Speaker: Dr Brandon Valeriano, Donald Bren Chair of Armed Politics, Marine Corps University

Chair: Dr Tim Stevens, Lecturer in Global Security and Convenor, Cyber Security Research Group

Dr Valeriano will discuss the development of strategy in the cyber domain, particularly the coercive potential of cyber operations, which are neither as novel nor as effective as often claimed. His research suggests that cyber operations usually fail to produce political concessions. When states achieve strategic outcomes through cyber means, these operations occur alongside traditional coercive instruments like diplomacy, sanctions and military threats. This suggests that foreign policy and diplomacy aimed at countering strategic cyber threats needs to take proper account of the coercive aspects of cyber operations, rather than being developed in a strategic vacuum.

Brandon Valeriano is the Donald Bren Chair of Armed Politics at the Marine Corps University. He has published widely on cybersecurity and statecraft, including Cyber War versus Cyber Reality (2015) and Cyber Strategy (2018), both with Oxford University Press. Dr Valeriano is Cyber Security Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and Senior (Non-resident) Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Hosted by the Cyber Security Research Group.