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.”
Biography
Dr. Karalekas is a 2022-2023 Fellow of the Applied History Project. With a dual career in business and as an historian, she has held management and executive positions with McKinsey & Co., the Washington Post, and Microsoft, and she is currently writing the first full-scale biography of Robert A. Lovett, the statesman and financier. She is the recipient of the Truman Library Institute's 2018 biennial Scholar's Award.
Dr. Karalekas is the author of the first published history of the Central Intelligence Agency, which has remained a basic and widely cited source since its release by the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (the Church Committee).
She has served as a Director of DigitalGlobe, Inc. and as a Trustee of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She is a longtime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Karalekas was educated at Wheaton College (A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, in European History) and Harvard University (A.M. in Modern European History and Ph.D. in Twentieth Century Diplomatic History). She studied with Ernest R. May.
Last Updated: Aug 11, 2022, 1:21pm