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
Shivshankar Menon was India’s former national security advisor and foreign secretary. While foreign secretary in 2008, Menon was an active voice in negotiations over the India-US civil nuclear initiative, which placed India’s civil nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
As a career diplomat, he was India’s ambassador to China (2000-2003) and Israel (1995-1997), as well as high commissioner to Pakistan (2003-2006) and Sri Lanka (1997-2000). In addition to this, he served in Japan and in Austria in the Embassy and the Mission to the IAEA.
Earlier in his career, Menon was Director in the Department of Atomic Energy in Mumbai from 1983 to 1986. Menon graduated from the 1972 batch of the Indian Foreign Service and received an MA in History from Delhi University.
Menon is also a Fisher Family Fellow with the Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. While working with the project, Menon will teach study groups on India's security and defense policy.
Last Updated: