Verifiable Evidence & Documentation

Independently verifiable evidence of patents, publications, institutional affiliation, and professional experience. Every claim on this page can be cross-checked through external systems: USPTO Patent Center, Zenodo, ORCID, Google Scholar, SSRN, and employment records.

See also: Policy and National Security Research →

Professional Background

This experience reflects progressive work across data governance, infrastructure security, operational technology, and critical infrastructure systems. Each role contributed domain-specific insights that informed the development of the AUTHREX governance framework. Consulting engagements were conducted on a part-time, remote basis during academic breaks.

Independent Researcher, AI Governance & Autonomous Systems
2020 - Present
AUTHREX Systems · Washington, DC · Independent Research
  • Developed seven governance architectures (SATA, HMAA, CARA, MAIVA, FLAME, ADARA, ERAM) with four U.S. provisional patents filed via USPTO
  • Built twelve research hardware platforms (Rover Testbed, UAV, BLADE-EDGE, BLADE-AV, BLADE-MARITIME, BLADE-INFRA, BLADE-SPACE, BLADE-CUAS, BLADE-AGENT-HSM, BLADE-SWARM, BLADE-INFRA-OT, BLADE-FINANCE) demonstrating cross-domain governance
  • Published 36 works (20 Zenodo DOIs + 16 SSRN papers) covering formal mathematical frameworks and simulation validation across 2,800+ simulation runs
  • Applied research aligned with DoDD 3000.09, NIST AI RMF 1.0, NHTSA AV incident data, and CISA critical infrastructure resilience strategies
Cyber Threat Intelligence Intern
Jun 2026 - Present
Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI-CTID) · Washington, DC-Baltimore Area · Internship
  • Research threat actors and map adversary tradecraft to the MITRE ATT&CK framework
  • Produce structured intelligence assessments to professional cyber threat intelligence (CTI) reporting standards
Infrastructure Security & ICS Governance Consultant
2021 - 2025
SIMA, Advanced Materials & Supply Chain Security · Istanbul, Turkey · Independent Consultant (Part-Time, Remote - Academic Breaks)
  • Advised on security strategy for advanced materials supply chain networks across Eastern European and Middle Eastern corridors
  • Designed Zero Trust governance policies for industrial control systems (ICS) in high-throughput manufacturing environments
  • Conducted threat-modeling assessments and supported transition of legacy infrastructure to NIST-aligned security frameworks
Risk & Infrastructure Resilience Consultant
2023 - 2025
SADEF, Critical Infrastructure & Agricultural Supply Chain Security · Istanbul, Turkey · Independent Consultant (Part-Time, Remote - Academic Breaks)
  • Conducted vulnerability assessments across distributed critical infrastructure nodes in regulated international environments
  • Authored operational continuity frameworks mitigating cyber-physical threats, applying methodologies consistent with U.S. CISA resilience strategies
  • Supported governance of cross-border information flows in regulated markets under international export-constraint regimes
Data Governance & Trust Architecture Engineer
2021 - 2024
Blue.Cloud · Tampa, Florida · Full-Time
  • Engineered data governance architectures with role-based access control (RBAC) enforcement in regulated cloud environments
  • Executed cloud infrastructure risk assessments aligned with ITAR/EAR need-to-know data handling requirements
  • Developed automated data validation and integrity verification pipelines for enterprise data systems, enforcing trust-gated data flows across multi-tenant environments
  • Designed disaster-recovery and failover architectures for mission-critical data systems, including structured recovery protocols and incident escalation procedures
Data Governance & Integrity Consultant
2020 - 2023
FHS, Aerospace & Precision Industrial Engineering · Istanbul, Turkey · Independent Consultant (Part-Time, Remote - Academic Breaks)
  • Implemented data governance frameworks for high-precision aerospace manufacturing in regulated commercial sectors
  • Deployed data loss prevention (DLP) strategies to safeguard proprietary engineering data and enforce integrity boundaries
  • Optimized manufacturing workflows using predictive risk modeling and periodic security audits
Cloud Infrastructure & Data Engineering Intern
Jan 2020 - Aug 2020
Bluenet · Tampa, Florida · Internship
  • Supported cloud consulting initiatives including infrastructure design, development, testing, and maintenance
  • Supported application development teams across front-end, back-end, middleware, and database administration workflows
  • Assisted Big Data consultants with data processing operations, gaining early exposure to the data governance and pipeline integrity practices later applied at Blue.Cloud
Operational Technology & Risk Analyst
2017 - 2020
REXOIL, Critical Petrochemical & Energy Infrastructure · Istanbul, Turkey · Independent Consultant (Part-Time, Remote - Academic Breaks)
  • Supported operational risk assessment and supply chain governance for a petrochemical entity in volatile energy markets
  • Redesigned operational technology (OT) reporting protocols to reduce data latency in time-critical operational decision cycles
  • Conducted risk analysis across distributed supply chain networks to identify and remediate systemic vulnerabilities

