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When assessing whether a cyber incident constitutes an armed
attack on the nation, Defense Department leaders take the incidents
case by case and consider a range of factors, the deputy assistant
secretary of defense for cyber policy told a House panel on July 13,
2016.
Aaron Hughes testified during a hearing titled,
“Digital Acts of War” before the subcommittees on information
technology and national security of the House Committee on Oversight
and Reform.
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June 21, 2016 -Uniformed and civilian cyber
and military intelligence specialists monitor Army networks in the
Cyber Mission Unit's Cyber Operations Center at Fort Gordon, Ga.
(Courtesy photo by Michael L. Lewis)
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Other witnesses included Chris Painter, coordinator for cyber
issues at the State Department.
Case by Case
“When determining whether a cyber
incident constitutes an armed attack, the U.S. government considers
a broad range of factors, including the nature and extent of injury
or death to persons and the destruction of or damage to property,”
Hughes said.
“Cyber incidents are reviewed on a case-by-case basis,” he
added, “... and the national security leadership and the president
will make a determination if it's an armed attack.”
If a
cyber incident were found to be equivalent to an armed attack,
Hughes said the nation would use a whole-of-government approach to
responding and deterring future malicious activities in cyberspace.
“The United States has been clear,” Painter said, “that it
believes that cyber activities may in certain circumstances
constitute an armed attack that triggers our inherent right to
self-defense as recognized by Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.”
But even if the cyber incident is below that threshold, he
added, “we still have a number of ways to respond. It could be
kinetic. It could be through cyber means. It could be through
economic means and sanctions. It could be through diplomacy. It
could be through indictments and law enforcement actions.”
Defense, Offense, Deterrence
Since the updated DoD Cyber
Strategy was signed in April 2015, Hughes said, “the department has
devoted considerable resources to implementing its goals and
objectives.”
When Defense Secretary Ash Carter signed the
strategy, Hughes added, he directed the department to focus on three
primary missions in cyberspace -- defending DoD networks, defending
the nation against consequential cyberattacks and providing
integrated cyber capabilities to support military operations and
contingency plans.
DoD also supports a whole-of-government
cyber deterrence strategy, he said, and deterrence is a key part of
the cyber strategy.
The strategy describes DoD contributions
to a broader national set of capabilities to deter adversaries from
conducting cyberattacks.
The document also says the
department assumes that cyberattacks on U.S. interests will be
achieved through “the totality of U.S. actions, including
declaratory policy, substantial indications and warning
capabilities, defensive posture, effective response procedures, and
the overall resiliency of U.S. networks and systems.”
States
have not sought to define precisely or state conclusively what
situations would constitute armed attacks in other domains,” Painter
said, “and there is no reason cyberspace should be different.”
“In fact, he added, “strategic ambiguity could very well deter
most states from getting close to the threshold of an armed attack.”
Working with Partners
The United States and the department face diverse and persistent
threats in cyberspace from state and non-state actors that can't be
defeated through the efforts of any single organization, Hughes told
the panel.
The DoD Cyber Strategy directs that the department work with its
interagency partners, the private sector and allied and partner
nations to deter and if necessary defeat cyberattacks of significant
consequence on the U.S. homeland and U.S. interests.
Painter
said that, unlike in previous years, today there is a very strong
interagency process in place to share cyber information.
“All
of the different interagency colleagues do talk about these threats,
talk about possible responses, and in the end it's up to the
national security staff and the president,” he said.
An
increasingly wired and interconnected world has brought prosperity
and economic gain to the United States while the nation's dependence
on these systems has left it vulnerable to evolving threats posed by
malicious cyber activity, Hughes said.
DoD maintains and uses
robust and unique cyber capabilities to defend its networks and the
nation, but that isn't enough, he added.
“Securing our
systems and networks is everyone's responsibility and requires close
collaboration with other federal departments, our allies and
partners internationally and the private sector to improve our
nation's cybersecurity posture, and to ensure that DoD has the
ability to operate in any environment at any time,” Hughes said.
By Cheryl Pellerin
DOD News
Copyright 2016
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