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
Jacqueline White Menchaca is a Graham T. Allison, Jr. Fellow and a second-year Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she conducted research for the Korea Project. Her particular focus is on North Korea’s circumvention of sanctions through exploitation of cryptocurrency. She is also a Department of State Charles B. Rangel Fellow and will be appointed to the U.S. Foreign Service as a diplomat upon graduation. This past summer, she served as a Political/Economic Section intern for Embassy Nouakchott, Mauritania. Prior to Harvard, she worked in the Department of State's civil service in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. She previously served as a Staff Assistant and Fellow for Congressman Ruben Gallego and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, respectively.
Jacqueline was a 2019 Boren Scholar recipient and used her award to study Swahili in Tanzania while working for a non-profit focused on countering violent extremism and protecting shrinking democratic spaces in East Africa. Jacqueline also participated in the McCain Institute’s Diplomacy and Security Policy Design Studio where she studied under former diplomats. Jacqueline is a proud graduate of Arizona State University and Mesa Community College. Her research interests include security and defense policy, countering violent extremism, cybersecurity, and African affairs.