Events

Event Information:

• Tue

  13

  Feb

  2018

  Nuclear Command and Control in the 21st Century: Maintaining Surety in Outer Space and Cyberspace

  5:30 pm - 7:00 pm2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 230

  Speaker: Dr. Jared Dunnmon

  Cyber vulnerabilities in the space-based component of U.S. nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems represent a significant risk to ensuring continuing nuclear stability. This work examines emerging threats to the surety of the U.S. nuclear deterrent resulting from asymmetric threats to space-based assets from actors in the cyber domain, and considers how responses to such threats could be framed in terms of the laws of armed conflict. Several scenarios are developed to demonstrate both the immediacy and the inherent difficulty of operational problems that could result from current NC3 architectures. Finally, distinct sets of recommendations spanning both technology and policy domains are developed with the goal of reducing the possibility of nuclear destabilization caused by a cyber attack on U.S. NC3.

  Jared Dunnmon is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Computer Science at Stanford University, with a research focus on leveraging machine learning techniques to enhance large-scale decision making. His specific academic interests encompass artificial intelligence, imaging systems, nuclear deterrence, sustainable energy and propulsion systems, and improving cyber-physical resilience in critical infrastructure systems. In addition to his research work, Dunnmon is affiliated with the Stanford Hacking for Defense (H4D) project, focused on applying Silicon Valley rapid innovation techniques to pressing problems in defense and national security. Dunnmon earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University, in addition to a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University and masters degrees in both scientific computing and business administration from the University of Oxford.