toner](/people/helen-toner/), director of strategy and plans, previously a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy.[^1] ### Funding In August 2021 CSET announced that "its main funder," Open Philanthropy, had increased its grant by 42 million dollars, bringing total funding to more than 100 million dollars through 2025; Murdick also credited the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Public Interest Technology University Network and Georgetown.[^2] In October 2023 the *Politico* reporter Brendan Bordelon described CSET as "funded almost entirely by Open Philanthropy," and reported that Open Philanthropy also paid the salaries of fellows at CSET through the [Horizon Institute for Public Service](/organizations/horizon-institute-for-public-service/), a nonprofit he wrote that Open Philanthropy had "effectively created in 2022."[^3] ### Staff Matheny left in March 2021 for the [White House](/places/white-house/), where he took technology and national security posts at the [National Security Council](/organizations/national-security-council/) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy; Murdick became interim director.[^4] Toner, later CSET's director of strategy and foundational research grants, was a director of [OpenAI](/organizations/openai/) when its board removed [Sam Altman](/people/sam-altman/) in November 2023.[^5] Murdick testified alongside the RAND researcher Jeff Alstott on long-term AI risks.[^3] [^1]: Open Philanthropy, "Georgetown University, Center for Security and Emerging Technology," grant of January 2019, archived January 2, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20250102035307/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/georgetown-university-center-for-security-and-emerging-technology/ [^2]: Center for Security and Emerging Technology, "New Grant Agreement Boosts CSET Funding to More than $100 Million Through 2025," August 25, 2021. https://cset.georgetown.edu/article/new-grant-agreement-boosts-cset-funding-to-more-than-100-million-over-five-years/ [^3]: Bordelon, Brendan. "How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington." *Politico,* October 13, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20250902172514/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/open-philanthropy-funding-ai-policy-00121362 [^4]: "Jason Matheny to serve Biden White House in national security and tech roles." *FedScoop,* March 9, 2021. https://fedscoop.com/white-house-announces-top-tech-adviser-jason-matheny-national-security/ [^5]: "Former OpenAI board member explains why CEO Sam Altman got fired before he was rehired." *CNBC,* May 29, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/29/former-openai-board-member-explains-why-ceo-sam-altman-was-fired.html