On Nov. 6th, 2011, Andrea Shalal-Esa reported for Reuters on how James Cartwright, the former No. 2 officer in the US military, has urged that the US should be more open about its development and use of offensive cyber weapons. Gen. Cartwright was quoted as saying "We've got to step up the game; we've got to talk about our offensive capabilities and train to them; to make them credible so that people know there's a penalty to this." These offensive capabilities would serve as a deterrent to hackers, but Gen. Cartwright noted that "you can't have something that's a secret be a deterrent. . .if you don't know its there, it doesn't scare you."
The article goes on to note that cyberspace demands demands a carefully crafted deterrent posture. One former U.S. diplomat said that a deterrence policy has to establish a credible threat of possible action while not being too specific. A certain level of uncertainty is desirable because it keeps foreign countries on their toes. Moreover, being too clear about the US response would invite hackers to " test the limits up to that point." Gen. Cartwright ultimately believes that establishing a deterrent posture now would help slow attacks coming from overseas.
Of course, US officials won't comment about any specific cyberweapons. However, it is generally known that the US has both offensive and defensive responses to cyberattacks. Gen. Cartwright's comments are timely in light of the Obama administration's ongoing debates about rules of engagement in cyberspace. The White House previously released a cyberstrategy that said the US would respond to hostile acts in cyberspace as it would to any other threat. The problem is determining how the military must implement that strategy. Gen. Keith Alexander, NSA and US Cyber Command director, said US military officials would finalize new rules of engagement for cyber space in the coming months.
The source article can be found here.
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