William Hague has announced that the old History Faculty Library will host the govern-ment’s Ê»Global Centre for Cyber Security Capacity.
The “cyber centre” will receive a £1 million grant from the Government. The announcement comes after the 2011 National Security Strategy rated cyber-attacks as a threat as serious as international terrorism.
Hague, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, stated that the centre “will coordinate global work on cyber threats and cyber policies which will help protect the UK’s security” and “be a beacon of expertise and put the UK at the forefront of cyber policy development.”
The “cyber-centre” will be based in the building of the Indian Institute on Broad Street, which to housed the History Faculty Library until it was moved to the Radcliffe Camera in September 2012. The move was controversial
for the lack of consultation with students.
Hague was a student at Magdalen in the 1980s, President of the Oxford Union in Michelmas 1981, and President of the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) in Hilary of the same year.
The centre will be part of the Martin School, which works to “address the most pressing global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.” It was founded in 2005 with a $100 million donation from philanthropist James
Martin.
According to Sadie Creese, Head of the new cyber centre, the research they will conduct will define global priorities for cyber security. The research conducted will be shared with governments, communities, and organisations,, to inform their own cybersecurity strategies.
Yet a third-year Keble historian commented, “This all sounds like a bit of a gimmick by the government, especially as the G8 conference is being hosted in London right now. Hague didn’t even come to Oxford to open the centre.”
Nicholas Crossland, a first-year Philosophy and Theology student, commented, “It is looking increasingly as though tomorrow’s warfare will be predominantly fought on computer screens…it makes perfect sense to make
investments in technology, brains and innovation in this field a priority.”
Walid Haddad, a third year history and politics student at St. Hugh’s, stated that “The move of the HFL to the Radcliffe Camera hasn’t been as apocalyptic as was originally predicted.”
Haddad went on to remark that, “If the University has a few square feet of extra space on Broad Street left over from the move, why shouldnÊ»t they seek to fill the vacancy with money from Whitehall?”
