Shirley Hargis is a national security executive and geopolitical strategist who builds the governance infrastructure that allows the United States to compete in the age of AI. Fluent in Mandarin, earned through years of living and working across mainland China and Taiwan, she brings a cross-regional, practitioner-level understanding of the Indo-Pacific that spans geopolitics, military doctrine, and emerging technology on both sides of the Strait. This ground-level regional depth, combined with years of policy work in Washington, makes her a sought-after voice on national security panels and in policy forums where the intersection of China expertise and operational experience is rare.
She served as U.S. Cyber Command’s first dedicated AI policy professional, where she architected the command’s first AI Governance Board — recognized among senior leadership’s top five institutional outcomes of 2025 — and designed the AI Maturity Model used to brief Congress on the state of AI adoption across the military. Earlier, as Senior China Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C., she briefed members of Congress on the global impacts of China and Taiwan policy and led a dedicated team to counter PRC acquisition and misuse of weaponizable technology and talent in direct support of the Intelligence Community, the Department of War, and federal law enforcement.
Hargis is currently an MC/MPA candidate at Harvard Kennedy School and a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. She serves on the Board of Directors of Sustainably Empowering People Globally and has held national security and U.S.-China board and advisory roles. Her writing and commentary appear in Bloomberg, Politico China Watcher, and the Atlanticist.