By Floyd Keene, The Triple EEE Foundation
Right now, the world is discussing the proposed Iran nuclear agreement. The Obama administration sees a massive foreign policy achievement; certain American politicians and other world leaders less so. Many U.S. philanthropic and religious organizations have taken a “wait and see” approach, wanting time to study and analyze before taking a stance pro or con.
Frankly, understanding the details of the agreement is above my pay grade. Thus, I am waiting for organizations I trust to reach their conclusions. Yet, whatever the fine print, the agreement screams out with various messages for the philanthropic community. These messages are important and urgent, no matter what happens to the deal itself.
What truly stands to threaten our way of life?
I grew up in the late 1950s and 1960s. Once a month at school we had an “air raid” drill, with all students marched into the basement and taught the “protection position” to protect our heads from the effects of an air attack. In those Cold War days, the fear of nuclear attack from the “evil” Communists was real. Fortunately, decades later, a nuclear attack on the United States has never happened, even though many regimes of questionable stability possess that power, including Russia, Pakistan, and perhaps even North Korea.
In fact, some countries hold more sophisticated weapons than bombs, if they want to cause world chaos. Let’s take China for example. There is no question that the Chinese have the power to deeply damage—perhaps even destroy—the U.S. economy. All they have to do is flood international markets with the trillions in U.S. Treasury bonds that they hold. This simple, non-military tactic would make 2008 look like a picnic. They have this power. But they have chosen not to use it.
Why not? Because they are currently a key part of the world economy, and the world’s economies are interdependent. In short, China’s well-being is directly tied to the viability of the U.S. economy and U.S. markets. In 2014, the Chinese company Alibaba became the largest IPO ever on a U.S. stock exchange. Think about it. Formerly viewed by many as an evil, godless, Communist country, China produced a successful for-profit company, and then offered it to U.S. investors with massive hoopla, fanfare, and profit. In short, China’s financial well-being trumped its Communist ideology.
The question is—could the same thing happen in Iran? Ten years from now, could an Iranian company set an IPO record in the U.S. markets? Could Iran be a stable, economic success story? Could its anti-American, anti-Israel rhetoric be tempered by a concern for P/E ratios and rates of return?
Putting financial issues aside, an even more deadly weapon is appearing on the horizon: a digital hack, which doesn’t just devastate our economy, but potentially wipes out our ability to function at all. A hack that destroys online financial records, including backups. A hack that affects virtually all networked computers. A hack that creates more economic destruction than a nuclear bomb, but without the risk of retaliation. Although such an attack could come from an isolated hacker, it is much more likely to be coordinated and financed by a large nation, with sophisticated capabilities.
This is the threat that should cause sleepless nights for our government officials, business leaders, and philanthropists.
The role of philanthropy
So where does this leave philanthropists? What can we do to address the New World Order described above?
- Promote economic development. The more a given country’s people have to lose, the less militarily desperate they will be.
- Encourage international interdependency. The more a country has to lose from another country’s economic pain, the more it will temper its potential harm.
- Promote cybersecurity. A massive hack could dramatically elevate human needs and hamper our efforts to meet them. Addressing this threat, in whatever ways possible, is a key role for today’s philanthropists.
Read about the Hewlett Foundation’s largest-ever private commitment to cybersecurity
In sum, the scariest thing in the 1950s was a nuclear attack. Beginning in the 1990s, it was a financial attack. Today, it is a digital attack. In all three cases, international interdependency and cooperation are the most important defenses we have. Let’s accept this reality today.
Exponent Philanthropy board member Floyd Keene is president and founder of The Triple EEE Foundation in Deerfield, IL. He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin and, before leaving the business world, was a senior executive at Ameritech, a Fortune 500 company. He is a strong advocate of impact investing, and his foundation’s assets are currently 100% impact invested. Follow Floyd on Twitter @EEEFoundation.
