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Carl Hobert      

Best-Selling Author & K-12 Educator

Carl Hobert is the author of the bestseller "Raising Global IQ: Preparing our Students for a Shrinking Planet" (Beacon Press). He received his BA in French and Political Science, and his MA in Spanish from Middlebury College, as well as an MA in International Security Studies, focusing on counterterrorism, from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He went on to direct the Global Literacy Institute at Boston University, where his research and field work have focused on helping K16 institutions in the US and abroad to implement effective global studies, foreign language, cybersecurity, service-learning and violence prevention programs.

Hobert is also the Founder of Athena Security Group, which helps communities, corporations and governments to understand emerging domestic and international threats and to improve their emergency preparedness skills. Hobert also works as a US Department of State and Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism consultant in the US and abroad, and he has native fluency in English, French and Spanish.

Speech Topics

How China is Turning the US Against Itself, and How We Can Fight Back

From the COVID-19 lab leak that killed 1.1 million Americans, to the production and export of fentanyl that is killing tens of thousands of US citizens each year, and from daily cyberthreats and espionage to widespread IT theft and the advanced use of AI, China under Xi Jinping is trying to become the world's only superpower, as it also attempts to turn the US citizens against themselves. Learn what you, your company and the US can do to fight back immediately.

China Is Our Single Most Important Cybersecurity Threat: What Can We Do?

China under President Xi Jinping represents the broadest, most active, and persistent cyber threat to US Government and private-sector networks. US intelligence officials have recently warned that China can and will launch cyberattacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States, including oil and gas pipelines, electrical grids, K16 schools, health care facilities and networks and rail systems. China is also rapidly expanding and improving its artificial intelligence and big data analytics capabilities, which could expand well beyond domestic use. What can the US do to counter this multi-pronged Chinese cyber offensive? This is information all US citizens need to learn about, as soon as possible.

US Gun Violence is a Public Health Crisis

In 2020, gun violence overtook automobile accidents as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the US. In 2021, a record 47,286 Americans were killed by firearms, including suicides, homicides, and accidents. We cannot eliminate gun deaths completely in the US, but we can reduce them. How? By creating a harm reduction model that we have used in other US public health efforts to reduce deaths from other dangerous products, including alcohol and cigarettes. We’re not going to eliminate guns in a country that already has more guns than people. But we can reduce the toll it is taking on our nation’s youth by regulating more effectively who gets access to guns and be educating children about the dangers of gun violence, beginning in elementary school.

The Vital Need for a National K12 Cybersecurity Education Program

Each day, cybercriminal hacking groups in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea threaten US K12 schools and universities, health care organizations, corporations and government agencies with ransomware attacks. US K12 schools must invest in a national cybersecurity education program to tap a precious national resource in the field of cybersecurity: K12 child prodigies who have grown up with the internet and cell phones. Israel has created an excellent cybersecurity program for its youth, and this has helped the Israeli government to develop a stronger cyber defense program. The US must do the same, as soon as possible.

Surviving Epilepsy, Neurosurgery, and a Near-Death Stroke: The Power of Resilience

Professor Hobert grew up with epilepsy and had successful surgery at the age of 38 by a world-renowned neurosurgeon that rendered him seizure-free. Then, he had a massive hemorrhagic stroke while doing humanitarian work in Rwanda that was centered in the same portion of the brain where the surgery had taken place. He watched as his brain functions -- right side arm, hand and leg motion, speech, swallowing, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. This is an astonishing story of a near-death experience, and the power of resilience.

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