US Must Strut Cyber Might to Stop Attacks, Cartwright Says

The United States must frighten adversaries by displaying an arsenal of operational hacking weapons to fight cyber threats, said retired Gen. James E. Cartwright, who crafted the Pentagon’s current cyber policy before retiring last summer.

Some war hawks say the Defense Department should assault opponents publicly to stop hackers, but the department’s July 2011 strategy for operating in cyberspace takes a “deterrence” approach of dissuading enemies from attacking by signaling the strength of U.S. network protections. Cartwright, arguably one of the most tech-savvy leaders to have served at the Pentagon, said an effective deterrence plan requires signaling offensive measures, too. “You have to scare them. You have to convince them that there is a price for any action that is counter to good order and discipline,” he said Monday evening at The George Washington University Homeland Security Policy Institute. “That means you need an offensive capability.” The United States should demonstrate a balance of offensive and defensive maneuvers, said Cartwright, who now sits on the board of directors of defense contractor Raytheon and serves as an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.