WASHINGTON, DC— The Atlantic Council, in partnership with VeriSign, is launching a new Cyber Statecraft Initiative and has named Jason Healey as the first director leading the Council’s expanding work on international cyber policy issues. 

“Jason has a deep understanding of the strategic issues that the United States and its friends, allies, and partners around the world face in cyberspace,” said Frederick Kempe, President and CEO. “Jason is an ideal cyber leader-practitioner to lead the Council’s work to promote collaborative, international, and multi-lateral approaches to strategic cyber issues.” 

“The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative is the first of its kind to define how cyber issues can and should become a tool of international statecraft," said Mark McLaughlin, CEO of VeriSign. The Cyber Statecraft Initiative, a multi-year effort funded by VeriSign, will focus on finding international consensus among like-minded nations on the challenges in cyber security. In particular, Healey will focus on international engagement on norms and other challenges of cyber conflict through thought leadership and by providing a platform for global governments, corporations, and other non-governmental organizations. 

Healey comes to the Atlantic Council from the consulting company Delta Risk and has worked on cyber security issues from Wall Street to the White House. A former Air Force intelligence officer, Healey also served as the Director of Cyber Infrastructure Protection at the White House and later as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs where he built the company’s Asia-wide crisis management system. 

A prolific writer and commentator on issues of cyber defense and conflict, Healey serves as the Executive Director of the Cyber Conflict Studies Association and teaches a course on cyber conflict policy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jason_healey.