January 12, 2022
Geopolitics Keeps Overruling Cyber Norms, So What’s the Alternative?
Whenever a new technology emerges as a national security issue, governments want to establish norms of behavior. We are seeing it with AI, with unmanned systems, with hypersonic technology — and we have seen it with cyberspace.
Setting norms can be useful. The process itself can have benefits: it requires governments to communicate and develop a better understanding of how different nations view challenging issues. When norms are agreed upon, even if voluntary and non-binding, they can make explicit what may be mutually beneficial to states.
Once governments accept the limits of political cyber norms, they can then adapt to the messier reality of cyberspace today.
Norms, however, will always struggle when they begin to hit up against the core interests of the nations involved. As cyberspace is now intrinsically tied into traditional geopolitical contests and conflicts—that is, core interests — norms can alter behavior only so much. But hope is not lost: Once governments accept the limits of political cyber norms, they can then adapt to the messier reality of cyberspace today.
Read the full article from Breaking Defense.
More from CNAS
-
Tariffs and Tech: An Uncertain Recipe
Commentary
Higher tariffs could prompt American cloud companies to shift more of their capital investments abroad....
By Pablo Chavez
-
Lessons in Learning
Reports
Executive Summary Although claims of a revolution in military affairs may be overhyped, the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy to change warfare is growin...
By Josh Wallin
-
Human, Machine, War: How the Mind-Tech Nexus Will Win Future Wars
Air University Press has published Strategic Multilayer Assessment’s (SMA) latest book, Human, Machine, War: How the Mind-Tech Nexus Will Win Future Wars. Forewords by General...
By Samuel Bendett & Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
-
Five Objectives to Guide U.S. AI Diffusion
Commentary
The Framework for AI Diffusion (the Framework) is an ambitious proposal to shape the global distribution of critical AI capabilities, maintain U.S. AI leadership, and prevent ...
By Janet Egan & Spencer Michaels
