In the Caribbean, several countries have been disrupted by the increase of “Problems Without Passports” (PWPs). Join us in this episode of the JGI Policy Pulse, as Dr. Ivelaw Griffith sits down with us to break down his insights from his recent publication: Challenged Sovereignty: The Impact of Drugs, Crime, Terrorism, and Cyber Threats in the Caribbean. Dive into the intricacies of sovereignty disputes within CARICOM and where the stability of these nations currently stand.

Ivelaw Griffith is a Fellow with the Caribbean Policy Consortium and Senior Associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He has published numerous scholarly articles and seven books, including Drugs and Security in the Caribbean, The Political Economy of Drugs in the Caribbean, and Caribbean Security in the Age of Terror. The University of Illinois Press will publish his next book, Challenged Sovereignty: The Impact of Drugs, Crime, Terrorism and Cyber Challenges on Security and Sovereignty in the Caribbean. Recipient of the Dr. William J. Perry Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education, named in honor of former U.S. Defense Secretary Dr. William J. Perry, Professor Griffith, has testified before the U.S. Congress on Caribbean security issues. Dr. Griffith also has served in several academic leadership roles, including as Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana, President of Fort Valley State University in Georgia, Provost of universities in Virginia and New York, and as a Dean at Florida International University. Ivelaw, who holds degrees from The University of Guyana and The City University of New York (CUNY), has been a consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat, Canada’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and other agencies, and a visiting scholar at the Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the Royal Military College of Canada, and the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany.

For good or for ill, crypto continues to make global headlines. While cryptocurrencies have been accepted into Exchange Traded Funds, there have also been high profile arrests of crypto tycoons like Sam Bankman Fried and CZ Zhao. In this episode, we delve into the complex world of cryptocurrencies and their potential threats to national security. FIU’s Mike Asencio sits down with Leland to explore how the anonymity and decentralization of digital currencies can facilitate illicit activities, from money laundering to funding terrorism, posing significant challenges to law enforcement and global security. Tune in to understand the true costs of crypto.

Mike Asencio serves as Program Director of Cybersecurity at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. In this role, he manages a statewide cybersecurity for executive leadership professional education program (CyberSecureFlorida Training Initiative), an initiative funded by Cyber Florida. His primary focus areas encompass AI, cybersecurity, cyber infrastructure resiliency, cyber safety, and public policy in cyber, reflecting his commitment to safeguarding digital landscapes.

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing every industry in the world, and it has profound implications for the way countries need to think about national security. In today's episode of JGI Policy Pulse, we speak with New America's Senior Fellow, Peter W. Singer, on AI's rapid advancement and how it affects national security. Learn about the opportunities and challenges AI will bring and understand how this emerging technology will shape the world as we know it.

Peter Warren Singer is Strategist at New America, a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and Founder & Managing Partner at Useful Fiction LLC, a company specializing in strategic narrative. A New York Times Bestselling author, described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment” and “all-around smart guy” in the Washington Post, he has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.