Academic Training

Formal education across applied intelligence, international business, and computer science engineering. Two STEM-designated programs (Georgetown M.P.S. Applied Intelligence, USF B.Sc. Computer Science Engineering).

In Progress
M.P.S. Applied Intelligence (STEM)
Georgetown University · School of Continuing Studies · Washington, D.C.
Elected leadership role: Outreach & Partnerships Officer, Georgetown University Cybersecurity Society (GUCS), 2026-2027 academic year. Elected by peer membership of the Georgetown SCS cybersecurity student organization; term confirmed May 11, 2026 by Georgetown SCS Communications.
Program Details
MBA, International Business
Lynn University · Boca Raton, Florida · MBA completed 2026
GPA: 4.0 / 4.0
Standardized exit examination: Peregrine Global Services MBA Outbound Exam, 94.62% / 99th percentile against the U.S. comparison data pool (sample sizes 23,490-59,790 per topic, four-year rolling cohort). 99th percentile in 14 of 16 topic areas; 96th percentile in the remaining two. Administered May 10, 2026.
Program Details
M.A. Strategic Intelligence Studies
The Institute of World Politics · Washington, D.C.
Acceptance received April 27, 2026 · Hayes Memorial Scholarship recipient
Program Details
B.Sc. Computer Science Engineering (STEM)
University of South Florida · Tampa, Florida
GPA: 3.45 / 4.0
Program Details

Technical Credentials
& Domain Expertise

Professional Memberships
  • IEEE Member (#102193505)
  • AIAA Student Member (#1936005)
  • ACM Member (#9952787)
  • AAAI Member (#656504)
  • INFORMS Member (#2009712)
  • NDIA Member (#1700222)
  • Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society, Lifetime Member (#2007930)
Security & Technical Certifications
  • CompTIA Security+
  • CISSP Domain 1: Security & Risk Management
  • NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF)
  • NIST 800-171 Awareness
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF)
Executive & University Programs
  • AI Strategy (Oxford / Wharton Executive Education)
  • AI in National Security (SCSP)
  • Generative AI Governance (University of Michigan)
  • Open-Source Intelligence (Basel Institute on Governance)
Specializations & Training
  • Advanced System Security Design (University of Colorado)
  • AI for Cybersecurity (Johns Hopkins University)
  • NYU Cybersecurity Specialization
  • Cloud Computing Security (University of Colorado)
View All Certifications & Licenses (140+)

Conferences, Forums & Professional Development

Active participation in defense, aerospace, AI, and autonomous systems communities through trade shows, technical conferences, professional society events, and continuing education. Sustained engagement across these communities ensures that AUTHREX governance architectures remain aligned with operational requirements, emerging standards, and the evolving needs of the U.S. defense and critical infrastructure sectors.

