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
Emily O’Toole is Interim Program Coordinator for the National Security Fellows and the Defense Project. She also is Research Assistant to Eric Rosenbach, Co-Director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Her research focuses on risk management, policy development, and technology policy.
O'Toole is a May 2021 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where she earned degrees in Government and Honors Human Dimensions of Organizations as well as a certificate in Business Spanish. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Emily previously interned for the Texas Democratic Party, The Equal Justice Center, and a boutique public affairs firm specializing in Texas politics. At UT-Austin, Emily wrote for The Daily Texan and was research assistant to Dr. Bethany Albertson whose work explores the relationship between emotion and cognition in the development of political attitudes in the U.S.
Last Updated: Mar 2, 2023, 4:54pmAwards
Contact
Email: emilyotoole@hks.harvard.edu