Perry World House Q&A: Catching Up with PWH Faculty Director Michael C. Horowitz

Perry World House Director and Richard Perry Professor Michael C. Horowitz recently returned to Penn following two years as an appointee in the Biden Administration. Dr. Horowitz, who served at the U.S. Department of Defense as the inaugural deputy assistant secretary of defense for force development and emerging capabilities, spoke with us about how his work at Penn and Perry World House informed his work at the Pentagon, the lessons he carries back to Philadelphia from the Beltway, and what is most excited about now that he’s back on campus.

You've just returned to Philadelphia after a two-year term at the Pentagon. Can you talk a bit about your job there and the work that you were primarily focused on?

I entered the Pentagon as the Director of the newly formed Emerging Capabilities Policy Office, which focused on accelerating the Defense Department’s adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence while also promoting good governance and norms of responsible behavior surrounding those technologies. The office expanded over time and I became the inaugural Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Development and Emerging Capabilities with three areas of responsibility: 1) Force Development, meaning how DoD aligns capability, capacity, and readiness for the entire Department in light of the National Defense Strategy, 2) Emerging Capabilities, and; 3) the Australia-United Kingdom-United States security partnership known as AUKUS.

What is/are your proudest achievement/s from your time at the Department of Defense?

It was such an honor and privilege to work at DoD with the tremendously talented people there, including civil servants and uniformed military personnel. The sense of teamwork and mission is inspiring and makes it easy to go to work every day and serve the nation. And everything you accomplish, you do together. Some highlights include the Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of AI and Autonomy, overseeing the planning guidance that shapes the investments of the entire Department, the Replicator initiative and its first focus on accelerating the fielding of all domain attritable autonomous systems, and the progress we have made in AUKUS, including the optimal pathway for Australia’s acquisition of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines, and the institution of license-free defense trade between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced late last week.

You arrived at the Pentagon straight from Penn and Perry World House. How did your work here on campus inform the work that you were doing at DoD?

The work we did at Perry World House directly impacted key initiatives that we designed and launched during my time at the Pentagon. It shaped how I thought about the world and the issues, how those issues fit into the broader context of global politics, and even some very specific policies. For example, one of the inspirations for the Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of AI and Autonomy, the first ever international agreement on military uses of artificial intelligence and autonomy, was an article I co-authored with a Perry World House research fellow and Penn alum that grew out of a workshop we did at Perry World House.

What advice would you give to Penn students (or anyone) looking at a career in policymaking?

There are so many opportunities to get involved as an entry point to the policy world, from research with faculty to internships to first —or second, or third —jobs. The most important thing is to figure out where you want to start, whether state and local government, the U.S. government, the United Nations, another government, an NGO, etc. And Penn offers tremendous resources to students to help them get started. 

What are you most looking forward to about being back on campus?

I am really looking forward to engaging with students and faculty again on a regular basis, learning new things, helping Perry World House continue to be the best institution it can be, and reflecting on my experience in the government. One of the things I’m especially looking forward to is assisting Penn students who want to enter the policy world! It’s such a privilege to be able to return to Penn and Perry World House – this is one of the leading intellectual centers in the entire world – and Philadelphia is an amazing city.