#  Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard 

 



    ![Two-toned blue graphic background with the name of the seminar in white on top.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2025-04/Seminar%20STS%20Circle_0.png?itok=lofjKFnq) 

 



 

####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **March 30, 2026** 

 12:15PM - 02:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS South, S354**  

 [1730 Cambridge Street  
Cambridge, MA 02138  
United States



 ](<https://www.google.com/maps?q=US MA Cambridge 02138 1730 Cambridge Street>) 



 

 



 

## Intelligence Reform in Cold War America

### Speaker

- Aaron Gluck-Thaler, Assistant Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy, University of Toronto.

### Chair

- Sheila Jasanoff, Faculty Associate. Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies; Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy, Committee on Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.

### Contact

**Henry Austin**  
<henryaustin@hks.harvard.edu>

### Abstract

This talk considers how scientists have attempted to reform government intelligence agencies through the lens of their own technologies. In the early Cold War in the United States, scientists working on pattern recognition and allied research in artificial intelligence began arguing their techniques could solve problems of surveillance. Serving on prominent government advisory panels and building specialized computers, these scientists went on to change how the Cold War American state conducted surveillance. Within this context, I argue that early AI research was not a purified attempt to simulate human intelligence but part of a concerted effort to solve problems of intelligence agencies.

### Bio

Aaron Gluck-Thaler is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs &amp; Public Policy, where he holds the Professorship in Data Sciences and is a Faculty Affiliate at The Citizen Lab. Aaron’s research focuses on the history of surveillance, artificial intelligence, and science and technology in the Cold War. His current book project examines the role that scientists played in the emergence of data-intensive surveillance in the 20th century. Aaron received his PhD in the History of Science from Harvard University.



 

##  Register for in-person or virtual event 

 



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 See also:- [ 2025–2026 ](/academic-year/2025-2026)
- [ Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard ](/seminars/science_society/schedule)
 
 

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