Security

Stanford Hosts Cyber Bootcamp for Congressional Staffers

• By Joshua Bolkan
• 08/15/17

Stanford University is hosting its third annual cyber bootcamp for congressional staffers this week in an effort to bring policy makers up to speed on a group of thorny and accelerating issues with myriad ramifications.

August 14-16, the university is offering informational sessions, panel discussions, role-playing exercises and networking opportunities for nearly three dozen staffers from the United States House and Senate, representing offices and committees such as Homeland Security, Commerce, Judiciary, Energy, Appropriations and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

"We created the cyber bootcamp precisely because many congressional staffers had told us this was the type of help they needed," said Amy Zegart, co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), a sponsor of the event, in a prepared statement.

Zegart said that after three years there is a waiting list for the bootcamp and points to Senator John McCain's visits to the Hoover Institution, which hosts the event, and CISAC as examples of the bootcamp's effects on policy making.

Topics and speakers at this year's bootcamp include:

• Offensive cyberspace operations and their role in national cybersecurity;
• Why defense is harder than cyber offense;
• How market forces enhance or weaken cybersecurity;
• Automotive cybersecurity;
• Difficulties of applying existing law to accelerating technology;
• Psychological, economic and organizational issues related to cybersecurity;
• Fundamental principles of cybersecurity;
• Condoleezza Rice;
• Michael McFaul;
• Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz;
• Toomas Hendrick Ilves, former president of Estonia;
• Andy Grotto, fellow at CISAC and Hoover fellow; and
• Joel Peterson, Jet Blue chairman and a professor in the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

"The Congressional Cyber Boot Camp is our signature event because we're connecting the worlds of public policy and cybersecurity in ways that help advance national security." Zegart said in a prepared statement.