Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Amb. David Smith (Ret.) is the Director of the Potomac Institute Cyber Center.  He is a cyber security and cyber policy analyst, and a former US arms negotiator.  As a panelist at a Counter Terror Expo panel discussion in Washington, DC, on May 17, Amb. Smith warned that the hacktivist group Anonymous could provide cover for a variety of bad actors on the Internet, up to and including dangerous terrorist groups.  His comments were reported in a story on the Expo panel on the National Defense website.  Click here to read the article in full.

Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Amb. David Smith (Ret.) is the Director of the Potomac Institute Cyber Center.  He is a cyber security and cyber policy analyst, and a former US arms negotiator. In a column for the Georgian publication Tabula, he writes about the rising role of the Internet in Russian politics. Smith says a new social media campaign against NTV television, in response to its negative coverage of protests against the reelection of President Vladimir Putin, is the latest example of the changing landscape. He writes, "With half of Russians already connected to the Internet, and 10,000 people joining each day, politics is moving online.  That alone will make Vladimir Vladimirovich’s third presidency very different from his first two."  Click below to read the article in full.

Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Senior Fellow Amb. David Smith (Ret.) is the Director of the Potomac Institute Cyber Center.  He is a cyber security and cyber policy analyst, and a former US arms negotiator.  As Director of the PICC, Amb. Smith organized a special panel discussion on Fundamentals of Chinese Information Warfare and Impacts on the Western World on May 11, which was widely attended by representatives of government and private sector entities engaged in cyber security.  In an article on the AOL Defense website he commented about the perceived Chinese threat to cyber infrastructure.  Click here to read the article in full.

Associate Academic Fellow Khatuna Mshvidobadze, MBA, is part of the Potomac Institute Cyber Center.  A native of Georgia, Ms. Mshvidobadze is currently working on a major project researching the role of Russian social media in Russian politics and elections.  In a paper published online in JINSA's Global Briefings, she writes that "politics are shifting to the Runet," as the Russian Internet is called - with significant consequences for the ruling party and the increasingly vocal opposition. Click here to read the article in full.