The expansion of the Abraham Accords to include cybersecurity was announced on February 3, 2023 by the US Department of Homeland Security, alongside cybersecurity officials from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. Addressing the historical significance of the Abraham Accords and the normalization process, this event explored both the shared regional challenges from criminal and state-sponsored cyberattacks and the political and economic benefits of improved trans-regional cybersecurity cooperation.
This event featured a fireside chat with DHS Under Secretary Robert Silvers, Ambassadors from the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel, and the head of cybersecurity of the United Arab Emirates, moderated by the Honorable R. Clarke Cooper, former Assistant Secretary for political-military affairs at the US Department of State and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. The event also featured remarks from the co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus, the co-chair of the Senate Abraham Accords Caucus, and an experts panel moderated by former DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Policy and Middle East Programs’ nonresident senior fellow Thomas Warrick.