Reflections on a Decade of Leadership

Recently, Rohinton P. Medhora took time out to reflect on his decade-long tenure as CIGI president, a role that concludes on September 2 as he transitions to the new role of distinguished senior fellow.

Read his thoughts on some of the highlights and challenges of those years here.

Many of CIGI’s colleagues and partners also shared memories of working with Medhora and appreciation for his leadership. You can watch their tributes here.

Just three weeks after it was announced, the US Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board was disbanded. As Heidi Tworek writes, the tale of its failure contains many lessons. Researchers are considering whether the disinformation frame still makes sense, or could cause more problems than it solves. Addressing how platforms contribute to global disinformation might be better achieved by applying more global perspectives and systemic analysis of power.

Electronic warfare — essentially any military action that exploits the electromagnetic spectrum to provide situational awareness and create effects — is fundamentally important for militaries to control, conduct and affect operations. Western analysts had largely assumed Russia would use electronic warfare to devastating effect in a full invasion of Ukraine, yet it did not. As Stephanie Carvin explains, Russia’s failure to plan for this reality was a plan to fail.

The UK Parliament’s Online Safety Bill is a response to the obvious need to regulate the online space. Yet, as Susie Alegre argues in this op-ed first published in City A.M., government proposals to water down data protection laws, tear up the Human Rights Act, and limit protest rights and access to judicial review will do much more to undermine online safety than the new laws would do to protect it; what’s needed for real safety is the rule of law and enforceable legal rights.