As a four-star general in the United States Army with a distinguished career in cyber defense, intelligence and national security, Paul Nakasone had the opportunity to brief two U.S. presidents.
Those presidents, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, are not at all alike. But Nakasone’s approach was the same with each. He knew every second had to count.
“You have an opportunity to communicate with the president of the United States,” he told a Palm Beach Civic Association audience on Wednesday. “You have about 90 seconds. You have to communicate in a manner [so] they understand it. They understand why it’s important, what the risk is, and what they can do.”
Nakasone was interviewed by Michael Ainslie, Civic Association treasurer and Executive Committee member, in front of roughly 100 people gathered for a Signature Series luncheon at the Beach Club.
Nakasone concurrently served as commander of the United States Cyber Command, chief of the Central Security Service, and director of the National Security Agency before retiring from the military in 2024 following 37 years of service.
He was born in 1963 and grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. His father, Edwin M. Nakasone, is a second-generation Japanese American and retired U.S. Army colonel who served in the military intelligence service during World War II. Born and raised in Hawaii, Edwin Nakasone witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Paul Nakasone followed his father’s footsteps into his own military career, which led him to the Berlin Wall during the collapse of the Cold War, and to the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He spent the last two decades of his career working in counterterrorism, landing at the National Security Agency just as cybersecurity was at a focal point.
In May 2024, just three months after retiring from the military, Nakasone was named to his current post – founding director of Vanderbilt University’s Institute of National Security.
He also sits on the board of directors of WitnessAI and OpenAI.
Nakasone said the United States is better at collecting intelligence than any other nation in the world, including China, which he has identified as a top cyber threat to the U.S. Asked how China’s artificial intelligence capability compares to ours, Nakasone replied, “They’re not as good.”
What concerns him most about China is its enormous manufacturing capability. The Asian giant makes 32 percent of all goods manufactured in the world, making it the undisputed global leader. China’s output had a 2024 value that exceeded $4.6 trillion; the United States was a distant second, with an output of $2.3-$2.9 trillion.
“We have to change that,” Nakasone said. “That’s not a good recipe for success.”
Nakasone is a member of a panel of senior advisors assembled in 2025 by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon for the bank’s Security and Resiliency Initiative – a $1.5 trillion, 10-year effort focused on national security, economic resilience, and financing critical industries.
Nakasone told the audience he spent part of the day before with other members of the panel, including Dimon, Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, exploring ideas for the reinvention of U.S. manufacturing.
“This radical partnership is not something the United States would have done 10 years ago,” he said. “It’s something the United States does today.”
Nakasone said he’s surprised by how much cutting-edge technology is being developed in the private sector.
As a master of innovation, the United States should focus on doing the things it does better than anyone else, Nakasone said. “We should play to our competitive advantages. With everything else, we should look for a series of partners that can help us.”
When the United States landed astronauts on the moon in 1969, NASA was the only player in the game. If it happened today, Blue Origin (Bezos) and SpaceX (Elon Musk) would both have a seat at the table, Nakasone said.
“That’s how we have to think about it,” he said. “In a spirit of collaboration and innovation.”
Artificial intelligence is dynamic by nature and holds immense promise, he said.
“There are tremendous advantages, as we think about what this is going to do to our ability to learn … to look at things such as health [and] drug discovery,” he said. “These are all things that I think are hugely impactful for the future.”
But there are potential downsides, he said. Will the public use it responsibly? Are there going to be safeguards? How will we react to AI-related job losses?
“In general, I have this firm belief that those that have AI are going to outperform those that do not,” Nakasone said. “So, we have to figure out as a nation how we’re going to do that safely.”
Nakasone advised students of The Greene School, who were part of Wednesday’s audience, to focus on developing their problem-solving skills.
“I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to major and minor in,” he said. “No one even asks what I majored in. But they all want to see if I could think critically.”
Wednesday’s program was sponsored by Citizens Private Bank.
See the full program video HERE
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