What is the Cybersecurity initiative?

There is
perhaps no issue that has grown more important, more rapidly, on so many
different levels, than cybersecurity. It
affects personal privacy, business prosperity and the wider economy, as well as
national security and international relations. It is a field that matters for
everything from human rights and corporate profits to fundamental issues of war
and peace. And with the rapid growth in both the number of people and devices
coming online across the globe, the security of information systems is only
going to grow in importance. Yet, while ever more amounts are spent each year,
our collective understanding of the problem remains immature and both public
policy and private sector efforts have failed to match the scale or complexity
of this challenge for us all. The Internet has connected us, but the policies
and debates that surround the security of our networks are too often disconnected,
disjoint, and stuck in an unsuccessful status quo.

This is
what New America’s new Cybersecurity Initiative is designed to address. We
believe that it takes a wider network to face the network of diverse security
issues. Success in this endeavor will require collaboration – across
organizations, issue areas, professional fields and business sectors, as well
as local, state, and international borders. By highlighting bold new ideas, bringing
in new voices with fresh perspectives, breaking down issue and organizational
barriers while building up a new field of study, encouraging new research approaches
to the next generation of cybersecurity issues, connecting and creating new
constituencies, and providing vibrant media and policy platforms to support
that creativity, we can aid in pushing forward the cyber policy needed right
now and better set us up for success tomorrow.

The
nature of this new kind of approach to a new kind of 21st century
problem is exactly why New America was built. We are a new kind of think tank,
entrepreneurial in its ethos, nonpartisan in its research and advocacy,
transparent in its funding, that specializes in bringing together individuals
from a wide range of different backgrounds on the new set of opportunities and
challenges facing America in the 21st century. Not only are we the
only such organization with technologists on staff, but we also bring to the
discussion world-renown experts in fields that range from international and
national security strategy to privacy and human rights. We also take an
approach that is focused on partnership building, notably beyond the DC Beltway
(we also have an office in New York and are building a presence in California),
connecting the next generation of leaders and experts from across the world
into a network of offices and global media partnerships.

Initially
the new Cybersecurity Initiative at New America will have three major elements:

• Networks: Supported by
  our partnership with the Hewett Foundation, we will build
• A
  network of National Cyber Fellows, pulling together thinkers from
  across the United States, from in and outside the cyber policy community,
  to write and contribute new thinking to the policy debate.
• An
  International Cyber Network to write and comment on cybersecurity
  issues from a range of vantage points, providing a unique set of foreign
  perspectives to what is an inherently global field.
• A
  series of media partnerships to connect the above networks into
  and push forward wider public discourse. These include New America’s
  relationship with Slate Magazine and its Future Tense blog, a new
  cybersecurity focused podcast co-hosted with Christian Science Monitor,
  its “Future of War” programming with Defense One/The Atlantic, and launch
  event with CNN.
• Events: We are excited
  to work with our networks and other partners – both in DC and across our
  wider footprint – to support events that promote the initiative’s
  objectives.
• A
  Policy/Business Roundtable aimed at bringing together some of the
  best thinkers from the policy and business communities to discuss common
  approaches to emerging or under-addressed cybersecurity policy issues.
  This thinking will then form the basis of further work to drive the
  policy agenda.
• An
  Annual
  Conference bringing together diverse expert communities and
  policy leaders, while highlighting bold new ideas.
• A
  series of public events addressing both emerging issues and
  especially highlighting the work of our Fellows and network members.
• Research
  and Advocacy:
  We will continue to build on our extensive policy research and focus
  especially on developing cybersecurity policy approaches that are realistic,
  yet scalable and impactful.
• A
  series of reports and papers featuring original research, designed
  to push forward the next generation of ideas and thinkers.
• A
  suite of new online resources and databases, such as the cyber
  definitions database recently completed by New America’s cyber team, made
  available for media, government, and other researchers to leverage in
  their own work.
• Through
  the wider partnerships and a focus on impact, we will engage both
  the wider public and policy makers directly, building a networked case
  for action on topics that will range from the protection of civil
  liberties within cyber debates to new military thinking about
  cybersecurity topics. As a network, our building community will often represent
  a range of opinions on any particular issues, but will always be designed
  for widening the engagement of communities and pushing the debate
  forward.

In taking forward our new Cybersecurity Initiative, New America
will leverage expertise from across the organization, particularly the Open Technology Institute and the International
Security Program. Bios for the core team can be found here.