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.”
Adrian Lajous is a senior energy advisor to McKinney and Company and to Morgan Stanley. He is a also President of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies of Petrometrica, SC, a non-Executive Director of Schulmberger Ltd., and a member of the TNK International Advisory Council. From 1994-2000, Mr. Lajous was the Director General of Pemex (CEO) and Chairman of the boards of the Pemex group of operating companies. After he stepped down, he continued to serve as the Special Advisor to the President of Mexico on international oil matters. He was responsible for Mexican crude oil exports, oil product exports and imports, international trade in petrochemicals and natural gas export. He has served on the board of directors of Mexican industrial companies and banks. In Europe, he was on board of Repsol YPF and was a member of its chairman's committee. In 1999, he was elected Chairman of the Oxford Energy Policy Club. Mr. Lajous will pursue a monograph on the past thirty years of the Mexican oil and gas industry with CBG Harvard Electricity Policy Group.