drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD
@drbvaler.bsky.social
140 followers 63 following 63 posts
Cyber, K-pop, and video games for research Seton Hall, School of Diplomacy Royal Danish Defence College Cyberspace Solarium 2.0 Marine Corps University
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 19
The astounding thing about prominent IR voices is how often they are consistently wrong, and never pay the price for their very public failures, instead doubling down each time.
jacobtlevy.bsky.social
Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · Mar 19
35 or so years ago John Mearsheimer confidently predicted a nuclear-armed Germany. He’s spent the last decade doing his damndest to bring about the world in which he’s proven right.
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 14
Neat new Generative AI paper by Jensen and his team, looks great
"All models exhibit some degree of country-specific biases, often recommending less escalatory and interventionist actions for China and Russia compared to the United States and the United Kingdom."
arxiv.org/pdf/2503.06263
arxiv.org
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 7
DoD Minerva grant on space/cyberspace nexus canceled. What is worse is how they did it, for a minute there we thought it might survive but instead they were just going down the list slowly...
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 3
Incredible headline but the hubris to say this when EW jamming has forced a shift to fiber which now leads to new shifts (cutting drones, new optical sights, universal fiber platforms)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Drones Now Rule the Battlefield in the Ukraine-Russia War
Drones have changed the war in Ukraine, with soldiers adapting off-the-shelf models and swarming the front lines.
www.nytimes.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 3
We officially have a know-nothing team working cyber. There is no offense/defense in cyber and you don't let your guard down while trying to poke the enemy - even Jake Paul knows that...
ericjgeller.com
Eric Geller @ericjgeller.com · Mar 3
I can confirm Politico's reporting on the Trump NSC's cyber team: Bulazel, Goldman, Work, and Brose, with a clear theme of embracing a more confrontational approach to cyber operations against adversaries. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Mar 3
Guess I should react but this is obviously grossly horrific. The thing that gets me is the idea we cut off offensive operations, offense/defense language is inadequate in cyber and most troubling is stopping basic monitoring of malware and ransomware.
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/u...
Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Stop Offensive Cyberoperations Against Russia
The defense secretary’s instructions, which were given before President Trump’s blowup with the Ukrainian president, are apparently part of an effort to draw Russia into talks on the war.
www.nytimes.com
drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 26
As academics have been saying for nearly a decade, cyber is a poor tool for coercion (Borghard and Lonergan 2017, Valeriano et al 2018) and useless to hold territory. Bigger question is why policymakers were convinced by hype beats and snake oil salesmen.
holyroodmag.bsky.social
Holyrood @holyroodmag.bsky.social · Feb 26
"You can’t conquer a country with cyber otherwise the Russians would have done it."

@ciaranm.bsky.social speaks to Sofia Villegas www.holyrood.com/news/view,ci... @holyroodconnect.bsky.social
Ciaran Martin: Nobody plays politics with cyber
Having been at the helm of the UK’s cyber defences, Ciaran Martin talks about navigating a world increasingly shaped by ...
www.holyrood.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 23
Impressive to lose Canada, France (probably gone before this), and Germany in one month.
himself.bsky.social
Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Feb 23
1. Background to the epochal change in German and European politics after the election. Merz, the presumed next Chancellor has said that Europe is setting out to "achieve its independence from the US, step by step." @abenewman.bsky.social and I explain the background in our book, Underground Empire
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy [Farrell, Henry, Newman, Abraham] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
www.amazon.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 20
Sure looks like my battle buddy and coauthor Ben Jensen
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 16
I think we need to go back to calling people imposters because the entire Executive branch thinks they can solve the country's problems by treating it like a startup.
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 15
What game/situation provoked this? Missed Metternich in Civ 7
drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 15
1) Sure, they have better bread and bikes
2) Sec Pete just did, the whole purpose was to counter Russia
3) Kursk? UA protections? Reparations?
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 15
Been stuck in #Civ7 and its nice to be reminded that I once wrote a very personal piece about wargaming and Civilization 6.
thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2....
#Reviewing Sid Meier’s! Lessons in Game Design: Civilization and Wargames
Constructing open worlds and the freedom to develop innovative strategies that incubate strategic minds or threaten authoritarian societies are the unexplored frontiers. The lessons in game design tha...
thestrategybridge.org
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 15
The real problem is that many restrainers will go along with Trump's military cuts because they have always wanted to cut the DoD. But you have to do it in the right way, not through some magic of technology that isn't even winning the current war. Get in the real game
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 15
This is a horrific, for one it provides no solutions offering instead do things faster. It adds, we can go lighter w drones buying into the hype of revolutionary technologies when on the battlefield they have gone wired within a period of about 3 months.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/o...
Opinion | Reimagining the American War Machine
The biggest challenge for any peacetime military is preparing for the next war.
www.nytimes.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
The world is burning and I need to post more Kpop memes. Two meetings, a class to prep, and a Champions League game to watch
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nGX...
Coca Cola 🔋 MOMO
YouTube video by bbakkebb
www.youtube.com
drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
I reject the acronym DEI because it removes context and agency from the platform, eliminating the meaning of the program in favor of some anspectic term.
jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Feb 12
"[For the Right], D.E.I...is the mere presence of a woman or nonwhite person or disabled or transgender person in any high-skilled, high-status position. And their alternative isn’t some heretofore unknown standard of merit; it is the reintroduction of something like segregation."

