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.”
Sir Winston Churchill presciently warned us in the 1930's not to feed the crocodile, naively hoping the "storm will pass before their time comes to be devoured." Ukraine is on the front lines defending against Russian economic, espionage, and military aggression. Vladimir Putin wants to ensure that Ukraine is so politically dismembered and territorially fractured that NATO and EU membership are out of the question. Nothing scares Putin more than a functioning democratic neighbor with a sizeable Russian speaking population serving as a beacon of hope and inspiration for his own domestic opponents who are denied basic civil liberties.
Today, Ukraine is concurrently on the headlines of US media and the front lines of Russian aggression. From the invasion of Crimea, to the election of Zelenksy, and everything up to the latest on the impeachment inquiry, join Russia expert and retired CIA Officer Daniel Hoffman for a discussion about Ukraine's perilous position, caught in the Kremlin's cross hairs and a U.S. partisan meat grinder.
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Daniel Hoffman is a former Chief of Station and Senior Executive Clandestine Service Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, which included 5 years in Moscow. His combined 30 years of distinguished government service included high-level positions not only within the CIA, but also with the U.S. military, U.S. Department of State, and U.S. Department of Commerce. Assignments included tours of duty in the former Soviet Union, Europe, and war zones in both the Middle East and South Asia. During this time, Hoffman developed substantive expertise on geopolitical and transnational issues related to the Middle East, South Asia, Russia, counter-terrorism, and cyber and counter-intelligence. Now in the private sector, Mr. Hoffman remains highly regarded for his policy experience and his work with foreign officials in the regions where he served.
