Melissa Hathaway Joins Cyber Security Initiative

Melissa Hathaway, former acting senior director for cyberspace at the National Security Council, joined Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in October as a senior advisor to its cyber security initiative.

Hathaway worked on cyber security for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama until August 2009, when she left to establish Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC. She led President Obama's 60-Day Cyberspace Policy Review from February-May 2009.

The cyber security project at the Belfer Center, known as Project Minerva, is a joint effort of the Department of Defense, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University. The project explores a wide range of the issues within cyber security from the contexts of international relations theory and practice.

"I am honored to be joining the team at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and my other distinguished colleagues from Harvard and MIT on the Minerva project," Hathaway said. "I am excited about the opportunity to partner with the talent and expertise of academia and harness academia's power to generate new ideas, inform policy, and incubate new technologies to address the serious cyber security challenges facing our nation."

"There are at least 20 international venues that are determining the future of the information communications infrastructure," Hathaway said. "Our nation needs to determine what it collectively needs and wants - and find ways to foster public and private shared goals."

While at the Belfer Center, Hathaway is working to develop a better understanding of the policy gaps in international relations. She will publish papers on cyber security and also plans to contribute to classes at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Law School.

"I am thrilled Melissa Hathaway has joined the Belfer Center and Harvard Kennedy School," said Eric Rosenbach, the Center's executive director for research. "She is critical to moving our cyber security project forward."