Elina Noor is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at Carnegie where she focuses on developments in Southeast Asia, particularly the impact and implications of technology in reshaping power dynamics, governance, and nation-building in the region.
Previously, Elina was director of political-security affairs and deputy director of the Washington, D.C. office at the Asia Society Policy Institute. Prior to that, Elina was an associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. She spent most of her career at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia, where she last held the position of director, foreign policy and security studies. Elina was also formerly with the Brookings Institution’s Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World.
Between 2017 and 2019, Elina was part of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. From 2021 to 2023, she served on the International Committee of the Red Cross Global Advisory Board on digital threats during conflict. She currently serves on the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.
Elina read law at Oxford University. She obtained an LL.M (Public International Law) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, graduating with distinction at the top of her class. A recipient of the Perdana (Malaysian Prime Minister’s) Fellowship, she also holds an MA in security studies from Georgetown University, where she was a Women in International Security Scholar.
Undersea cables underpin global communication and the digital economy, with between 95-99% of data for international banking, e-commerce, video calls, and intelligence sharing travelling via these largely hidden transoceanic routes.
The United States and Malaysia have remained indispensable, long-term friends, but the world is a much-changed place. It’s time for the relationship to be re-examined against this reality.
Malaysia’s and Taiwan’s long-standing cooperation demonstrates a friendship that seems likely to endure, quite apart from political or even geopolitical constraints.
Carnegie’s AI in the Global Majority project brings together scholars, practitioners, and entrepreneurs to elucidate gaps and opportunities in the current global AI governance narrative through a series of publications. Join project authors for a virtual discussion moderated by Carnegie scholars.
The larger question for third-party countries that heavily rely on Big Tech for their own digital transformation agendas is how to navigate partnerships with private companies as geopolitical tensions increase, especially if ideologies do not neatly align.
International AI governance enshrines assumptions from the more well-resourced Global North. These efforts must adapt to better account for the range of harms AI incurs globally.
The UN resolution’s call for a life-cycle approach to AI is an important step towards an honest accounting of these systems’ environmental impact.
A conversation on what is driving geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea, the possibility of another cyber-attack of NotPetya proportions, and more.
To frame technological developments in Southeast Asia solely—even primarily—through the lens of great power competition would be a mistake.
A conversation on undersea cables in Southeast Asia.
