Reflections from the Cybersecurity: The Intersection of Policy and Technology Program at Harvard Kennedy School
Last week, I had the pleasure of completing the Cybersecurity: The Intersection of Policy and Technology program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education. The program had excellent lecturers and a very interesting and diverse cohort of participants. Looking back on the experience, I’d like to share three main reflections:
The value of an interdisciplinary approach:
One of the things I appreciated most about the program was how it brought together so many different topics and perspectives within cybersecurity. We covered areas like hardware security, encryption, bug bounty programs, privacy, and artificial intelligence. Talking about these different aspects once again reminded me how interconnected they are and how important it is to approach cybersecurity as a field that touches on much more than just technology.
In today’s world, where systems are increasingly connected and technology is changing so fast, having this kind of interdisciplinary approach is essential. To address cybersecurity challenges effectively, you need technical expertise, but you also need to understand policy, human behavior, and even the economic implications of your decisions. Whether this expertise comes from collaboration between people with different backgrounds or from individuals with broad experience, I think a combination of both is the best way forward.
Similarly, reflecting on misinformation—an area closely tied to my background in communications, including content creation, social media monitoring, monitoring and evaluation of online advocacy, and digital media advertising—it’s clear that understanding this issue from multiple angles is essential. Cybersecurity is an important part of the puzzle, particularly in understanding how misinformation spreads online, but it’s only one piece of a much larger picture.
To truly address this issue, it’s necessary to think about how content is created, how media is consumed, and how education influences people’s ability to critically evaluate information. For example, it’s important to understand how platforms calculate and display metrics, as well as how advertising shapes the narratives people see and what money can actually buy on these platforms. From the perspective of a media researcher, misinformation must be considered within the broader framework of information warfare, which can include financing non-state actors to promote specific agendas. And from an educational research perspective, there’s a pressing need to focus on literacy and comprehension—how people process and internalize the information they see.
This kind of multifaceted approach is essential because focusing on just one part of the problem can lead to an incomplete understanding of a very complex issue and rushed, ineffective solutions.
2. The importance of skepticism and open dialogue:
Another reflection from the program was how valuable it is to nurture healthy skepticism and open dialogue in a group of knowledgeable people. For example, I appreciated that there wasn’t one prescribed dogma, such as “AI is a threat to humanity.” Instead, participants felt comfortable saying, “I think this narrative might be an exaggeration,” or pointing out that while a specific country is accused of a certain act, there’s no definitive proof, and we should look at the facts critically.
This is one of the many values I see in academia—the ability to entertain diverse ideas and perspectives. This openness can help address a challenge that arises when expertise primarily comes from individuals or organizations funded to emphasize the importance of a specific issue and portray it as critical or urgent. While such expertise is valuable, it may sometimes lack the broader or more critical analysis needed to fully understand the issue in a wider context.
Academia, with its emphasis on questioning assumptions and encouraging debate, provides a space to explore these issues from multiple angles. This diversity of thought and openness to critique is something I deeply value and believe is essential for solving complex problems.
3. The need to integrate economics into decision-making:
One discipline I believe should be incorporated more into almost all areas of work is economics. I’ve often heard suggestions (not related to this course in particular, but in a larger context of my professional and research life) like imposing sanctions or taking other actions without fully considering their economic feasibility or potential consequences.
While some measures might seem logical or straightforward on paper, they can have unintended or even harmful effects. It’s important to understand the economic trade-offs involved in any decision. Governments don’t have unlimited resources, so every decision comes with a trade-off—not necessarily between good and bad, but often between two good options, or between what is urgently needed and what is less urgent and yet still critically needed.
It’s also worth recognizing that addressing issues isn’t just about allocating money or changing policies. Those are important first steps, but, for example, building digital infrastructure also depends on having a trained workforce—and that doesn’t happen overnight. It also involves managing supply chain dependencies (since few, if any, countries have all the physical materials they need) and working with the public, especially when some decisions might feel economically painful at first as they take time to deliver the intended benefits.
Economics gives us the tools to figure out how practical and sustainable different policy actions are and to understand what the downsides might be.
Overall, I highly recommend this course to anyone working in the cybersecurity space. It was an intellectually stimulating experience and a good reminder, as someone in my working group said, that we are all fundamentally the same people, wanting the same things—to have affordable places to live, raise families, meet financial demands, and have access to basic services such as healthcare and education.