Ian Crone

Ian Crone is a nonresident fellow with Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, national security, defense innovation, military technology, and strategic decision-making. He examines how AI is reshaping defense planning and national security policy.

Mr. Crone is a member of the technical staff at Palantir Technologies, where he supports translation of frontier capability into deployed mission impact for national security customers. Mr. Crone has more than 15 years of experience building organizations to solve hard problems at the nexus of technology and defense. His work spans artificial intelligence, cyberspace operations, multi-source intelligence, and advanced research management.

Previously, Mr. Crone served as senior vice president at STR, a defense technology company, reporting to the chief executive officer to lead strategic growth. Mr. Crone also served in senior leadership at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), most recently as deputy director of the Adaptive Capabilities Office, where he built a portfolio of efforts to deliver breakthrough operational capabilities in support of combatant command requirements. As a program manager in DARPA’s Information Innovation Office, he developed and executed frontier research programs across a range of cybersecurity areas, including side-channel analysis, large-scale graph analytics, and unorthodox operational concepts.  

Between DARPA assignments, Mr. Crone served as acting principal director for cyber in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, where he rewrote the department’s cyber technology roadmap and drove changes resulting in multibillion-dollar budgetary changes.  

He began his career as an active duty naval intelligence officer, where he served as a technical project officer at the Navy Cyber Warfare Development Group and as a founding member of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell. After leaving active duty, he supported the Office of Naval Research in standing up new research activities.

Mr. Crone was a next-generation national security fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and he founded NOCFED, the national security community’s annual gathering alongside DEFCON. He has advised multiple Defense Science Boards.

Mr. Crone received his MA from Georgetown University and his BA from Columbia University.