On March 16, Erica Borghard published an article in The Washington Post with Jacqueline Schneider, from the Hoover Institution, about whether cyber operations could be used as signals. Borghard and Schneider show how recent reporting characterizing cyber operations as signals of resolve is misguided.

“With nine U.S. federal agencies reportedly still cleaning up after last year’s SolarWinds hack, the Biden administration’s plans to shore up security include $650 million in the recent coronavirus relief bill earmarked for cybersecurity defenses. A recent article suggested that the Biden administration reportedly considered cyber “counterstrikes” — language the White House subsequently distanced itself from — as a form of signaling to Russia that the recent SolarWinds attack was unacceptable.”

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