Top Past Events
  • DARPAConnect Mission Connect - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency · Ann Arbor, MI
    May 7, 2026 · DARPA regional outreach event for researchers, innovators, and small-business performers
  • NHTSA Automated Vehicle Safety Public Comment - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration · regulations.gov
    Apr 27, 2026 · Technical public comment submitted to NHTSA Docket NHTSA-2026-0265 (Automated Vehicle Safety Public Meeting) proposing AUTHREX trust-proportional authority governance for ADS sensor-degradation scenarios · Comment ID NHTSA-2026-0265-0014 ↗
  • Defense Technology Alliance Roundtable at Israel Tech Week Miami 2026 · Washington, DC
    2026 · U.S.-Israel defense technology cooperation, autonomous systems, AI, cybersecurity
  • SHOT Show 2026 - NSSF · Las Vegas, NV
    Jan 20-23, 2026 · Defense, law enforcement, tactical technology
  • NBAA Regional Forum 2026 - National Business Aviation Association · Opa-locka, FL
    Feb 25, 2026 · Business aviation, 3,000+ attendees, 200+ exhibitors, aircraft display
  • NBAA Regional Forum 2025 - National Business Aviation Association · Orlando, FL
    Feb 26, 2025 · Business aviation, aircraft display, 100+ exhibitors
  • Israel Tech Week 2025 · Washington, DC
    2025 · Israeli tech innovation, defense-tech, AI, cybersecurity
  • Miami AI Hub - Meetup Community · Washington, DC
    Multiple sessions 2024-2026 · AI applications, networking, industry talks
  • SupplySide West & Fi North America 2025 - Informa · Las Vegas, NV
    Oct 27-30, 2025 · Supply chain, industrial technology, 20,000+ professionals
  • SHOT Show 2024 - NSSF · Las Vegas, NV
    Jan 23-26, 2024 · Defense industry, firearms, law enforcement technology
  • NBAA Regional Forum 2024 - National Business Aviation Association · Opa-locka, FL
    2024 · Business aviation, aircraft display, aerospace technology
  • EMO Hannover 2023 - Deutsche Messe · Hannover, Germany
    Sep 18-23, 2023 · World's leading metalworking & manufacturing technology trade fair
Additional event participation tracked on Luma (22 events attended) ↗
Upcoming 2026-2027
  • Registration Confirmed NDIA 2026 Emerging Technologies for Defense Conference & Exhibition · Washington, D.C.
    September 9-10, 2026 · AI, autonomous systems, cyber, next-gen defense technology
    Abstract Submitted "Trust-Proportional Authority Governance for Autonomous Defense Systems: Bridging the Runtime Governance Gap": Technical Presentation & Poster · Game-Changing Emerging Technologies track · Submission ID 2421887
  • Abstract Submitted AIAA SciTech Forum 2027 · Orlando, FL
    January 11-15, 2027 · Aerospace technology, autonomy, certification
    "Trust-Proportional Authority Governance for Uncrewed Autonomous Systems: Formally Verified Runtime Authority Management": Technical Paper · Uncrewed and Autonomous Systems: Certification Concepts for Increasingly Autonomous Systems track · Control ID 4555075 · Notification expected on or about August 24, 2026
  • Abstract Submitted SpaceCom 2027
    2027 · Commercial space, autonomous space systems, governance
    "Trust-Proportional Authority: Solving the Governance Gap for Autonomous Space Systems", Speaker submission
  • AAAI Summer Symposium Series 2026, Burlingame, CA
    May 19-21, 2026 · Safe AI, autonomous systems safety, multi-agent teamwork
  • AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2026, Detroit, MI
    May 11-14, 2026 · Autonomous systems, UAS, NDIA/MDEX defense theater
  • AIAA AVIATION Forum 2026
    May 19-21, 2026 · Aerospace systems, autonomy, defense innovation
  • NDIA Future Force Capabilities (FFC) 2026
    2026 · Robotics, autonomous systems, munitions technology
  • NBAA-BACE 2026 - National Business Aviation Association · Las Vegas, NV
    Oct 20-22, 2026 · World's largest business aviation convention & exhibition
  • SHOT Show 2027 - NSSF · Las Vegas, NV
    Jan 19-22, 2027 · Defense and tactical technology trade show
Professional Development
  • AIAA: The Anatomy of Autonomy
    Online Short Course · Technology, integration & applications across aviation & space
  • AIAA: Generative AI for Code Generation
    Online Short Course · AI-driven engineering and evaluation methods
  • AIAA: Flight Test Techniques for UAS
    Online Short Course · Development, qualification, and acceptance tests
  • AAAI-26 Conference Content
    On-demand access via Underline.io · AI research presentations and workshops
Professional Society Engagement
  • IEEE, Webinars, technical publications, standards development
    Member #102193505 · Autonomous systems, safety-critical engineering
  • AIAA, Forums, short courses, student conferences
    Member #1936005 · Aerospace, defense, uncrewed systems
  • ACM, TechTalks, digital library, computing research
    Member #9952787 · AI governance, formal verification, algorithms
  • AAAI, Conference content, symposia, AI safety research
    Member #656504 · Artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems
  • INFORMS, Analytics, operations research, decision science
    Member #2009712 · Monte Carlo methods, decision-making under uncertainty
  • NDIA, Defense conferences, emerging tech, acquisition
    Member #1700222 · Defense industry, autonomous systems, cyber

Impact & Recognition

Independent third-party citations, academic references, and professional community recognition of AUTHREX governance research, generated without solicitation by university journals, defense communities, and academic platforms across multiple countries.

