Justin Canfil

Justin Key Canfil is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Strategy & Technology at Carnegie Mellon University (CMIST). A political scientist by training, Dr. Canfil's research concerns the impact of emerging technologies on international law, arms control, and international security. Prior to Carnegie Mellon, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program. He also received a Fulbright Scholarship to China. In 2024, he will be a research associate at Princeton's Center on Contemporary China and a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He received a PhD from Columbia University, with a specialization in International Law via Columbia Law School.

Academic Publications

Justin K. Canfil. “The Illogic of Plausible Deniability: Why Proxy Conflict in Cyberspace May No Longer Pay,” Journal of Cybersecurity (JOC), Vol. 8 No. 1, 2022.

Justin K. Canfil and Elsa Kania. “Mapping State Participation in Military AI Governance Discussions,” Oxford Handbook of AI Governance, Justin Bullock, Yu-Che Chen, Valerie Hudson, Anton Korinek, Matthew Young, Baobao Zhang (eds.), Oxford University Press (2022).

Justin K. Canfil. “International Legal Statecraft,” A War of Our Time: The Threat and Dynamics of Non-Military Warfare, Angstrom, Jonsson, Christianson, Kaihko (eds.), Georgetown University Press (2022, forthcoming).

Justin K. Canfil. “Innovation & Organizational Politics in the United States Air Force, Contemporary Military Strategy,” Fowler & McCaskey, eds., Georgetown University Press, 2018.

Justin K. Canfil. “Honing Cyber Attribution: a Framework for Assessing Foreign State Complicity,” International Affairs (JIA), Vol. 70 No. 1 p. 217-226, January 2017.


Policy Publications

“Technology Governance” (contributing author), US-China Futures Briefing Book, Schmidt Futures, March 2021.

“Trump’s Nuclear Test Would Risk Everything to Gain Nothing,” War on the Rocks, Jul 8 2020.

“Tear Gas is a ‘Weapon of War.’ Why is it Being Used to Quell Protests?” Lawfare, Jun 19 2020.

“The U.S. Will Exit The ‘Open Skies’ Treaty and It’s Unclear Why.” Lawfare, June 3 2020.

“50 Years After Apollo 11, China Is on Deck to Land Next. That Doesn’t Have to Be a Bad Thing,” The Diplomat, July 19 2019.

“Lessons on History and Statecraft,” with Lauren Dickey et al. War on the Rocks, August 9 2016.

Personal Website: www.jcanfil.com