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.”
A discussion with:
Wendy Sherman
Institute of Politics Fall 2015 Resident Fellow
Chief American Negotiator, 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal
Undersecretary for Political Affairs, US State Department (2011- 2015)
David Sanger
National Security Correspondent, New York Times
Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School