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.”
Speaker: Saadia Pekkanen, Job and Gertrud Tamaki Professor, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle.
Moderator: Susan Pharr, Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics and Director, WCFIA Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University.
In the past decade, Japan has emerged as one of the world's most prominent military space powers around. With the inescapable ambiguity of dual-use, Japan has acquired its impressive capabilities in full view of a pacifist public and under constitutional constraints. Today its national security space paradigm is openly and officially sanctioned by the country's legal and policy orientation. However, these realities are not well understood by Japan's allies or rivals, which limits our appreciation about what Japan can do in its national security interests both in the region and beyond.
Co-sponsored by the International Security Program