Security & Defense

Should the U.S. use autonomous cyber weapons?

By Jason Healey, New Atlanticist

From Jason Healey, New Atlanticist:  Stuxnet, part of the "Olympic Games" covert assault by the United States and Israel on Iranian nuclear capability, appears to be the first autonomous weapon with an algorithm, not a human hand, pulling the trigger.

General Gurganus: There’s Still More to Do in Afghanistan

With ISAF’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 fast approaching, it is useful to look back and see what failures and successes there have been. Have certain challenges been overcome? How do the Afghans see ISAF’s mission? On April 17, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security hosted Major General Charles Gurganus, commanding general, […]

Stuxnet and the Dawn of Algorithmic Warfare

By Jason Healey

Though autonomous, destructive robots are a long-time, hackneyed science fiction plot, for some time, this new kind of warfare has been shifting from yesterday’s movie to today’s reality. But unforeseen by the imaginations of both headline and science fiction writers, it was not a missile-laden drone or humanoid Terminator that introduced this new kind of […]

To Stop North Korean Cyber Attacks, Start in Beijing

By Jason Healey

The recent cyber attacks on South Korea highlight four truths of cyber conflicts as they have actually been fought. The implications of three of them are obvious, the fourth not yet so. Such conflicts are disruptive, but far from warfare. And cyber conflicts are both easier to predict than popular myth has it and the […]

China: US pivot to Asia ‘frequently makes the situation there tenser’

By Xinhua

From Xinhua:  The global trends toward economic globalization and multi-polarity are intensifying, cultural diversity is increasing, and an information society is fast emerging.

China’s military cyber policy: ‘Winning local wars under the conditions of informationization’

By Xinhua

From Xinhua:  China’s armed forces unswervingly implement the military strategy of active defense, guard against and resist aggression, contain separatist forces, safeguard border, coastal and territorial air security, and protect national maritime rights and interests and national security interests in outer space and cyber space.

DOD requests $4.7 billion to help fund offensive cyber teams

By John Reed, Killer Apps

From John Reed, Killer Apps:  Despite a climate of what defense officials love to describe as "fiscal uncertainty," the Pentagon’s 2014 budget request includes $4.7 billion for increased "cyberspace operations," including dozens of cyber attack teams

How to Handle North Korea: The Pageant of Proposals

By Rajan Menon

By now, those of you who have been following the Korean crisis have encountered plenty of proposals from pundits. Let’s consider some of them.