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.”
Wolfgang Ischinger
Wolfgang Ischinger is Senior Professor of Security Policy and Diplomatic Practice at the Hertie School and Founding Director of the school’s Centre for International Security. He served as Chairman of the Munich Security Conference from 2008-2022. From 2006 to 2008, he was Germany’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and from 2001 to 2006, he was Ambassador to the United States. Ischinger previously held a wide range of diplomatic and policymaking positions, including State Secretary (Deputy Foreign Minister, 1998-2001). In 2007, he served as the EU representative in the Troika negotiations on Kosovo. In 2014, he was the representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the National Dialogue Roundtables in Ukraine before serving as Chairman of the OSCE-mandated Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project in 2015. He studied at the universities of Bonn and Geneva, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and Harvard Law School.
Joseph S. Nye Jr.
Joseph S. Nye Jr., University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Princeton University,won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, and earned a PhD in political science from Harvard. He has served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. His most recent books include The Power to Lead; The Future of Power; Presidential Leadership and the Creation of the American Era; and Is the American Century Over. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, and the American Academy of Diplomacy. In a recent survey of international relations scholars, he was ranked as the most influential scholar on American foreign policy, and in 2011, Foreign Policy named him one of the top 100 Global Thinkers.
Daniela Schwarzer
Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer is executive director for Europe and Eurasia of the Open Society Foundations. Schwarzer is a renowned expert in European affairs and transatlantic and international relations. She is an honorary professor of political science at Freie Universität Berlin and a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. Prior to joining Open Society, Schwarzer was director and CEO of the German Council on Foreign Relations. Before this, she served on the executive team of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Prior to working at the fund, Schwarzer worked at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. She has been a special advisor to European leaders such as EU High Representative Josep Borrell and to countries including Poland and France during their EU Council presidencies. Schwarzer has also worked as an opinion page editor and France correspondent for the Financial Times Deutschland.
Karl Kaiser
Karl Kaiser was educated at the Universities of Cologne, Grenoble, and Oxford and taught at the Universities of Bonn, Johns Hopkins (Bologna), Saarbruecken, Cologne, the Hebrew University, and Harvard's Departments of Government and Social Studies and the Kennedy School. He founded the Program on Transatlantic Relations of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, which was moved to the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs where he is now a Senior Fellow. He served as Director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Bonn/Berlin and as advisor to Chancellors Brandt and Schmidt. He is a recipient of the Atlantic Award of NATO and of an Honorary Doctorate of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is the author or editor of numerous articles and books in the fields of world affairs and European politics.