Traditional War Strategy In The Cyber Age

As U.S. military and government officials consider the best approach to fighting cyber threats, they are considering the relevance of historic approaches to national security dangers such as nuclear weapons and terrorism. Herbert Lin, chief scientist at the National Research Council's computer science and telecommunications board, said a range of topics are currently being weighed such as "strategy, escalation, and deterrence, as well as issues related to doctrine and employment policy for cyber weapons." Doctrine and employment policy refer to how the military plans to operate during a conflict and strategy refers to thinking beyond immediate engagement to develop a roadmap for how to win, he said. Deterrence involves persuading a bad guy to not attack and escalation refers to how to keep a war from getting out of hand, he said.