Dr. Bijan Karimi
Homeland Security Educator and Risk Practitioner
Specialties & Interests
emergency management
Over two decades of experience responding to local, state, and federal incidents as tactical responder, event manager, and incident commander
Education
Homeland security educator working with students to see the homeland security enterprise differently, think deeply about complex problems, and communicate insights and recommendations clearly
Cryptocurrency and Economic Security
Examining the impact of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance on the economic, homeland, and national security space
ABOUT
Dr. Bijan Karimi is the Assistant Vice President and Business Continuity Officer with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In this role he oversees the contingency planning lifecycle, policy implementation, hazard and threat analysis, and accompanying training and exercise development. In joining the SF Fed team, he unites over 15 years of emergency management and response experience with another decade in the financial services industry.
Previously, he was the Acting Deputy Director of Emergency Services for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management and Operations Chief in the city’s COVID-19 Command Center. He also served as the Emergency Manager for the Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services. While in the financial services industry, he was involved with customer research, corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, planning, and human capital management.
Bijan received his Doctorate from the University of Southern California, focusing his research on cryptocurrency and economic security. He has a Master’s Degree in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School and an MBA from CalPoly. In his free time, he hosts a podcast, runs trails, and makes items on his 3D printer.
CHDS AFFILIATION
- Program Orientation and Introduction to Homeland Security instructor
- CHDS Master’s Program Alum, 2015
HIGHLIGHTS
The Reflecting Pool – CHDS/Ed Podcast
I started this podcast to highlight the great research being done by other CHDS students. I love learning about complex issues, the novel solutions students develop and their impact to the broader homeland security enterprise
Applying the Economic, Homeland, and National Security Analysis Framework
This analysis refines the analytical (EHN) framework originally developed in my thesis research into seven components (Elements, Outside Forces, Complex Systems, Outcomes, Analysis, Reimagination, and Transformation), and tests the validity of its application to another homeland security issue.
Cryptographic Currency and Economic Security: Threats, Opportunities, and Regulatory Challenges
Currency serves as society’s memory of actions undertaken and the creation of benefit. For thousands of years, it has facilitated exchange and is considered one of mankind’s greatest inventions. Yet, few could anticipate the transformational shift and disruptive impact bitcoin and the blockchain would have on the financial system. Intermediary driven reconciliation was replaced with algorithmic validation, allowing individuals to exchange value nearly instantaneously anywhere in the world. Cryptographic currency was initially the domain of the nefarious attempting to hide their transactions from the government, but over the last decade, it has shown great promise in expanding access to financial markets, decreasing costs, and improving transaction efficiency. This research explores those beneficial and harmful uses and the findings reveal that a national strategy is needed to align federal and state government efforts, public-private partnerships can help facilitate knowledge transfer, and policy formulation and a policy agenda, consistently applied, will provide the regulatory framework for containing harmful uses while allowing for innovation.