The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Senior Fellow Charles Freilich will discuss his recent book, Zion's Dilemmas: How Israel Makes National Security Policy (Cornell University Press, 2012), a first of its kind portrayal of Israel's national security decision-making processes. In the book, Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser details the history and chronic inadequacies of Israeli national security policymaking, attributing them to Israel's hostile and volatile regional environment, politicized electoral system, and structural peculiarities of the Israeli government. Using his insider understanding and substantial research, Freilich identifies opportunities forgone, failures that resulted from a flawed decision-making process, and the entanglement of Israeli leaders in an inconsistent, highly politicized, and sometimes improvisational planning process. For all these problems, however, he also identifies the strengths of the Israeli decision-making process and poses cogent and timely recommendations for reform.
Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.