Cyber War. Cyber “war” is an area of great, public concern, and several proposals have been made to limit, or even to prohibit, cyber warfare. Russia proposed several years ago that all forms of cyber warfare 192 PROCEEDINGS OF A WORKSHOP ON DETERRING CYBERATTACKS be outlawed. China refused to accept so sweeping a restriction, viewing cyber warfare as an arena in which it could be successful in competing with the U.S. and other militarily powerful states. The U.S. for years indicated it was uninterested in even discussing limitations on cyber warfare. Military officials assigned leading roles in developing U.S. cyber capacities in fact announced their intent to “dominate” cyberspace.41 The U.S. has created a Cyber Command, reflecting its view that cyber space is a new theater for national security activities analogous to the ground, sea, or air theaters of operations. Other states are responding to these developments by building their own capacities to engage in defensive, retaliatory, or anticipatory measures aimed at deterring or preventing cyberattacks. The notion that the U.S. or any other state will be able to “dominate” cyber space seems unlikely ever to be correct. The use of such rhetoric—coupled with the announcement (uncoordinated with the Department of State) of the creation of a Cyber Command—has undoubtedly led other states to regard U.S. military policy as posing a threat to which they must respond. The critical response to this inflam- matory posture may have led the U.S. recently to indicate for the first time an interest in pursuing agreements on cyber war issues. At his Senate confirmation hearing on April 15, 2010 to be Director of the NSA and Commander of the newly created U.S. Cyber Command, Lieutenant General Xxxxx X. Xxxx- xxxxx, said: “This command is not about efforts to militarize cyber space. Rather, it is about safeguarding the integrity of our military’s critical information systems.”42 And in the UN sponsored Expert Group report, issued on July 17, 2010, the U.S. joined 14 other states, including China and Russia, in agreeing to consider “confidence-building, stability, and risk reduction measures to address the implications of State use of ICTs, including exchanges of national views on the use of ICTs in conflict.” Reaching agreement on cyber-war related issues will be difficult. The activities potentially covered by the concept of cyber warfare are numerous and important to the national security of potential member states. Furthermore,...
Cyber War. This exclusion applies notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Policy or any appendix or endorsement added to this Policy.
