Bruce McConnell has been a leading player on global peace and security issues at the intersection of governments, business and civil society for over thirty years. He is the former President and CEO of the EastWest Institute, from where he led the migration of the institute’s programs—to reduce and mitigate security conflict among nations—to new homes in other nonprofit organizations including the Stimson Center, where he serves as Board Secretary. 

His debut novel, Crows Calling: An Inspiring Journey into our Better Natures, publishes in September 2025. The story follows a girl and her family as they realize how they—and we—must change our attitudes to the natural world if we are to survive climate change. A collection of his poetry, Living from Here, was published in 2018. 

From 2009 to 2013, McConnell served in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he was Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity. He was a member of the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. From 2000-2008, he created, built and sold two consultancies that provided strategic advice to clients in the technology, business and government sectors. In 1999-2000, McConnell led the International Y2K Cooperation Center, which was sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank. 

McConnell holds a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School for Public Policy at the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Sciences from Stanford University. He serves as a business advisor to various technology companies.

Selected Publications

Crows Calling: An Inspiring Journey into our Better Natures, Greenleaf Book Group, September 2025.

* Weathering TechNationalism: A Security and Trustworthiness Framework to Manage Cyber Supply Chain Risk, EastWest Institute, May 2020.

*Cyber Insurance and Systemic Market Risk, EastWest Institute, June 2019.

Living from Here: Poems 1968-2018, Anvil Press (US), July 2018.

*Encryption Policy in Democratic Regimes: Finding Convergent Paths and Balanced Solutions, EastWest Institute, February 2018.

*Co-authored with Dr. Andreas Kuehn