8,197
SSRN Downloads
Top 0.54%
SSRN Author Rank
5
Countries
Federal Register citation (NHTSA)

A public comment by Burak Oktenli (Docket NHTSA-2026-0529-0007) is cited by name in the U.S. Federal Register: NHTSA, Incident Reporting for Automated Driving Systems (ADS) and Level 2 ADAS, 91 FR 30789 (May 26, 2026), among public comments referenced in the notice, which also include submissions from Virginia DOT, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and Consumer Reports. Verify on federalregister.gov.

Citing Sources: Baruwal Chhetri, Tariq, Grobler, Thapa et al. (arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.00088, From Frontier to Shadow AI: A Simmering Threat to Assurance and Security in Critical Infrastructure, May 2026, cites the author's SSRN analysis of AI outpacing human clearance models), Joey Hernandez / Pomona College Department of Economics (The Cascade Protocol book, ISBN 979-8195946579, May 2026), University of Toronto LexAI Journal (ERAM framework, Ref #4), Jorge Enrique Rivera Rojas / Colombia (defense logistics, cited alongside DoD & USDA), SSRN Community / Elsevier (submarine signatures), Wargaming Weekly / Bluesky (AI-driven simulation), Haberler.com / Turkey (media feature).

View Impact & Recognition

Research Mission &
National Interest

This research addresses a critical technical gap: how authority is assigned, monitored, degraded, revoked, and recovered in autonomous systems where decisions occur faster than human reaction time. The proposed endeavor is evaluated under the Dhanasar national-interest framework across four dimensions: substantial intrinsic merit (the what), national importance (the why), advancing the endeavor (the how), and positioning (the who).

1. Substantial Intrinsic Merit · The What

The development of operational authority-lifecycle governance architectures for autonomous systems in U.S. national security, defense, and critical infrastructure. The novel idea is to treat authority as a graded, trust-proportional resource, assigned, monitored, degraded, revoked, and recovered under a formal lifecycle, rather than a binary on/off control. Seven formally specified architectures (SATA, HMAA, CARA, MAIVA, FLAME, ADARA, ERAM), verified with TLA+ model checking (48,751 states, 8 safety properties) and released as open, DOI-registered artifacts.

2. National Importance · The Why

The endeavor is nationally important across economic, industry, technological, end-consumer, and societal dimensions. It addresses priorities identified by DoD Directive 3000.09, DARPA Assured Autonomy, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, the NHTSA AV Framework, and the SELF DRIVE Act of 2026 (H.R. 7390), and its cross-domain portability spans ten operational domains (defense, automotive, maritime, critical infrastructure, orbital, counter-UAS, agentic AI, swarm, IT/OT, and financial) on one architectural foundation.

3. Advancing the Endeavor · The How

Execution is evidenced by four U.S. provisional patents, 36 published works (20 Zenodo DOIs + 16 SSRN papers), nineteen interactive simulations producing 2,800+ runs with no observed unsafe authority transitions, and twelve hardware research platforms, built on reproducible protocols (seeded PRNG, weighted Dempster-Shafer fusion, Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus, CUSUM anomaly detection) and open-access dissemination under MIT and CC BY 4.0 licenses. Four independent external citations and a U.S. Federal Register reference (NHTSA, 91 FR 30789) mark early third-party recognition.

4. Positioning · The Who

The applicant combines formal computer-science engineering training (B.Sc., USF), graduate business proficiency (MBA, 99th-percentile standardized assessment), and a Georgetown M.P.S. in Applied Intelligence (STEM), with 140+ professional credentials across IEEE, AIAA, ACM, AAAI, INFORMS, NDIA, and Sigma Beta Delta, and active engagement across defense, aerospace, AI, and manufacturing forums, a rare combination of technical depth, cross-domain breadth, and demonstrated capacity to build and publish.

Benefit to the United States

The work fills gaps identified by Congress (H.R. 7390 cybersecurity requirements), NHTSA (1,429 AV incidents, 2021-2025), and DoD (autonomous weapons governance); supports defense modernization, automotive safety, maritime security, and critical infrastructure resilience; prevents autonomous escalation (FLAME), detects adversarial manipulation (ADARA), and provides cryptographically auditable authority chains. As independent, cross-sector research that no single employer could reasonably sponsor, it is intrinsically cross-employer in scope, supporting a waiver of the job-offer and labor-certification requirements in the national interest.

