UPDATE (June, 2022):
Upcoming In-person and online event details are currenty being finalized. Please watch this space.
February 2022 Events
The Ukraine Crisis: Implications for U.S. Security and Critical Infrastructure
WHEN: Wednesday, February 16th, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM ET
WHERE: https://meet.goto.com/igcpa/ukraine-crisis
WHO: Peter Forster, Ph.D., Penn State University
The threat of Ukrainian-Russian conflict continues to dominate the international security environment and demands an examination of the multiple challenges it presents to the United States. The goal of this presentation is to raise awareness of threats and vulnerabilities related to a conflict in the 21st century with a focus on the cyber components of the battlespace.
Within this context, this online presentation addresses four primary areas:
- Moscow’s hybrid war strategy has evolved for more than decade. The US is in the process of understanding the hybrid war environment and developing a robust counter-strategy. This crisis presents a case study for understanding Russia’s strategic components thus providing important information on the formulation of an American and NATO response.
- The Ukraine crisis threatens the NATO alliance by illuminating its potential cleavages. How does the US view these cleavages and how might it mitigate the threats emerging from them?
- Cyber operations are a critical component of a hybrid war strategy. Vulnerability of US critical infrastructure is a concern to US national security. Why do these vulnerabilities exist and what strategies may be implemented to minimize them?
- The reality is that the 101st airborne is not going to fight in Ukraine; however, the US and NATO still possess a range of policy options, short of kinetic war, to deter or respond to Russian aggression.
About Our Presenter: Dr. Peter Forster is a professor emeritus of Security & Risk Analysis and former Associate Dean in Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST). As an emeritus, he continues his work in terrorism/counter-terrorism, risk and crisis management, and national and homeland security. His projects include developing and facilitating simulations and tabletop exercises to improve command and control in counterterrorism and crisis response, analyzing social networks and the use of cyber space by extremists, and engaging government and civil society in addressing terrorist/extremist threats.
Dr. Forster served as the first academic liaison to PACIC - the Pennsylvania Criminal Intelligence Center’s partners group where he oversaw a range of law enforcement-related projects, the University’s representative to DHS’s Agency-Academic Partnership, and was a taskforce lead in the development of DHS’s Academic Advisory Committee’s Countering Violent Extremism 2017 report. He is the co-chair of the NATO/OSCE Partnership for Peace Consortium Combating Terrorism Working Group (CTWG), co-editor of NATO’s Counter Terrorism Reference Curriculum and co-academic director of NATO's Defence Against Terrorism course. During his academic tenure, Dr. Forster taught a wide range of courses from counterterrorism to U.S. foreign policy and Cyberwar. He has co-developed an introductory cybersecurity course for the U.S. government, facilitated international counterterrorism tabletop exercises, and led grants and coordinated research projects exploring process and technology integration to improve law enforcement’s situational awareness.
He is the co-author of Multinational Military Intervention, Stephen J. Cimbala & Peter K. Forster (2008) and Cognitive Systems Engineering Michael D. McNeese & Peter K. Forster, (2017), and has authored articles on:
- Using technology in counter-terrorism
- Extremist recruitment models in the United States
- Understanding distributed team cognition in crisis situations
- American foreign policy and interests in Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Access:
The Ukraine Crisis: Implications for US Security and Critical Infrastructure Wed., Feb 16, 2022 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (EST) Join from your computer, tablet or smartphone: https://meet.goto.com/igcpa/ukraine-crisis Dial in using your phone: United States: +1 (571) 317-3116 Access Code: 596-794-173
