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
Former Ernest May Fellow in History and Policy, International Security Program, 2015–December 2018; Former Senior Research Associate, 2011–2013
Current Affiliation: Research Fellow in Transatlantic Affairs, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London; Affiliate, Applied History Project
Last Updated: Jan 3, 2019, 12:15pm