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.”
April Doss's experience in cybersecurity law and operations dates back to 2003, when she began working at the National Security Agency. She spent over a decade at the NSA working in a variety of capacities, including information sharing policy, technology development, privacy and intelligence oversight, and counterterrorism. She served as a foreign liaison officer and as the head of intelligence law in NSA's Office of General Counsel.
Ms. Doss left NSA to become a partner in the law firm Saul Ewing, where she chaired the firm's Cybersecurity and Privacy practice group. She currently serves as Senior Minority Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Prior to 2003, Ms. Doss practiced law as a public defender, civil litigator, and in-house counsel at a college.
Ms. Doss graduated magna cum laude from Yale, earned her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and holds an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction writing from Goucher College.