SAN FRANCISCO, April 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Primer AI, a machine learning company in San Francisco, announced today the addition of Susan “Sue” M. Gordon as a strategic advisor to the Board and Brett McGurk as an independent Board Director. As two of the nation’s most distinguished national security experts, their remit will be to strategically guide the direction and expansion of Primer’s product offerings to the world’s largest government agencies, financial institutions, and Fortune 50 companies.

From 2017 to 2019, Sue served as the fifth Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, advising the President and National Security Council, providing leadership to the 17-member Intelligence Community, and driving innovation and partnerships between the IC and the commercial sector. From 2015 to 2017, she served as Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where she managed the National System of Geospatial Intelligence and drove NGA’s technological transformation. Prior to joining the NGA, she held Senior Executive positions for more than 27 years with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Brett held senior positions under three Presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. From 2015 to 2018, he served as Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, helping to build and lead a coalition of more than 75 countries and four international organizations in the global campaign to defeat ISIS. Currently, Brett is the Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute where he is writing a book on crisis strategy and decision-making in wartime.

He earlier served as Special Assistant for National Security Affairs in President Bush’s White House, where he helped develop the policy known as the “surge” at the height of the Iraq war and later led negotiations with the Government of Iraq on a series of bilateral agreements. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs under President Obama, Brett led some of the most sensitive diplomatic missions in the Middle East, including secret talks with Iran to free a number of Americans wrongfully detained by the Iranian regime. 

“Primer is one of the only technology companies I’ve encountered that has the potential to make a strategic impact across the national security space,” said Sue Gordon. “The amount of information being generated every day is growing at an exponential rate, and the only strategy over the long term for the IC and DoD to continue fulfilling their missions will be to deeply integrate analysts and operators with the world’s most sophisticated artificial intelligence solutions. I believe Primer is poised to fulfill this role.”

“To protect our country from threats, whether from great power competitors, terrorists, or viruses, there’s nothing more important than quickly understanding what ambiguous, rapidly-changing information is telling us—and why,” said Brett McGurk. “Primer enhances the speed and quality of analysis and decision making to guide national security policy, and I’m thrilled to join Primer’s Board as they chart fast progress against their important mission of accelerating human understanding of the world.”

More than 20% of Primer’s employees have previously worked within the U.S. Department of Defense or Intelligence Community. In order to support the fastest growing sector of our business, Primer opened an office in D.C. last year.

“Sue and Brett bring an invaluable perspective on the urgent technology needs for the National Security community in the U.S. and abroad,” said Primer CEO and Founder Sean Gourley. “More than anyone else working in this area today, they know what it’s like to face an overwhelming deluge of information—and what’s at stake when the smallest of details are missed. We’re thrilled to have them on board.” 

For more on what Primer is doing to help counter COVID-19, please visit covid19primer.com

About Primer
Primer is a machine intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco. We build machines that can read and write, automating the analysis of very large datasets. Primer’s technology is deployed by some of the world’s largest government agencies, financial institutions, and Fortune 50 companies. For more information, please visit primer.ai

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SOURCE Primer AI