(gift link)
Opinion | Trump’s War on D.E.I. Is Really a War on Civil Rights
The genius of the right-wing crusade against D.E.I. is that the term is amorphous enough that it can mean many different things to many different people.
www.nytimes.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
Academics need to stop applying fancy words to what is outright chaos and destruction. This is not normal, its an outlier, and its malicious.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/pres...
President Trump’s Campaign of ‘Structural Deregulation’
The administration’s aggressive approach aims to compromise the capacity of the federal government to fulfill its core functions.
www.lawfaremedia.org
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
You mean like when Russia loaded bombs on planes bound for the US and no one said anything because it was during the election and transition and now Russia gets to keep Ukrainian territory too?
www.nbcnews.com/news/world/r...
Russia behind plot to plant bombs on cargo planes, Western official says
The case is the latest example of a wider Russian sabotage campaign to disrupt Western support for Ukraine, officials say.
www.nbcnews.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
And I am not a fan of the NFL but I sure watched a bunch of games this year because of *all this*
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Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
Good news, the NCD lives! I thought it might be slowly eliminated along with other cuts. Bad news, our new national cyber director appears to have zero cyber security background so its open season for the sham/scams in cyber security policy - per usual.
www.politico.com/news/2025/02...
Trump to nominate Sean Cairncross as national cyber director
Cairncross is a former top official at the RNC and previously led a federal foreign aid agency during the first Trump administration.
www.politico.com
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 12
NBA and Football (soccer), US team is really good
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drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 10
This is damning, but common. Orgs often downplay cyber security because it has little impact on their bottom line, but the reality is the cascading consequences for failure end up far downstream which is why the strategy of regulations, secure by design, and strong investment in the D is critical.
lutasecurity.bsky.social
Luta Security @lutasecurity.bsky.social · Feb 10
Musk DOGE Pick Led Cybersecurity Cuts at Citrix. Hacks Followed via @bloomberg.com - includes insights from @lutasecurity.bsky.social CEO & Founder @k8em0.bsky.social

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Musk DOGE Pick Led Cybersecurity Cuts at Citrix. Hacks Followed
Tech CEO Tom Krause dismissed engineers and slashed expenses after the remote-work company’s leveraged buyout. His company says defenses improved. Now he’s consulting at the US Treasury.
www.bloomberg.com
drbvaler.bsky.social
Brandon Valeriano, PhD @drbvaler.bsky.social · Feb 7
I really like this paper and its something critically important, novel tech is often not destabilizing but stabilizing.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Ceci n’est pas une nuke? The impact of emerging militarised technologies on strategic stability
Novel technologies with military applications are often implicitly viewed as significant threats to strategic stability. Yet, some implementations of emerging technologies may bolster defenses, mit...
www.tandfonline.com