The Global War on Fentanyl

In-Person
Jake Braun, Katie Tobin, and Cécile Shea analyze the federal government’s counter-fentanyl strategy in a partner event with the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
US Border Patrol agents and a dog check a vehicle at a checkpoint in California.
Dec
3
Elliot Spagat / AP
Speakers
Jake Braun
Katie Tobin
Cécile Shea
Date and Time
Doors Open: 5:00 PM
Location
The Keller Center, Forum, 1307 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
Who Can Attend

REGISTRATION

This event is open to the public.
Register Now
Register Now

About This Event

Fentanyl has become one of the deadliest public health crises of our time. In his new book Fentanyl: Fighting the Mass Poisoning of America and the Cartel Behind It, former White House official Jake Braun—now executive director of Harris’s Cyber Policy Initiative—details the federal government’s strategy to save lives and disrupt the networks behind the epidemic.

In partnership with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Harris welcomes Braun and former White House official Katie Tobin, a national security expert and lecturer at Harris, for a conversation about the US government’s evolving counter-fentanyl strategy, which spanned both the Biden and Trump administrations and helped drive overdose deaths down by more than a third.

The discussion, led by Cécile Shea, a nonresident senior fellow on security and diplomacy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, will explore how global supply chains, cartels, and geopolitics collide in the fentanyl trade—and what this unprecedented challenge reveals about the intersection of public health, security, and modern policymaking.

This is a partner event between the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

About the Speakers
Jake Braun
Executive Director, Cyber Policy Initiative, University of Chicago & Co-Founder, Cambridge Global Advisors
Jake Braun headshot showing man with brown hair in button down shirt and jacket
Jake Braun is the executive director of the Cyber Policy Initiative at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and co-founder of Cambridge Global Advisors, a national security consulting firm. He most recently served in the White House as acting principal deputy national cyber director.
Jake Braun headshot showing man with brown hair in button down shirt and jacket
Katie Tobin
Senior Advisor, WestExec Advisors LLC
Photo of Katie Tobin
Katie Tobin is a national security expert with two decades of experience working in government, the private sector, and the United Nations. From 2021 to 2024, she served in the Biden-Harris administration as a top migration advisor in the National Security Council, leading US policy development on a wide range of cross-border national security matters.
Photo of Katie Tobin
Cécile Shea
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Security and Diplomacy
Council expert Cécile Shea
Cécile Shea is a nonresident senior fellow on security and diplomacy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She is the president of Wakaru Communications and a special advisor to the Council’s Next Generation programs.
Council expert Cécile Shea
Attend In-Person Open to all
Issues Global Health
Regions North America
Back to Event Listing