The Nunn School will focus on a scenario-based examination of the dynamics of command, control and coordination in cyber-conflict escalation. The principal investigators on the project include Mike Salomone and Jenna Jordan, who are supported by Ph.D. students Phil Baxter and Tarun Chaudhary.

The Nunn School’s project team will seek to understand the phenomenon of escalation during a national response to a large-scale cyberattack. Cyberspace is a strategic venue with critical national security significance. The interdependence among organizations and command structures within the U.S. civil and military complex will be examined, particularly at the “seams” of the country’s patchwork response. Best practices and lessons learned will be developed from scenario-based exercises applied to international contexts.

Other institutions included in this round of grants include the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Harvard University Project Pathways, Georgetown University, King’s College London and The RAND Corp.