Read Full Proposal

Includes the full four-part National Interest Waiver analysis, research programs, roadmap, policy impact, and deployment scenarios

Evidence & Verification

Independently Verifiable Documentation: every record below links to an external system operated by an independent third party (USPTO, Zenodo, ORCID, Google Scholar, SSRN, ResearchGate).

Patent Submissions

HMAA: U.S. Provisional No. 63/999,105 (March 7, 2026)

CARA: U.S. Provisional No. 64/000,170 (March 9, 2026)

SATA: U.S. Provisional No. 64/002,453 (March 11, 2026)

FLAME: U.S. Provisional No. 64/005,607 (March 14, 2026)

All four submitted via USPTO Patent Center. Awaiting review.

University Affiliation

Georgetown University listed on Zenodo publication records. M.P.S. Applied Intelligence program (STEM-designated), School of Continuing Studies.

ORCID Researcher Identity

ORCID 0009-0001-8573-1667, verified researcher identity linking publications, patents, and institutional affiliation.

Verify on ORCID ↗
Google Scholar

Publication index with citation tracking and research metrics.

Verify on Google Scholar ↗
Independent External Citations

Citation 1 (May 2026): SSRN paper AI-Enabled Military Decision-Making and Escalation Risk: Human-Machine Command Authority in Great Power Competition (SSRN ID 6082847) cited in Hernandez, J. (2026), The Cascade Protocol (Pomona College, Department of Economics), ISBN 979-8195946579, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20113664. Reference #36 of 36, alongside the U.S. Department of War AI Strategy (January 2026), King's College London, US Army War College, Harvard Law School PILAC, Lieber Institute West Point, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Atlantic Council, and NDU Press.

Citation 2 (April 2026): SSRN paper ERAM: Escalation Risk in AI-Enabled Command and Control (SSRN ID 6176802) cited as Reference #4 in "The Ethics of AI in U.S. Warfare," LexAI Journal, University of Toronto Law and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Students' Association.

Citation 3 (May 2026): SSRN paper The strategic convergence: AI has outpaced human clearance models (SSRN 5940814) cited as reference [41] in Baruwal Chhetri, M., Tariq, S., Aamir, T., Grobler, M., Thapa, C., & Singh, R. (2026), From Frontier to Shadow AI: A Simmering Threat to Assurance and Security in Critical Infrastructure, arXiv:2606.00088, an empirical study of 27 Australian critical-infrastructure organisations. The applicant's work is cited twice, on shadow AI at the interaction layer and as an insider-risk condition.

Citation 4 (June 2026): SSRN paper AI-Enabled Military Decision-Making and Escalation Risk: Human-Machine Command Authority in Great Power Competition (SSRN ID 6082847) cited in endnote 39 of Panwar, R.S. (2026), Cognition, Agency, and Authority: A Taxonomy of Advanced AI Systems with Military Implications, an Academia.edu preprint by a retired Indian Army Lieutenant General and computer-science doctorate from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

View Full Citation Detail ↗
SSRN Author Page

14 distributed scholarly papers on AI governance, escalation risk, and national security. 8,197 cumulative downloads; SSRN Author Rank 14,599 of 2,727,789 (top 0.54%).

Verify on SSRN ↗
ResearchGate

Research profile with full-text access and academic networking. Hosts public PDFs of distributed research and policy papers.

View on ResearchGate ↗
U.S. Work Authorization

Authorized to work in the United States; employment at Blue.Cloud (Tampa, FL, 2021-2024). Data governance and cloud infrastructure in regulated environments.

Published Books

Ten-volume technical reference series across three book series under the Authority & Architecture publisher imprint: The Authority Equation (3 volumes), The Authority Discipline (4 volumes), and Autonomous Authority (3 volumes). All volumes assigned ISBNs registered through Bowker, distributed via Amazon and IngramSpark in print and ebook formats. The Authority Equation Volume I assigned Library of Congress Control Number 2026912260.

View Catalog at Authority & Architecture ↗
Professional Memberships & Certifications

IEEE Member (#102193505) · AIAA Student Member (#1936005) · ACM Member (#9952787) · AAAI Member (#656504) · INFORMS Member (#2009712) · NDIA Member (#1700222) · Sigma Beta Delta Lifetime Member (#2007930) · DARPAConnect (public DARPA outreach program, no affiliation) · NIST AI RMF Trustworthy AI in Critical Infrastructure Profile Community of Interest (Member, 2026). Plus 140+ additional credentials from 25+ institutions.

View All 140+ Credentials ↗