Richard J. Harknett

University of Cincinnati | UC · Department of Political Science

U.S. national cybersecurity strategy, to be effective must align with the structural features and operational characteristics of the domain. Yet, this article contends that the current U.S. strategy of deterrence, coupled with the establishment of norms in cyberspace, does not satisfy this requirement. Alternatively, a strategy of cyber persistence...

This essay introduces six defining conditions that relate to military cyber operations leading to the organizing principle that cyberspace is an offense-persistent strategic environment.

Harknett, Richard J. and Hasan B. Yalcin. (2012) The Struggle for Autonomy: A Realist Structural Theory of International Relations. International Studies Review, doi: 10.1111/misr.12010 Structural theories have advanced our understanding of International Relations (IR). This article contends that the two leading structural realist frameworks, howev...

Two years after the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. This act aspired to replace a sprawling agency-oriented intelligence apparatus with an integrated, networked intelligence community. The act envisioned a director of national intelligence who would accomplish sweeping structural...

As government agencies, private sector corporations, the military, and even retail shoppers shift their activities to the Internet, cybersecurity becomes increasingly important. Past presidential administrations recognized that cybersecurity necessitates a comprehensive national policy to protect electronically transmitted and stored information fr...

How should the United States organize itself to deal with the threat of cyberaggression? The initial effort of the Obama Administration, released in May 2009, focuses attention on the organizational and bureaucratic decisionmaking infrastructure necessary for cybersecurity and provides some general guidelines about goals and means. It does not addr...

How should the United States organize itself to deal with the threat of cyberaggression? The initial effort of the Obama Administration, released in May 2009, focuses attention on the organizational and bureaucratic decisionmaking infrastructure necessary for cybersecurity and provides some general guidelines about goals and means. It does not addr...

In May 2009, the Obama administration released its, Cyberspace Policy Review: Assuring a Trusted and Resilient Information and Communications Infrastructure, which it expected would lay the groundwork for a new national cybersecurity strategy. Staking out separate policy development space, Congressional leaders began hearings and introduced legisla...

NIGEL SPIVEY. The Ancient Olympics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Pp. xxi, 273. $39-95 (CDN). Reviewed by Onno M. van NijfKAUSHIK ROY. From Hydaspes to Kargil: A History of Warfare in India from 326 BC to AD 1999. New Delhi: Manohar, 2004. Pp. 283. Rs 595. Reviewed by Pradeep BaruaNATHAN ROSENSTEIN. Rome at War: Farms, Families, and Deat...

Historical trends involving technological development have led to an emerging strategic environment that undercuts the viability of traditional models of security – defense and deterrence. The potential for small numbers of people to inflict great damage and disruption is a dimension of conflict that must be considered alongside (and which interact...

Several years ago during a meeting at the United States Department of Defense on the implications of national missile defense plans, I and a few collaborators asked U.S. officials how they anticipated that India would react. The initial answer was that they had not given it any serious thought, since their main focus was managing Russian concerns a...

Professor Harknett argues that the Bush administration has incorrectly labeled the security threat facing the nation as terrorism. The threat is actually barbarism, which implies an effort to destroy as an end itself rather than as a means to pursue political objectives. Traditional models of deterrence and defense are insufficient for dealing with...

The War Powers Resolution (WPR) has been incapable of resolving the constitutional question over whether the president or Congress should authorize the use of military force. The primary reason why this impasse has remained unresolved is that the debate has been framed in the context of exclusive constitutional prerogative. Wl'R offers no solution,...

I would like to thank James J. Wirtz, William C. Martel, John Mearsheimer, Edward Rhodes, Joseph Amodio, and the editors and anonymous reviewers of Security Studies for their comments.

This thesis argues that deterrence based on conventional weapons is prone to failure. The unique characteristics associated with nuclear weapons, however, tend to provide for a robust deterrent. This argument is supported by four case studies (Berlin 1958, 1961; Taiwan Straits, 1954-55; Western Front, 1939; Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967-1973). The ge...