Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

TikTok Track update March 20th, 2023

Monday, March 20, 2023

Categories: ASCF Articles

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been tracking and surveilling American
journalists using TikTok data. The FBI and the Department of Justice are now
investigating.

ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, China, and is controlled by the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP). All Chinese individuals and organizations are subject to a
2017 law that requires them to turn over information to the CCP upon request.
Spokesperson Jennifer Banks said the individuals involved in the tracking are no longer
employed, and ByteDance will cooperate with any official investigation.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to testify before Congress this week and will
argue TikTok data is secure and that data is not sent to China. (So, how did ByteDance
in China get TikTok data?) Reportedly 150 million Americans now follow TikTok. This
means 150 million Americans have given the CCP access to all of their personal data.
TikTok uses this access to influence U.S. elections and public policy, distort news, and
indoctrinate America's youth.

The CCP is at war with America. We should respond by banning TikTok and other
Chinese-owned social platforms such as WeChat. China does not allow American-
owned social media and news organizations to operate in China. Why should we allow
CCP social media to operate in America?

Rule number one in dealing with the CCP and its representatives is to “never trust a
communist.” One needs to look no further than Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Tiananmen Square, organ harvesting, and religious persecution for examples of CCP duplicity. So when CEO Shou says something, assume he is distorting the truth or flat-out lying.

Banning TikTok will be condemned by free speech advocates and others. But it is time
for America to realize we are in a new cold war with China and that we must begin to
de-couple from China. FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned TikTok is a national security risk. Senator Josh Hawley wrote that TikTok is a “Trojan Horse” for the CCP. Democrat Senator Mark Warner said President Trump was “right” in trying to ban TikTok. President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s efforts.

Peace Through Strength!

Laurence F. Sanford
American Security Council Foundation

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