Pentagon Is Updating Conflict Rules in Cyberspace

The Pentagon is updating its classified rules for warfare in cyberspace for the first time in seven years, an acknowledgment of the growing threat posed by computer-network attacks — and the need for the United States to improve its defenses and increase the nimbleness of its response, said Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s top military officer.

Gen Dempsey also said that, globally, new regulations were needed to govern actions by the world community in cyberspace. He said that the Chinese did not believe that hacking American systems violated any rules, since no rules existed. Discussing efforts to improve the Pentagon’s tools for digital defense and offense, General Dempsey said the military must be “able to operate at network speed, rather than what I call swivel-chair speed.” “Cyber has escalated from an issue of moderate concern to one of the most serious threats to our national security,” he said. “We now live in a world of weaponized bits and bytes, where an entire country can be disrupted by the click of mouse.” Under a presidential directive, the Pentagon developed “emergency procedures to guide our response to imminent, significant cyberthreats,” and is “updating our rules of engagement — the first update for cyber in seven years,” he said. This effort has resulted in the creation of what General Dempsey called an interagency “playbook for cyber.” During a speech at the Brookings Institution, a policy research center, General Dempsey said these new “standing rules of engagement” for military actions remained in draft form, and had not yet been approved.