The Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security has been awarded a $2.5 million, two-year grant from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation to support the Institute’s Wicked Problems Lab and its expanding research portfolio, including the development of the Synthetic Information Filtering Testbed (SIFT)—a first-of-its-kind research initiative designed to strengthen democratic resilience against AI-powered influence operations.
Running from October 1, 2025, through October 1, 2027, the grant will enable the Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security to advance cutting-edge research on synthetic information warfare while also providing the Institute with the flexibility to rapidly address other critical national security challenges as they emerge.
Led by the Institute’s Wicked Problems Lab, Project SIFT responds to the growing threat of AI-driven propaganda and influence campaigns—an issue the Lab brought to national attention in The New York Times in August 2025. SIFT is designed as a secure, research-focused environment that allows policymakers and researchers to better understand how adversaries use artificial intelligence to manipulate information ecosystems.
SIFT will integrate three core capabilities:
- Using AI to generate messages that simulate adversarial influence campaigns
- Detecting synthetic messages embedded within organic online conversations
- Identifying patterns, coordination, and networks behind large-scale propaganda efforts
Together, these components will allow researchers and policymakers to observe, test, and measure how AI-enabled influence operations function in practice—and how they can be countered.
By the end of the grant period, SIFT will be released as a testbed available to those working to combat AI-powered influence operations. As a first-of-its-kind platform, SIFT will provide actionable insights to policymakers considering regulatory and legislative responses, while giving researchers new tools to detect, track, and analyze both known and emerging malign actors operating in the information domain.
“This grant from the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation is a transformational investment in the Institute’s mission and in the work of our Wicked Problems Lab, said General Paul M. Nakasone (Ret.), Founding Director, Vanderbilt Institute of National Security. “SIFT will give policymakers and researchers an unprecedented ability to understand how artificial intelligence is being weaponized in influence campaigns—and to develop practical, informed responses. Just as importantly, this support allows the Institute to move with speed and agility as new national security challenges emerge, ensuring that research keeps pace with real-world threats.”
“Technological advances like those we’re seeing with AI hold great promise while also posing novel security challenges,” said Hewlett Foundation President Amber D. Miller. “We believe that civil society institutions Vanderbilt’s Institute of National Security can play an important role in the deployment of new technologies to help people and boost American competitiveness, while tackling vulnerabilities they create in our critical infrastructure.”
In addition to supporting Project SIFT, the grant provides the Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security with a flexible mechanism to address other “wicked problems” in national security—complex, rapidly evolving challenges that demand interdisciplinary research and pragmatic solutions. Drawing on the Wicked Problems Lab’s network of academics, former government officials, and subject matter experts, the Institute will leverage this support to identify emerging threats and rapidly develop actionable research and policy solutions.
Submit a Wicked Problem
The Wicked Problems Lab is actively seeking new challenges to tackle—problems that are urgent, complex, and resistant to easy solutions.
If you are a policymaker, researcher, practitioner, or organization confronting a critical national security challenge, we invite you to submit a wicked problem for consideration.
📩 Submit ideas and proposals to:
wickedproblemslab@vanderbilt.edu
Your challenge could help shape the next phase of research addressing the most pressing threats of our time.