NPWG Weekly Interactive Seminar Guest Lecture
Bryan Lee
Director, Eurasia Nonproliferation Program, Center for Nonproliferation Studies
NEW MEDIA TOOLS FOR NONPROLIFERATION
Date: SEPTEMBER 30, 2014
Time: 6:30pm
Location: 3102 ETCHEVERRY HALL, UC Berkeley Campus
Biography
Bryan Lee is a former career Army officer and Eurasian affairs specialist with more than 20 years of experience in a variety of national security assignments. Most recently, he was the Director of the International Counterproliferation Program at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a $12 million program created by Congress to train foreign nations how to address the threat of smuggling of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Prior to working at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Bryan was a Senior Intelligence Officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he led the teams responsible for Russian and Central Asian military affairs. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Analyst award from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and has served as the principal intelligence briefer to the Assistant Secretaries of Defense for Global Security Affairs and International Security Affairs, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Eurasia.
Abstract
New Media for Nonproliferation
The tremendous growth of online social networks and rapid improvements in smartphone technologies has led to a growing interest in applying these developments to a variety of nonproliferation challenges. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller summarized the potential in a 2012 speech in Moscow : “Today, any event, anywhere on the planet, could be broadcast globally in seconds. That means it is harder to hide things. When it is harder to hide things, it is easier to be caught.” This has certainly proven to be the case with countries such as North Korea and Iran, both of which generated much unwelcome publicity when commercial satellite imagery revealed suspect activity at the Yongbyon nuclear facility and the Parchin military complex. Yet, despite these “new media” successes, many remain skeptical of the application of these tools to more complex challenges. Some argue using any type of social media to address proliferation concerns will just provide sensitive information to terrorists. Others doubt the contributions provided by non-experts, or question the wisdom of needlessly alarming the public. These are valid concerns, but they ignore the full capability of the technology as well as techniques that have already been developed to address them.
This presentation will provide a brief overview of the new media field, including a framework to help visualize new media capabilities. This framework will then be used to highlight areas where the use of new media tools could be effective in a nonproliferation context, including some recent examples drawn from CNS research. Last, I will discuss common objections and explore some future avenues for study and implementation
