Hertie School

In this episode, David Backovsky interviews Alex Romero, visiting professor at Sciences Po and founder of Alto Intelligence. They discuss all things hybrid threats – what they are, their history and how the rise of subthreshhold operations challenges the geopolitical status quo. Listen now to find out more!

In the 10th episode of Season 3 David Backovsky interviews Matthias Schulze of the IFSH on all things cyber conflict. They discuss the developing perspectives on what role cyber conflict can play in general and in relation to kinetic operations, and beyond. They also discuss the impacts of recent conflicts including the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on cyber. If you want to get a comprehensive overv...

In this episode David Backovsky interviews Professor Nadiya Kostyuk of Carnegie Mellon University about the cyber elements of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They discuss what the expectations were before the war, what this special empirical case study teaches us about cyber conflict and much more. Tune in and find out more!

In today's episode David Backovsky sits down with Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence and the United States Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence to discuss the recent developments in AI systems and how to ensure that AI is developed in a secure and responsible way. David and Rumman touch on many aspects of AI, including the anthropomorphisation that it falls victim to, AI red-teaming...

Are you interested in better understanding spyware and the digital surveillance industry? Berlin Security Beat host David Backovsky interviews two experts from Amnesty International's Security Lab, Elina Castillo Jiménez & Rebecca White. Together they discuss what unlawful digital surveillance entails, the great cost that its use has on its victims and what can be done about it. The episode also i...

In this episode David Backovsky interviews with Anita Gohdes, Professor of International and Cyber Security at the Centre for International Security and the Hertie School. Anita has recently published, "Repression in the Digital Age: Surveillance, Censorship, and the Dynamics of State Violence" with Oxford University Press. They sat down to discuss what digital state repression looks like, how it...

Would you like like to better understand the role of the United States in cyber diplomacy? This episode features William Klein, a former U.S. State Diplomat with over two decades of experience with a special focus on China. William and David discuss a range of issues including the evolution of U.S. cyber foreign policy, China, export controls, digital arms control and more. William Klein is now a...

Do you want to learn more about how cyber policy institutions were built across the last two decades? In our newest episode David Backovsky of the Berlin Security Beat interviews Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar, Director of the Digital Society Institute at the ESMT in Berlin, on what it was like to build up cyber policy & diplomacy institutions across the Ministry of Defense of Estonia, Ministry of Foreign Aff...

In the second episode of our two-parter on cyber threats we focus on cybercrime. David Backovsky talks to Rutger Leukfeldt, Professor of Governing Cybercrime at Leiden University and Senior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement. We discuss everything from hackers to criminal nexuses to hacktivists, ransomware and social engineering. How cyber criminals...

In the first half of our two-parter on cyber threats we'll be discussing cyber threat intelligence (CTI) and state actors with one of Berlin's leading threat intelligence experts, Jiro Minier. We cover the basics of CTI and then explore the geopolitical side with China as a case study of how state threat actor nexuses operate. Jiro Minier is Lead, Threat Intelligence Research and Analysis at the D...

In the opening episode of the 3rd season, we interview two Hertie School alumni, Kritika Roy and Finn Hagemann on their transition to the industry, what their work in cybersecurity entails and what advice they'd have for newcomers on entering the industry. Tune in to find out more!

In this episode we delve into the work of NATO with the Branch Head for Strategic Issues Engagements at NATO Allied Command Transformation. We cover a wide range of issues, from Vlasta's experiences as one of the few female recruits at Citadel, to her insights on the organizaitonal dynamics of NATO and the core skills and tools that young professionals need to succeed in NATO's operational environ...

In this episode we interview Dr. Gorana Grgić, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Government and International Relations and the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Gorana is a world expert on U.S. and transatlantic security policy and has collaborated with a range of institutions from the EU to NATO to the Australian Ministry of Defence. In this episode we discuss a wide-r...

In this episode of the Berlin Security Beat, we welcome Ankit Panda, a renowned nuclear analyst and Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment's Nuclear Policy Program. Ankit, known for his expertise on the Asia-Pacific, nuclear strategy, arms control, and emerging technologies, gives a glimpse into the life of a nuclear analyst. He shares his insights on the obstacles upcoming professionals...

In this month’s episode we interview Cato Stensland, former intelligence officer in the secret services in Norway. We cover a wide-range of issues from the nature of intelligence work, to open source intelligence, to the issues with security clearances.

In this episode we speak with Brad Roberts, director of the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory about what it takes to be part of the nuclear strategic community, his work for the Obama administration and some advice for future nuclear analysts. For more information on the Center for Global Security Research, please visit: https://cgsr.llnl.gov/ For more i...

In the pilot episode of the second season, Constanze Stelzenmüller recounts the development of her career, from journalism to becoming a director at Brookings, and the challenges and transitions that came with her path. Theme Copyright: Music by amaksi from Pixabay

Dr. Christian Gläßel, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for International Security at the Hertie School, and Dr. Adam Scharpf, incoming assistant professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen, both experts on authoritarian regimes, join Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre, to talk about “sportswashing”, i.e. the instrumentalization of spo...

Anita Gohdes, Professor of International and Cyber Security at the Hertie School, and an expert on contentious politics in the cyber realm, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about journalist killings. They discuss: - the conditions that put journalists in danger in institutional democracies, - the instrumentalization of social media,...

Alistair Wellmann, a Practice Fellow at the Centre for International Security at the Hertie School, and an expert on sanctions implementation and effectiveness, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about sanctions. They discuss: • why states impose sanctions, • different sanction types, • when sanctions work and when they don’t, and • h...

Julian Wucherpfennig, Professor of International Affairs and Security at the Hertie School, and an expert on ethnic civil war and terrorism, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to talk about terrorism. They discuss: • what terrorists want, • what went wrong in the so-called war on terror,...

Marina Henke, Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School and Director of the Centre for International Security, an expert on nuclear security, military interventions and European defense policy, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about nuclear security. They discuss: • the Centre’s newest research project “Understanding...

Tarah Wheeler, a Cyber Project Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and an expert on information security and international conflict, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about cyber security. They discuss: • the difference between cyber espionage and cyb...

Andrea Ruggeri, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Oxford, and an expert on peacekeeping and civil wars, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about UN peacekeeping. They discuss: • why and how peacekeeping works, • when to deploy peacekeepers – and when not to, • how to use diversity in missi...

Sara Mitchell, Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa, and an expert on international conflict, esp. territorial, river and maritime issues, joins Dr. Katharina Emschermann, Deputy Director at the Centre for International Security, to talk about maritime disputes. They discuss: • the ins and outs of the disputes in the South China Sea, • how climate change increases the risk of m...