Thomas Rid

Thomas Rid
Cyber Security and Global Interdependence: "What is Critical?", Chatham House, 28 February 2013
Born1975 (age 48–49)
Aach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Academic background
Alma materHumboldt University of Berlin
Academic work
Institutions
Websiteridt.co

Thomas Rid (born 1975 in Aach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany)[1][2] is a political scientist best known for his work on the history and risks of information technology in conflict.[3][4][5] He is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Previously he was a professor of security studies at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.[6]

Biography

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Rid grew up in the rural region of the Hegau, close to Lake Constance and the Germany–Switzerland border. In 1994 he graduated (Abitur) from the Nellenburg Gymnasium in Stockach.[7] From 1997 to 2002 he studied social and political science (with Herfried Münkler[8]) at the Humboldt University of Berlin, and for one year at the London School of Economics.[9] From 2003 to 2005 he was a Fritz Thyssen Foundation Scholar with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Germany's major government-funded foreign policy think tank, where he wrote his dissertation and first book. He received his Ph.D. from Humboldt University of Berlin in 2006.[9][10]

In 2006-2007 Rid was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri), a Paris-based think tank dedicated to international affairs.[11] In 2007-2008 he was a postdoc at the RAND Corporation, at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, and in 2009 a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.[12] In 2009 and 2010 Rid was in Israel conducting research as a visiting scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the Shalem Center.[8] In 2010 to 2011, he was fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Konstanz in Germany.[9]

From 2011 to 2016 he researched and taught at the Department of War Studies at King's College.[9][13] In 2016, he became a professor of strategic studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University.[14]

In October 2011 the Journal of Strategic Studies, a leading international relations journal, published his provocatively titled article, "Cyber War Will Not Take Place". The text argued that all politically motivated cyber attacks are merely sophisticated versions of sabotage, espionage, or subversion—but not war.[15] In a review of his 2013 book with the same title, The Economist considered Rid "one of Britain's leading authorities on, and sceptics about, cyber-warfare".[16]

In 2016, Rid authored an article entitled "How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History"[17] and in 2020, authored a book entitled Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare about Soviet and Russian active measures.[18] In 2020, Rid wrote in his Washington Post column that the valuable lessons from 2016 were: We must treat the Hunter Biden leaks as if they were a foreign intelligence operation — even if they probably aren't.[19]

Selected publications

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  • Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 21 April 2020
  • How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History, Esquire magazine, 20 October 2016
  • Rise of the Machines. A Cybernetic History, New York/London: W.W. Norton/Scribe, 2016[20]
  • Cryptopolitik and the Darknet, with Daniel Moore, Survival, 2016, February/March, vol 57, iss 1, 7–38
  • Attributing Cyber Attacks, with Ben Buchanan, Journal of Strategic Studies, 2015, February, vol 39, iss 1, p. 4-37
  • OMG Cyber! with Rob Lee, The RUSI Journal, November/December 2014, vol 159, iss 5, p. 4–12
  • Cyber War Will Not Take Place, New York/London: Oxford University Press/Hurst, 2013
  • Deterrence Beyond the State. The Israeli Experience, Contemporary Security Policy, April 2012, vol 33, iss 1, p. 124-147
  • The Nineteenth Century Origins of Counterinsurgency Doctrine, Journal of Strategic Studies, October 2010, vol 33, iss 5, p. 727-758
  • War and Media Operations. The US Military and the Press from Vietnam to Iraq, Series: Cass military studies. London: Routledge, 2007

References

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  1. ^ "Cyber-Krieg mit China?". Eine Veranstaltung der Reihe "Körber Debate" (in German). Körber Stiftung. Retrieved 9 April 2017. Thomas Rid wurde 1975 geboren.
  2. ^ "Cyber war will not take place: Professor Thomas Rid". Netwars-project.com (in German). Retrieved 9 April 2017. ... Rid was born in 1975 in Aach, Germany. He studied social and political science and...
  3. ^ Dyer, Geoff (12 October 2016). "US weighs up options in response to Russian hacking". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  4. ^ Joshi, Shashank (10 May 2013). "Digital Destruction". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  5. ^ Sterling, Bruce (17 August 2016). "How the Cyber Age Gave Peace a Chance". New Scientist. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  6. ^ "King's College London - Thomas Rid". www.kcl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  7. ^ Zur Person, suedkurier.de, 21 January 2011
  8. ^ a b Schlieter, Kai (17 April 2016). "Über Gott hinwegsetzen". tageszeitung. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d Exzellenzcluster „Kulturelle Grundlagen von Integration“: Rid, Thomas -Vita, access date: 22 March 2017
  10. ^ Rid, Thomas (10 February 2003). "Präventive Medienstrategie der USA. Militärische Öffentlichkeitsarbeit im Banne eines Krieges" (PDF). Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  11. ^ Rid, Thomas (Nov 2009) [12 April 2007]. "Erst surfen, dann kämpfen!" (PDF). Die Zeit. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  12. ^ Beckermann, Gal (15 September 2013). "Is Cyberwar Really War?". Boston Globe. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  13. ^ Thomas Rid: About | Thomas Rid, accessdate: 22 March 2017
  14. ^ Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Thomas Rid.
  15. ^ Rid, Thomas (October 2011). "Cyber War Will Not Take Place". Journal of Strategic Studies. 35: 5–32. doi:10.1080/01402390.2011.608939. S2CID 153828543.
  16. ^ "Digital Doomsters". The Economist. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
  17. ^ How Russia Pulled Off the Biggest Election Hack in U.S. History, Esquire magazine, 20 October 2016
  18. ^ Active Measures review: how Trump gave Russia its richest target yet, The Guardian
  19. ^ Insisting that the Hunter Biden laptop is fake is a trap. So is insisting that it’s real., The Washington Post, 24 October 2020
  20. ^ Grumbach, Detlef (2 August 2016). "Wenn Mensch und Maschine verschmelzen". Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
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