Editor's Comments

• Publication year: 2016

EDITOR'S COMMENTS

Presidential elections bring into sharp relief the differing positions and approaches to trade relations, national security, immigration, and the like. Starting last summer and fall, and into the spring debate season, momentous moves on the world chess board provided case studies to test the candidates' positions.

For example, after over 35 years, certain sanctions were lifted against Iran, as the U.S. concurrently restored diplomatic relations with Cuba. More recently, President Obama removed the arms embargo with Vietnam and became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site of the atomic bomb attack in Hiroshima, Japan.

As these doors opened, others shut. Chinese foreign investors with ambitious acquisition plans, particular those involving semiconductor technology, were rebuffed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on the grounds of national security.

Finally, the doors of governments, companies, and even law firms, were broken down, as hackers penetrated data security systems, absconding with treasure troves of confidential data. The latest case in point - the Panama Papers - rivals Daniel Ellsberg's leak of the Pentagon Papers years ago.

The movement of these tectonic plates (be they financial, diplomatic, or informational) set the stage for this latest edition of the Journal.

We begin with an interview of cyber security expert Andy Serwin. Mr. Serwin has been counsel to corporations in some of the largest data security breaches of the last decade. He also is the Chairman of the Board of the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance. He offers an assessment of the evolving international cyber threat vector, in which the theft of confidential data to make political statements, inflict reputational harm, or gain competitive advantage, has grown in prominence alongside the traditional risk of loss of consumer financial information.

The shifting currents of international trade and cross-border transactions are explored in articles by Hera Uy Smith, Chris...