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.”
About the Speakers
As Global Chief Security Officer of TikTok & Bytedance, Roland Cloutier brings an unprecedented understanding and knowledge of global protection and security leadership to one of the world's largest leading media, social, and online technology companies.
With over 25 years of experience in the military, law enforcement, and commercial sector, Cloutier is one of today’s leading experts in corporate and enterprise security, cyber-defense program development, and business operations protection. Roland has functional and operational responsibility for cyber, information protection, data defense, operational risk, workforce protection, crisis management, and investigative security operations worldwide.
Prior to TikTok, Cloutier served 10 years as Corporate Vice President and Global Chief Security Officer at ADP, a global provider of comprehensive payroll services and human resources management solutions spanning more that 120 countries across the globe.
Prior to ADP, Cloutier served as Vice President and CSO of EMC, was a United States Air Force Combat Security Specialist, and an Aerospace Protection and Anti-Terrorism Specialist for the Department of Defense. He also specialized in fraud and healthcare crime as part of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Cloutier continues to lead by example in the development of the security industry through practitioner excellence. He was most recently honored as the RSA Conference 2016’s Excellence in the Field of Information Security Award Winner. He was also named the #1 Security Executive of the Year by ExecRank, Tech Exec Networks' Information Security Executive of the Year, and one of the Most Influential People in Security by Security Magazine.
Paving the way for the next generation of security leaders, Cloutier is also the distinguished author of his book, Becoming a Global Chief Security Executive Officer where he shares his expertise on how to advance the practice of security executive management, security program architecture and how to effectively plan for the future demands of leadership in global security. Cloutier is a member of the Executive Security Action Forum, The Security World 50, and he serves on the Board of Directors Cyber Subcommittee for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the Board of the International Consortium of Minority Cybersecurity Professionals (ICMCP), and the Board of The National Cyber Forensics Training Alliance (NCFTA). As a U.S. Air Force veteran, he takes the time to give back and volunteer for veteran organizations such as the American Legion and 100 Nights of Remembrance.
Aditi Kumar is Executive Director of the Belfer Center. Prior to coming to the Belfer Center, Kumar was a Principal at Oliver Wyman, a management consultancy, in the financial services and public policy practices. She worked primarily with U.S. commercial and investment banks as well as U.S. regulators and policymakers on designing and implementing financial and economic policy. Kumar previously served as a project manager at the World Economic Forum, responsible for leading policy discussions among financial sector executives and policymakers on managing financial risk and designing effective global financial regulation.
Kumar is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where she studied international affairs, and specifically the nexus of national security and financial and economic policy. She previously worked at the International Affairs office of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, focused on assessing the public debt sustainability of Eastern European nations. She graduated from the Huntsman Program for International Studies and Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies.
Eric Rosenbach is Co-Director of the Belfer Center and a Harvard Kennedy School Public Policy Lecturer. He also heads the Center's Defending Digital Democracy project. As the Chief of Staff to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter from 2015-2017, Eric Rosenbach was one of the senior-most leaders of an organization with 2.8 million personnel, a $585 billion annual budget and ongoing military operations in multiple locations around the world. Rosenbach was charged with managing some of the Department’s most sensitive decisions and ensuring implementation of transformative changes in the Department’s technology, budget, and talent management. He served as the Secretary’s closest strategic advisor on the war strategy and global coalition to defeat ISIS, the “rebalance” to Asia, and the effort to check Russian aggression. Rosenbach also led the Department’s efforts to improve innovation by forging and managing key initiatives such as the Defense Digital Service, the Silicon Valley-based Defense Innovation Unit and the Defense Innovation Board.
Before serving as Chief of Staff, Rosenbach was the Assistant Secretary of Defense, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, responsible for leading all aspects of the Department’s cyber strategy, policy, and operations. His diverse portfolio as Assistant Secretary also included countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, space operations, antiterrorism, continuity of government and defense support to civil authorities. Rosenbach led the Department’s efforts to counter cyberattacks by Iran and North Korea on US critical infrastructure and deter Chinese theft of American firms’ intellectual property.
Earlier, Rosenbach worked at the Harvard Kennedy School as the Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. In addition to running the Center, Rosenbach taught graduate-level classes on cyber and counterterrorism. Prior to his work at Harvard, he served as national security advisor for then Senator Chuck Hagel and as a professional staff member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence where he led oversight of Intelligence Community counterterrorism programs. Rosenbach also has significant experience in the private sector, where he led the cybersecurity practice of a global management consulting firm, advising the executives of Fortune 500 companies on strategic risk mitigation strategies. Earlier in his career, he worked as the Chief Security Officer for Tiscali, the largest pan-European internet service provider, where he was responsible for all aspects of the firm’s cybersecurity.
A former Army intelligence officer and Commander of a telecommunications intelligence unit, Rosenbach led a team that worked closely with the NSA to provide strategic intelligence in direct support of commanders in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Director of Central Intelligence named Rosenbach's unit as the top intelligence organization in the U.S. military for two consecutive years.
Rosenbach has authored many books and contributed articles on national security issues to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Boston Globe. The LA Times called his book Find, Fix, Finish, co-authored with Aki Peritz, “an important volume in the secret history of a nasty war.” He was a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown, Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College.