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.”
Please join the Intelligence Project for a webinar with the Honorable Susan M. Gordon, Belfer Center Senior Fellow and Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence.
In this session, Ms. Gordon will discuss the future of the intelligence community and provide insights on how the USIC must adapt to meet the threats posed by our increasingly codependent and interconnected world, one where US national security is inextricably tied to global security issues such as pandemics, climate change, and mass migration.
Having served in a variety of leadership roles spanning numerous intelligence organizations and disciplines during her 30+ year intelligence career, from Director of the CIA's Information Operations Center and Senior Advisor to the CIA Director on cyber; to Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; to her final position as PDDNI, Ms. Gordon is uniquely qualified to provide recommendations on how the Intelligence Community can - and must - transform to meet the challenges of the post-COVID world.
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Susan M. (Sue) Gordon served as the 5th Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence from August 2017 to August 2019. A longtime member of the Intelligence Community, she has nearly three decades of intelligence experience. As PDDNI, she managed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and focused on advancing intelligence integration across the Intelligence Community, expanding outreach and partnerships, and driving innovation across the Community.
Gordon has worked in a variety of leadership roles spanning numerous intelligence organizations and disciplines. Previously she served as Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where she drove NGA’s transformation to meet the challenges of a 21st century intelligence agency by championing agile governance, recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce, and expansion of geospatial intelligence services to the open marketplace.
Prior to her assignment with NGA, she served for 27 years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), rising to senior executive positions in each of the Agency’s four directorates: operations, analysis, science and technology, and support. She joined the CIA in 1980 as an analyst in the Office of Scientific and Weapons Research, and went on to serve as the Director of the Office of Advanced Analytic Tools, Director of Special Activities in the Directorate of Science and Technology, Director for Support, and ultimately in concurrent roles as Director of the Information Operations Center and the CIA Director’s senior advisor on cyber. In 1998, she designed and drove the formation of In-Q-Tel, a private, non-profit company whose primary purpose is to deliver innovative technology solutions for the agency and the IC. Ms. Gordon has been recognized for her creative executive leadership through numerous awards, including the Presidential Rank Award at the distinguished level.
