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
Sam Himmelman is the Program and Communications Coordinator at the Belfer Center’s Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School where he manages events, the senior fellows program, and spearheads communications. Prior to joining the Middle East Initiative, Sam worked for Bridging Insights, a research-based conflict resolution NGO based out of Jerusalem. He holds a BA in Middle Eastern Politics from Sarah Lawrence College in New York. During college, he spent at year at the London School of Economics where he focused on political science.
Last Updated: