US Intelligence Officials Are Funding Research on Dollar-Crushing ‘Black Swan’ Events

The U.S. Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence (ODNI) needs to sponsor a post-doc researcher to review what would occur if the U.S. greenback misplaced its standing because the world’s reserve foreign money.

In a job itemizing posted late final 12 months, the company known as for candidates from the U.S. who’ve a background in economics. The deadline to use is Feb. 28.

The company mentioned the analysis – the primary of its sort for the intelligence group’s post-doc program – might assist the U.S. put together for “black swan” occasions that will threaten the dominance of the greenback. 

This explicit research falls beneath the purview of the Nationwide Counterproliferation Middle, a middle beneath ODNI that appears for methods to fight the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, partially by stopping terrorist financing. Based on intelligence officers acquainted with the matter, the analysis can be shared broadly inside the intelligence group.

Whereas officers wouldn’t attribute the research’s initiation to anybody occasion or development, the post-doc researcher itemizing does cite predictions from “cryptocurrency fanatics” {that a} international cryptocurrency or nationwide digital foreign money might undermine the U.S. greenback, and mentions the rising economies of China and India.

“If both of those eventualities or others come to move, the U.S. would lose each its standing on the planet and its international authorities,” the company wrote within the itemizing. “The U.S. ought to put together to establish potential ‘black swan’ occasions that might revolutionize the monetary enjoying area in methods we don’t but perceive – presenting strategic shock – and perceive root causes and driving components which can be significantly delicate to sure international or technical occasions.”

The post-doc program begins firstly of the subsequent fiscal 12 months on Oct. 1 and runs for 2 years. The analysis is unclassified and the researcher doesn’t obtain any particular clearances, however researchers will obtain ODNI’s sponsorship, funding and entry to IT together with superior computing, the officers mentioned. The company additionally wouldn’t management the researcher’s work however would examine in periodically to verify the company understands it. 

ODNI mentioned it will probably additionally join the researcher with consultants at ODNI and different authorities entities, just like the Federal Reserve, however is not going to present information or info that isn’t already publicly accessible. 

The company is in search of a researcher who will apply statistics, synthetic intelligence and deep studying to historic “black swan” occasions and doable future eventualities. The itemizing suggests the researcher would possibly then search for what the most-likely eventualities are and in what timeframes they might unfold.