This seminar will feature a presentation by Timothy A. Ridout, a Fellow at the German Marshall Fund. A description of Mr. Ridout’s presentation is as follows: “Many commentators have compared our current situation with cyberspace to the early nuclear era, including Commander of Cyber Command Admiral Mike Rogers. Indeed, Admiral Rogers has made the point that academia contributed significantly to advancing nuclear deterrence theory and has asked academia for help in thinking through the tough challenges on cyberspace. The advent of nuclear weapons was closely followed by the early outer space era and the advent of ICBMs, which are necessary in order to reach outer space. Thus, aside from the threat of mass destruction from nuclear warheads, humanity simultaneously had to grapple with many questions relating to a new domain that presented threats and opportunities. This talk draws on research for a draft book chapter that seeks to draw parallels between the early outer space era and today. Although the technical specifics are different, the psychological, political, institutional, and social challenges of figuring out how to deter a new way to inflict mass destruction while simultaneously creating a governance structure for a new domain indicate that there are indeed lessons to be learned from the early outer space era.”

 Mr. Timothy A. Ridout is a fellow at the German Marshall Fund (GMF) where he focuses on political and economic issues in Brazil, in addition to global security challenges. Prior to joining GMF, he worked at Institutional Shareholder Services as a corporate governance analyst, primarily studying Brazilian companies. Before that, he was a program manager with the Brazil-U.S. Business Council at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ridout regularly contributes to the Huffington Post and his writing has also appeared in the Boston Herald, Christian Science Monitor, Hartford Courant, and Providence Journal. He received his master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 2011. A version of his master’s thesis on peacebuilding in Somaliland was published in the Journal of the Middle East and Africa. While at Fletcher, Ridout was managing editor of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, and he currently sits on the advisory board.

 *Mr. Ridout has informed us that he would prefer that this be something of a free-flowing conversation/seminar as opposed to a rigid presentation. Thus, he requests that those who wish to attend read the paper attached above and come ready with questions.

Chapter can be previewed HERE.