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
David McCord is a Research Assistant to Prof. Eric Rosenbach at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, within the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) Program. His work focuses on space navigation, communications, and sustainability policy for which he was notably awarded the AAS Macauley Award. McCord is also a Master in Public Administration (MPA) Candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, where he chairs the space policy student organization Moonshot. Last summer, he served as a NASA contractor in Washington DC. As such, he reported on GPS policy, participated in the US Delegation to UNOOSA, and supported the organization of National Space Council sessions. Before attending Harvard, he served as Science and Technology Counselor for three and a half years at the Swiss Embassy in France. He has previous experiences in consulting and banking, mostly in tech and public sector-related projects. He holds an MSc in Strategic Management from HEC Paris, France, and a BA in Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
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