Authority figures

Working with the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation, we recently concluded a strategic consulting engagement in support of a Department of Defense client that provides commercially available products to military units. Our client needed to understand how the ongoing withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan would affect its ability to operate. We conducted an independent review of the policies, regulations, and laws that give our client the authorities to perform its mission. Our approach - which involved structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders and a gap analysis to align anticipated resources with capabilities - considered if and how those authorities may change in a post-Afghanistan defense environment. Our recommendations were candid; they will allow our client to navigate bureaucratic uncertainty and continue providing valuable services to units with urgent needs.

Scoring policy points

On Friday, I had the privilege of serving as a judge for the Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge, organized by the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council. More than twenty teams of graduate and undergraduate students specializing in cyber statecraft presented policy options for responding to a fictional cyber attack with global implications. Cyber risk can lead governments into uncharted waters, and provocative exercises like this allow us to explore the potential consequences (both intended and unintended) of state action before crisis hits. To that end, I was impressed by the breadth, depth, and creativity of the competitors' arguments, which reflected a growing academic emphasis on topics relevant to cyber policy. And that is very encouraging.