Cyber Strategy: The Evolving Character of Power and Coercion

Yet, what is cyber strategy? And how do actors use cyber capabilities to achieve a position of advantage against rival states? 
Join the School of International Service as we discuss the emerging art of cyber strategy and its integration as part of a larger approach to coercion by states in the international system with Benjamin Jensen and Brandon Valeriano, authors of Cyber Strategy: The Evolving Character of Power and Coercion. 

Panelists:
Aaron Brantly is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His main research focus is the politics of secrecy in International Relations. His first book, Secret Wars: Covert Conflict in International Politics (Princeton UP 2018), analyzes puzzling secrecy patterns that arise when outside powers intervene in foreign wars. The book develops a theory based on conflict escalation dynamics, showing that states use covert intervention and conceal others' covert activity to keep war limited. An article analyzing the secret side of the Korean War was published in International Organization. His second book project, in collaboration with Allison Carnegie (Columbia), analyzes the role of intelligence and other forms of sensitive information in international organizations. His other research addresses the signaling value of covert action, secrecy's role in insulating international regimes from damaging rule violations, and dynamics of limited war. Dr. Carson received his PhD from Ohio State, BA from Michigan State, and has held research fellowships at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance and George Washington University's Institute for Security and Conflict Studies.
Austin Carson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Hume Center for National Security and Technology Affiliated Faculty at Virginia Tech, Cyber Policy Fellow at the Army Cyber Institute, and non-resident Cyber Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Georgia and a Master's of Public Policy from American University. His research focuses on national security policy issues in cyberspace including big data, terrorism, intelligence, decision-making and human rights. His books include: The Decision to Attack: Military and Intelligence Cyber Decision-Making (2016 UGA Press) and US National Cybersecurity: International Politics, Concepts and Organization (2017 Routledge).
Nadiya Kostyuk is a doctoral candidate in Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research focuses on security studies, modern warfare, cyber conflict, cyber institutions and capability, Russian and Eurasian politics. Nadiya’s research has been supported by the Belfer Center for Science and International Technology at Harvard's Kennedy School, the Department of Computer Science and Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the Tufts University, Cybersecurity, Internet Governance, Digital Economy, and Civic Tech Initiative at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs. Her research has been published (or is forthcoming) in the Cyber Defense Review, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Strategic Security, and several edited volumes and general-audience publications. Nadiya received degrees from New York University (MSc), City University of New York John Jay College (B.A.) and Kyiv National Linguistic University (B.A.) and is currently a fellow at EastWest Institute of Global Cooperation in Cyberspace Initiative.

Moderator:
JD Work serves as the Bren Chair for Cyber Conflict and Security at the Marine Corps University (MCU), where he leads research to develop the theory, practice, and operational art of the cyber warfighting function, and to explore the wider role of the cyber instrument in national security strategy and the future defense competition and stability problem space. This inquiry and instruction supports professional military education as part of the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Creativity (BKCIC), in order to prepare leaders to think critically and act decisively in the face of the ambiguity, fog, friction, and chance inherent within modern warfare and other missions in a complex security environment. Mr. Work has over 20 years of experience addressing complex transnational issues and asymmetric threats. He previously spent more than a decade working in cyber intelligence and information operations roles on behalf of the private sector and US government. Since 2001, Mr. Work has developed and taught analytic tradecraft and other courses advancing the discipline of intelligence studies at a number of academic institutions and US government agencies. He now continues to teach as Adjunct Associate Professor with Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs.