The Fletcher School hosts a conference on designing international law and organizations to protect civilian institutions and infrastructure from cyber operations
What new laws or organizations are needed to protect civilians from state-sponsored cyberattacks? A top-flight team of computer scientists, international lawyers, and other experts will present their ideas on September 14 and 15 at a conference at The Fletcher School.
Ambassador Marina Kaljurand, F95, former Estonian minister of foreign affairs and current chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace is the keynote speaker at the conference. In addition, Angela McKay, senior director of cybersecurity policy and strategy at Microsoft; Fabrizio Hochschild and Rasa Ostrauskaite, high-level officials at the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, respectively; and political scientist and former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Joseph Nye will speak.
The project will culminate in an edited volume of papers written by leading scholars and practitioners.
Fletcher’s new Center for International Law and Governance, which conducts policy-oriented research and promotes pragmatic solutions to global challenges, is organizing the conference. The center is directed by Ian Johnstone, interim dean of The Fletcher School and professor of international law, and Joel P. Trachtman, a professor of international law and author of The Future of International Law: Global Government and other titles.
The conference is funded by Microsoft and Fletcher’s Hitachi Center for Technology and International Affairs. Future conferences hosted by the center may tackle infectious disease, environmental challenges, and migration—the kinds of problems, Johnstone said, “where there are gaps in international law and governance, and where The Fletcher School’s multidimensional approach will make a difference.”
Heather Stephenson can be reached at heather.stephenson@tufts.edu.
