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
Zhimin Mao is a former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program with a focus on China's low carbon development. Prior to joining the Belfer Center, Zhimin was a Ph.D. fellow at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy analyst at the RAND Corporation.
Her research interests include climate change adaptation, energy and environment policy, and economic development. Prior to RAND, she worked at the Heinz Center, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and the Asian Development Bank.
Last Updated: