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.”
David MCKEAN is a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. Formerly he served as Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. Department of State and as U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg.
Bart M.J. SZEWCZYK is adjunct professor at Sciences Po in Paris. Formerly he served on the Policy Planning Staff of the U.S. Department of State and as adviser on global affairs at the European Commission’s think tank.