Intangible Weapons, Invisible Enemies
In 2012, then U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta warned that “the next Pearl Harbor we confront could very well be a cyber attack that cripples our power systems, our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems.”
While the U.S. and other nations recognize the potentially devastating threat posed by cyber warfare, international treaties and norms regulating the use of force and the conduct of war were developed long before the advent of modern computers and the Internet. The application of international law to deter and control the elusive threat of cyber attack remains uncertain.
Organized by the Texas International Law Journal, this Core Conversation will explore the nature of cyber warfare, if and how existing international law applies to cyber attacks, and the need for international consensus and cooperation in controlling this new war front. The role of the private sector in confronting this new and evolving challenge will also be discussed.
Presenters
Derek Jinks
Professor
The University of Texas School of Law
Derek Jinks is the Marrs McLean Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law and Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas. He has also served as the Charles H. Stockton Professor of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College for 2009-2010. Professor Jinks is a member of the U.S. State Department's Advisory Committee on International Law. He also participated as a legal expert in the drafting of the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. He is a Founding Editor of blog Just Security: A Forum on Law, Rights, and U.S. National Security.
Kristen Eichensehr
Assoc
Covington & Burling LLP
Kristen Eichensehr is an associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington D.C. Her practice focuses on international and national security matters, including advising clients on cybersecurity questions. Kristen has written about domestic cybersecurity issues, as well as international law related to cybersecurity, and she previously served as Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. Kristen is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the American Society of International Law. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School and an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.
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