The Washington Foreign Law Society

Presents

Cyber Sanctions: Assessing Trends and Effectiveness

Thursday, June 3rd, 2021
from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET

– This event is jointly organized with the Stimson Center – 

Cyber espionage, sabotage and cybercrime are on the rise. State-sponsored attacks against critical infrastructure are also increasing. However, accountability is difficult because of anonymity in cyberspace and the political sensitivities surrounding attribution. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack that caused fuel shortages in parts of the US is only the most recent example. What’s to be done to curb attackers? In 2017, the EU endorsed a cyber diplomacy toolbox which includes the imposition of sanctions. How effective have targeted sanctions been and what else can be done? How can the US and other countries combine these with other foreign policy instruments to create more stability in cyberspace?

Join the Washington Foreign Law Society and the Stimson Center in this third in a series of discussions dissecting cyber issues as they relate to current and potential legal accountability: Cyber Accountability – Who did it? Is it wrong? Can they be stopped?

Featured speakers:

– Bruce McConnell, Stimson Center Board of Directors

– Ambassador Timo S. Koster, formerly a career diplomat at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director for Defence Policy and Capabilities at NATO

– Dr. Erica Moret, a leading expert on sanctions, global security and humanitarian affairs and Senior Researcher at the Global Governance Centre, Graduate Institute, Geneva (IHEID)

– Kathryn Rauhut, Nonresident Fellow, Stimson Center (Moderator)

Dr Erica Moret is a leading expert on sanctions, global security and humanitarian affairs. She is Senior Researcher at the Global Governance Centre (Graduate Institute, Geneva, or IHEID) & Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies (Université de Genève / IHEID).  She has provided advice to the Biden Administration’s review into the future of US sanctions policy, evidence to both UK Houses of Parliament Inquiries on the future of sanctions after Brexit and has provided advice to the EU, various governments and the UN. She has published extensively on sanctions policy.

Her sanctions-related publications include those on Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba – in relation to cyber security, chemical weapons abuses, humanitarian concerns, de-risking and over-compliance (and emerging technology solutions), disinformation, political leadership and informal governance.

Dr. Moret is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of International Relations/ Political Science, IHEID & Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), Sciences-Po.  She is Coordinator & co-founder of the Geneva International Sanctions Network (GISN) and Associate Editor of the Journal of Global Security Studies (JoGSS). Dr. Moret holds a DPhil (PhD) and MSc from the University of Oxford and is also a graduate from France’ Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

Ambassador Timo S. Koster (Ret.) was a career diplomat at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 30 years. Until September 2020, Amb. Koster held the position of Ambassador-at-large for Security Policy & Cyber. Prior to this, from 2012, he was the Director for Defence Policy and Capabilities at NATO HQ in Brussels. He has served as Defence Advisor at the Netherlands Permanent Representation to NATO and as Director Defence Policy & Capabilities in the NATO International Staff as well as in other positions, including in Kenya and Greece.

Currently, Amb.Koster is an independent board member and strategic advisor supporting various companies and other stakeholders with strategic and geopolitical advice on security and defence, including cyber and new technologies governance. He regularly supports wargames and decision-making exercises and lectures at several international institutions. Amb. Koster is a non-resident Ambassadorial Fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Centre for International Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, Washington, DC. He is also a founding member of the Multilateral Cyber Action Committee. He holds a law degree from the University of Amsterdam.

Host: Bruce McConnell is a Distinguished Fellow with the Stimson Center, and has served on the Stimson Board of Directors since 2021. He has been a leading player on global cyberspace peace and security issues at the intersection of governments, business and civil society for over thirty years. He is the President and CEO of the EastWest Institute. He is currently leading the migration of the institute’s programs, which focus on reducing and mitigating security conflict among nations, to new homes in other nonprofit organizations including the Stimson Center. Prior to becoming President, McConnell led EWI’s Global Cooperation in Cyberspace program, working with governments and companies to increase the safety, security and stability of life in cyberspace. He co-led the secretariat of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace. In January 2016, he opened EWI’s San Francisco center, reflecting the institute’s increasing emphasis on addressing security risks from emerging technology and on the Asia-Pacific region.

From 2009 to 2013, McConnell served at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he was Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity. He served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. From 2000-2008, he created, built and sold two consultancies that provided strategic advice to clients in technology, business and government markets. In 1999-2000, McConnell led the International Y2K Cooperation Center, which was sponsored by the United Nations and the World Bank. He served at the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1986-99, where he was Chief of Information Policy and Technology in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

McConnell holds a Master of Public Administration from the Evans School for Public Policy at the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Sciences from Stanford University. He serves as a distinguished fellow at Observer Research Foundation America and as a member of the advisory committee of the Fuxi Institution (China). He is a business advisor to several technology companies.

Moderator: Kathryn Rauhut, Nonresident Fellow Stimson Center

Kathryn Rauhut, a former prosecutor, is an attorney specializing in international security. She works primarily in the field of cyber and nuclear security accountability and liability.  Prior to her work with the Stimson Center, she was a Strategic Advisor to the Internet Security Alliance and to the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS). In her role at WINS, Ms. Rauhut led international roundtables and authored policy papers on improving global governance of nuclear and cybersecurity through building the business value of security. Previously, she was the Deputy General Counsel of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. She is a member of the California Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the International Nuclear Lawyer’s Association.  She just completed a decade of international work in Europe while living in Vienna, Austria and is now located in the San Francisco Bay area.