Christopher Whyte
Affiliate Faculty, MS in Cybersecurity
- cwhyte@middlebury.edu
Dr. Christopher Whyte is an Associate Professor (with tenure) in the program on Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. There, he teaches and performs research on a range of international security topics that consider the intersection of information technology and conflict. Specifically, his research program spans three topical areas – (1) the socio-cognitive context of cyber operations; (2) coordinated social subversion and the conduct of Internet-enabled political warfare; and (3) the impact of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies on both of the above. To study these issues, his research employs mixed methods and notably makes use of experimental simulations. Additionally, he runs the Digital Issues Discussion Group and is author/co-author of more than three dozen peer-reviewed articles, numerous other articles/reports and five books on cyber conflict, including most recently Subversion 2.0: Leaderlessness, the Internet, and the Fringes of Global Society (Oxford University Press, 2024) and Information in War: Military Innovation, Battle Networks, and the Future of Artificial Intelligence (Georgetown University Press, 2022). He is also co-author of a bestselling cyber warfare textbook, currently in its second edition, entitled Understanding Cyber Warfare (Routledge 2018, 2023).
Areas of Interest
Disruptive information technologies tend to have a profound impact on the way we perceive and manage security issues. They enable novel affordances in society and open up new space for unprecedented innovation. But they also inject immense uncertainty and ambiguity into world affairs. Dr. Whyte’s research addresses the complex interaction of disruptive information technologies with traditional national and international security phenomena. His broad view of this interaction is cybernetic, meaning that technology is not neutral but rather both shapes and is shaped by sociopolitical context. As such, his work rarely focuses purely on the technical character of emergent technologies but rather examines the informational context within which these technologies are encountered by decision-makers and by the general public.
Areas of interest include cyber conflict history, strategy and decision-making; subversion and state-sponsored political interference; cyber-enabled influence operations; organizational innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) adoption; social movements and disruptive novel ICT; artificial intelligence (AI) safety, misuse and decision-making; and disruptive technologies in strategic competition.
Programs
Academic Degrees
- PhD in Political Science, Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason University
- MA in Political Science, Schar School of Policy & Government, George Mason University
- BA in International Relations, BA in Economics, The College of William & Mary
Publications
Books:
Subversion 2.0: Leaderlessness, the Internet, and the Fringes of Global Society(Oxford University Press, 2024)
Articles:
Terror Through the Looking Glass: Information Orientations and the Lens of Web Search Engines Terrorism & Political Violence (2024)
Artificial Intelligence and the Battlespace of Tomorrow‘ International Studies Review (2024)
Beyond ‘Bigger, Faster, Smarter, Better’: Assessing Thinking on Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Conflict The Cyber Defense Review (2024)
Learning to Trust Skynet: Interfacing with Artificial Intelligence in Cyberspace Contemporary Security Policy (2023)