Jake Tibbetts Blog Introduction

Hey Everyone!

My name is Jake Tibbetts and I am so excited to be a vice chair for JCC this year. This is be my second year doing JCC and third year doing crisis at BMUN. Last year, I was the head chair of my own committee, CYBER. In addition to all that, I am the Undersecretary General of Technology this year for BMUN LXVII!

At Berkeley, I am a 3rd year studying Computer Science and Global Studies with an emphasis on Peace and Conflict and regional specialty in the Middle East. I am interested in a wide variety of topics such as cybersecurity, nuclear weapons, international security, and learning Arabic! Outside of academics, I am a research assistant for the Project on Nuclear Gaming, a joint Berkeley, Sandia National Labs, and Lawrence Livermore National Labs project. I am also a part of the Nuclear Policy Working Group here on campus.

Feel free to come up and ask me any questions about the Korean Peninsula, research, Berkeley, or really anything else during BMUN!

Looking forward to seeing you all in March!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This post could have NUCLEAR consequences for committee!!

Image
As historical background, DPRK unilaterally pulled out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty in 2003, and since then has been working on its nuclear program. Sophisticated tests are known to have happened since 2006 as well. As recently as 2017, DPRK has been testing intercontinental ballistic missiles. While they have had nuclear technology for a while, this advancement means they are able to send their nuclear capabilities as far as Hawaii and Western China in theory. There have been pivots in recent history, however. In 2018, after talks with S. Korea and the USA, DPRK has said that they are committed to no longer conducting nuclear testing and want to push for complete denuclearization. Despite this, there are still members of the Trump administration who are wary about how serious N. Korea is about denuclearizing. One popular theory being reported by political scholars is that N. Korea not wanting to denuclearize for the sake of big stick diplomacy. Essentially, if N. Korea ...
Read more

North Korea 2019: The world’s biggest cyber threat?

Image
Photograph: YONHAP/AFP/Getty Images The biggest cyber threats to the United States and Western nations are Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. What’s special about North Korea, however, is that their hacking is entirely government sponsored. North Koreans do not have internet access, save for elites, so ordinary citizens can’t become hackers like in other countries. Instead, North Korean hackers are hand-picked from state universities and are trained through real-world trials (not just practice problems and simulations), allowing them to quickly become world-class hackers. These hackers form specialized units such as Bureau 121 or the Lazarus Group. For North Korea, cyber warfare has become an incredibly effective way to inflict pain on Western nations. Perhaps you might remember the infamous Sony Pictures hack that led to the cancellation of the theatrical release of The Interview. Or the WannaCry ransomware attacks that disabled computers, and caused the NHS to turn away ...
Read more

Introduction - Annie Ren

Image
Hi everyone! My name is Annie Ren, and I will be one of your vice chairs for JCC in the upcoming BMUN LXVII. I spent most of my life in Dalian, a port city in the northeastern region of China. It is aligned and directly between Beijing and Pyongyang, so the politics of the Korean Peninsula is a topic close to home. Throughout high school, I organized and participated in conferences across Asia (let me know if you have too!). So I am excited to see what delegates bring to the MUN programs on the West Coast. I am currently a freshman studying Applied Mathematics at UC Berkeley. My hobbies include playing volleyball and soccer, sampling boba flavors, being a mother to my cat, and exploring beautiful places with my camera. Feel free to ask me anything about BMUN, the Chinese political perspective, UC Berkeley, my cat... I look forward to sharing my first BMUN experience with all of you in March! Meet my son! The resemblance is uncanny.
Read more