A very good article from Syracuse’s own William Banks, director of the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism at Syracuse University. The article was titled The Role of Counterterrorism Law in Shaping ad Bellum Norms for Cyber Warfare, and was written for the U.S. Naval War College’s International Law Studies. Here’s a quick snippet from Prof. Bank’s introduction section:
In this article, I will first review the ad bellum justifications for conducting cyber war within the Charter and LOAC systems. The international law doctrines permitting countermeasures offer one set of options, and the possibility that cyber intrusions could constitute an unlawful intervention, “use of force” or “armed attack” will also be considered briefly. I conclude that the Charter and LOAC provide insufficiently clear legal guidance, and that further accommodating the various forms of cyber war could compromise the normative integrity of the existing system for limiting the use of force and may unnecessarily further militarize the cyber domain. Part III traces the sources and contents of counterterrorism law that could provide the normative bases for cyber war in some circumstances. In light of the analysis in Parts II and III, Part IV will speculate concerning how an international counterterrorism law might develop in the cyber domain. As has been the case with counterterrorism law generally, a cyber-oriented counterterrorism law will follow the eventual development and implementation of national and international policies and strategies to counter cyber threats.
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While we’re here, Joshua Keating wrote for Foreign Policy on another article published in International Law Studies pertaining to cyber retaliation. Notably, UV Prof. Ashley Deeks “wrote an article defining the circumnstances under which it is legal for a “victim state” to retaliate against a non-state actor — such as a terrorist cell — located in another country’s territory.” Here’s Prof. Deeks’ article.
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