Livestream

Overview

“Information” has become an integral part of our daily lives. We have all become accustomed to the use of apps that ease daily life, and rarely stop to think of the masses of big data that have made them so effective. At the same time, there are worries every time a government, or a company, or an internet server reports a breach of its databases, exposing the private data of millions of people. The worries about information extend from the most intimate personal concerns, to the grand strategies related to national security and defense. While governments have increasingly fine-grained tools for identifying and gathering information on individuals, at the same time, they struggle to defend their systems against attacks from rival powers. As states move to introduce new 5G technology, the commercial interests of tech companies have become entangled with nationalist interests of states, and legitimate concerns about cyber security.  These issues are of particular concern in Japan as it prepares to host the Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympics; will current cyber security institutions be strong enough to protect such global events? Drawing on the research of Abe fellows this session will examine how these issues are being discussed in the US, Japan, and other parts of Asia, and what new institutions have been developed to deal with the increasingly contentious world of information.

Over nearly three decades, the Abe Fellowship Program has supported several fellows whose research projects discuss the repercussions and benefits of how changing technology has allowed for the increased capacity to create, store, and trade information/data. For this event three Abe fellows will address multi-national cybersecurity coalitions, strategies, and cyber-resilient methods critical to sustaining national functions in inevitable attacks; US-China trade war and techno-nationalism’s implications for suppliers, customers, and the global supply chains; and Japan’s 2018 National Defense Program Guidelines which focus on Multi-Domain Operations including cyberspace, outer space and electromagnetic space.

An initiative of the Abe Fellowship Program, the Abe Fellows Global Forum (Abe Global) is designed to bring Abe Fellow research and expertise on pressing issues of global concern to broader audiences. Abe Global will host several events each year in partnership with academic and civic organizations throughout the United States. The Abe Fellowship Program is a partnership between the Social Science Research Council and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.