The United States is about to unveil a new cyber strategy that will treat cyberspace as another domain of warfare, similar to land, sea and air. As first reported in The Wall Street Journal on May 31, the U.S. will draw upon all the elements of national power to respond to a cyber attack.
As first reported in The Wall Street Journal on May 31, the US will draw upon all the elements of national power to respond to a cyber attack. This is an important step in the evolution of our cyber doctrine.is an important step in the evolution of our cyber doctrine. When strategists first began to deal with how we would respond to a cyber attack, many assumed we would do so within the cyber realm. The new strategy indicates that the U.S. would not hesitate to “take the gloves off” by broadening our response options to such an attack.
This is a welcome development. For the first time, we will be putting both state-sponsored and independent hackers on notice that we would target them if they successfully targeted us. Our specific response would be based on how severe the cyber attack against us was.
If it resulted in loss of life because of damage to infrastructure, such as the power grid or a hospital, then the attack could be considered an act of war and the president could order a response that included cyber as well as more conventional military options.
This strategy could have a deterrent effect on those who would try to do us harm via cyberspace. But, the effectiveness of that deterrent is directly related to our ability to find the hackers responsible for such an attack. Cyberspace is a great place for hackers to hide their activities, so the burden of discovery falls to the elements of our intelligence agencies and U.S. Cyber Command engaged in tracking these activities.
This region is home to many of these efforts. While the bulk of U.S. Cyber Command’s operations are centered on Fort Meade in Maryland, the Army has a significant intelligence and cyber security effort at Fort Belvoir. Now the headquarters of Army Cyber Command / 2nd Army, as well as 1st Information Operations Command and the venerable Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir has become one of the front lines in the battle to ensure the safety and integrity of our cyber networks. They will also be key to implementing the new cyber strategy.
Cedric Leighton lives in Lorton and is the Founder and President of Cedric Leighton Associates, a Washington area strategic risk and management consultancy.
