Dr. Max Smeets
Max Smeets is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich and Co-Director of the external pageEuropean Cyber Conflict Research Initiative and external pageEuropean Cyber Conflict Research Incubator. He is the author of 'No Shortcuts: Why States Struggle to Develop a Military Cyber- Force’ (Oxford University Press & Hurst Publishers, 2022) and co-editor of ‘Deter, Disrupt or Deceive? Assessing Cyber Conflict as an Intelligence Contest’ (Georgetown University Press, 2023) and 'Cyberspace and Instability' (Edinburgh University Press, 2023).
Max is an affiliate at Stanford University’s external pageCenter for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and an associate fellow at external pageRoyal United Services Institute (RUSI). He also lectures on cyber warfare and defense as part of the Senior Officer course at the NATO Defense College in Rome.
He recently co-founded external pageBinding Hook, a new media outlet on technology and security part of ECCRI.
He was previously a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Stanford University CISAC and a College Lecturer at Keble College, University of Oxford. He has also held research and fellowship positions at New America, Columbia University SIPA, Sciences Po CERI, and NATO CCD COE. Before his academic career, Max worked in finance in London and Amsterdam.
Max received a BA in Economics, Politics and Statistics summa cum laude from University College Roosevelt, Utrecht University and an M.Phil (Brasenose College) and DPhil (St. John’s College) in International Relations from the University of Oxford.
Selected Publications
Books
Chesney, Robert; Shires, James; Smeets, Max (eds.) (2023) 'Cyberspace and Instability', Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Chesney, Robert; Smeets, Max (eds.) (2023) 'Deter, Disrupt or Deceive? Assessing Cyber Conflict as an Intelligence Contest', Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.
Journal Articles
external pageSmeets, Max (2018) 'A Matter of Time: On the Transitory Nature of Cyber Weapons', Journal of Strategic Studies 41, 1-2: 6-32. *Awarded the 2018 Amos Perlmutter Prize
Op-eds
external pageSmeets, Max, (2023) ‘The magic of sophisticated cyber attacks,’ Binding Hook.
external pageShires, James; Smeets, Max, (2023) 'Introducing Binding Hook', Binding Hook.
external pageSmeets, Max (2019) 'Cyber Command’s Strategy Risks Friction With Allies', Lawfare.
external pageSmeets, Max (2019) 'There are too many Red Lines in Cyberspace', Lawfare.
Reports and Conference Articles
Smeets, Max (2022) ‘What it Takes to Develop a Military Cyber-Force', CSS Policy Perspectives 10, 7.