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.”
Currently the Executive Editor of the Homeland Security Project’s Homeland Security Paper Series, Nate Bruggeman previously served as Counselor to the Special Representative for Border Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. In that capacity, he advised senior departmental leadership on emerging border security and intelligence issues, and he developed innovative solutions to facilitate border security operations. He then moved to U.S. Customs and Border Protection as a Counselor to Commissioner. He advised the Commissioner and other agency leadership on policy and operational issues related to passenger screening, Southwest border security, and enhancing the agency’s intelligence function.
Bruggeman also has had a distinguished legal practice. After graduating with High Honors from The University of Texas School of Law, he clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Bruggeman has been an attorney at the international law firm WilmerHale and the boutique litigation firm Wheeler, Trigg, O’Donnell. Most recently, he was an Assistant Attorney General at the Colorado Department of Law. He graduated magna cum laude from Middlebury College with an B.A. in Political Science.