WELCOME TO CYBER REALISM: PARSING THE 2023 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE CYBER STRATEGY
EMERSON T. BROOKING AND ERICA LONERGANSEPTEMBER 25, 2023
Released to the public on Sept. 12, the Department of Defense’s 2023 Cyber Strategy differs from its predecessors in its lack of bold new buzzwords. The 2015 strategy reimagined deterrence for the cyber domain, and the 2018 strategy articulated “defend forward” as a new foundational concept. But despite being informed by years of major cyber developments — the significant legal and policy changes that enabled U.S. Cyber Command to engage in more frequent offensive cyber operations, as well as the ongoing demonstration of military cyber capabilities in the Russo-Ukrainian War — the 2023 Cyber Strategy offers nothing as momentous.
Having both contributed to the drafting of the new strategy, we believe that this modesty is a good thing. Instead of minting new cyber bumper stickers, the strategy seeks to rationalize and contextualize concepts that already exist. While it may appear as though the strategy has something for everyone (as most strategies do), a closer examination reveals that cyber’s role is consistently limited, caveated, or subsumed by broader frameworks.
Three examples stand out. First is a move away from cyber for cyber’s sake and toward situating cyber effects as one important tool among many for U.S. policymakers — what the Pentagon now calls “integrated deterrence.” Second is a reaffirmation of concepts introduced in 2018 (defend forward and persistent engagement) and a vision for how U.S. Cyber Command might operate below the threshold of armed conflict — what the Pentagon now calls “campaigning.” Third is an attempt to right-size expectations about Department of Defense’s role in civilian cybersecurity.
https://warontherocks.com/2023/09/welcome-to-cyber-realism-parsing-the-2023-department-of-defense-cyber-strategy/
