September 21: The Dark Web
PS21 looks beyond the regular internet into the reaches of the ‘dark web’. What is in it, what are the risks, and is it ultimately a tool for good or evil?
Moderator: Metsa Rahimi, Regional head of intelligence, Deutsche Bank
John Bassett, former GCHQ official, now at Oxford University
Tim Hardy, technical writer, commentator and activist
Mike Gillespie, Director of cyber research and strategy, The Security Institute
September 24: Transparency and Accountability in Afghanistan
As the longest running and one of the most expensive wars in U.S. history winds down, just where did the money go? PS21 is delighted to present a discussion with the man looking into that very question, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko. After a successful PS21 event in DC this July, the Special Inspector General will be speaking in London at a PS21 event hosted by the UK Cabinet Office.
Moderator: Katherine Dixon, Programme Director, Transparency International UK
September 29: Strategic Defence and Security Review
James Bergeron, Political Advisor to the Commander, Allied Maritime Command in Northwood.
John Bassett OBE, Associate Fellow for Cyber Security at RUSI.
Gwenn Laine, former French Navy Officer, now documentary filmmaker
Guests are required to wear a jacket and tie and ladies to conform to the same standard.
Washington DC
September 21: Is Nuclear War Risk Rising?
Rachel Rizzo: Program Assistant, Strategy Program, Brent Scowcroft Center, Atlantic Council
September 29: Making it as a Woman in DC
Rachel Rizzo: Program Assistant, Strategy Program, Brent Scowcroft Center, Atlantic Council
This week on the blog:
Emmanuel Akinwotu looked at the serious challenges facing Nigerian President Buhari in his frist 10 0 days and we produced another PS21 Report: Beyond the SDSR, with insights from Philip Thicknesse, Josh Arnold-Forster, Patrick Bury, Tom Bruxner and Bob Judson.
We also published an article by an anonymous serving military officer from a NATO member state: ‘Not with a bang, but a white paper: How British power could fall apart this autumn’. This article was reprinted by US website Real Clear Defense, sparked an angry partial riposte from British website Think Defence and was also referenced in the US-based Small Wars Journal.
Other publications by PS21 members
As Queen Elizabeth the Second became England’s longest reigning monarch, PS21 board member Jonn Elledge turned a millennium of royal history into a pie chart for New Statesman. The Queen, it transpires, has been on the throne for 7% of the period since the Norman conquest in 1066.
Earlier this month, PS21 global fellow Ali Wyne’s piece ‘America’s mindset is its greatest threat to its national security’ was published in the New York Times.
Global fellow Milena Rodban, meanwhile, reports that some of her recent blog posts on political risk are now on the student reading list at New York University.
Project for the Study of the 21st Century 