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 conversation with:
David French
Senior Fellow, National Review Institute
Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom
Juliette Kayyem
Belfer Lecturer in International Security, Harvard Kennedy School
Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, Department of Homeland Security (2009–2010)
Gil Kerlikowske
Institute of Politics Spring 2017 Resident Fellow
Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2014-2017)
Moshik Temkin
Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Director, Initiative on History and Public Policy, Ash Center Democratic Governance and Innovation
Author, Undesirables: Travel Control and Surveillance in the Age of Global Politics, forthcoming from Harvard University Press
R. Nicholas Burns (moderator)
Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School