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She helped put cybersecurity on the national radar. Now Melissa Hathaway is finding new ways to further the conversation.
On Oct. 1, Hathaway joined Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as a senior advisor to its cyber security initiative. Project Minerva, as the initiative is known, is a joint effort among the Department of Defense, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard University. The project explores a slew of cybersecurity issues within the context of international relations.
Why international relations? “There are at least 20 international venues that are determining the future of the information communications infrastructure,” says Hathaway, whose credentials include a stint as acting senior director for cyberspace at the National Security Council. “Our nation needs to determine what it collectively needs and wants — and find ways to foster public and private shared goals.”
Hathaway’s work at the Belfer Center will include developing a better understanding of the policy gaps in international relations. “I believe the United States must take a broader and more active leadership position abroad to drive the future security of this global infrastructure and help galvanize the establishment of norms of behavior in cyberspace,” she says.
