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.”
This forum is co-hosted by the Belfer Center's Arctic Initiative.
Moderated by John Holdren, President Obama's Science Advisor and Director of the White Office of Science and Technology Policy (2009-2017); Co-Director, Belfer Center's Science, Technology and Public Policy Program; Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy; Faculty Co-Lead, Arctic Initiative; Chair, White House Arctic Executive Steering Committee (2015-2017)
Public address by Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, President of Iceland. He took office on August 1, 2016 after receiving the most votes in the 2016 election. A historian, he was a docent at the University of Iceland until his election. His field of research is modern Icelandic history, and he has published a number of works on the Cod Wars, the 2008–11 Icelandic financial crisis and the Icelandic presidency, among other topics.