Thursday, July 11, 2013

CSIS Facilitating US-China Cyber Talks

A recent Politico story on US-China cybersecurity talks notes that the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has "worked to facilitate bilateral talks with key Chinese leaders over the past eight months."

James Lewis, Director and Senior Fellow of the Technology and Public Policy Program at CSIS, testified on July 9 before the House Energy & Commerce Committee at a hearing on cyber espionage and theft of US intellectual property and technology.

His testimony can be read here.  It notes that CSIS and McAfee are undertaking a study on how to estimate the cost of all malicious cyber activity, including the theft of intellectual property.

CSIS has the Freeman Chair in China Studies which is chaired by Christopher Johnson, a former senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Since 2009, CSIS and China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) have held seven formal meetings on cybersecurity called "Track 2 Sino-U.S. Cybersecurity Dialogue."  The latest talks were held in December 2012 through CSIS's Technology and Public Policy Program.

Mr. Johnson and Matthew Goodman of CSIS recently wrote a piece on the US-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue (S&ED).

CSIS is one of many US think tanks that has reportedly been targeted by Chinese cyber spies.

CSIS was recently ranked as the best think tank in the world for security and international affairs by the University of Pennsylvania annual think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 5th best think tank in the world.