Professional Affiliation

Professor of History of Science, Georgia Institute of Technology

Expert Bio

Kristie Macrakis is Professor in the School of History, Technology and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She received her Ph.D. in the History of Science at Harvard University but is also a historian of espionage. She is the author or editor of five books including Surviving the Swastika (Oxford, 1993), Seduced by Secrets (Cambridge, 2008) and Prisoners, Lovers and Spies (Yale, 2014).

She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, a Humboldt Fellowship as well as grants from the Humboldt Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

She has also done numerous media interviews on TV and radio including the History Channel. For more information see www.kristiemacrakis.com.

Wilson Center Project

"Technology and the Rise of the U.S. Global Security State: How Can History Inform Policy? "

Project Summary

At the Wilson Center, Kristie Macrakis will be working on a project on technology and the rise of the U.S. National Security State. Though most Americans are familiar with the massive global electronic surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA), most people are unaware of how we got there and what we can do about it. Macrakis takes a historical perspective on the issue by showing how America’s love affair with technology has led to an emphasis on technical intelligence over human intelligence gathering. She will select examples from history to illustrate her claims and to show how a more effective way to conduct intelligence involves a delicate interplay between technology and humans.

Major Publications

Prisoners, Lovers and Spies: the Story of Invisible Ink. Yale Press, 2014

Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Surviving the Swastika: Scientific Research in Nazi Germany. NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1993.