For almost all of human history, man has waged war on land and at sea. Air and space emerged as potential battlefields only in the past few generations. Now, the danger of cyberwarfare rivals that of traditional war. The advent of more destructive technologies — and of their inevitable proliferation among actors willing to use them — means that the United States must strengthen its critical national networks against ever worse threats.

In “Defending a New Domain” (September/October 2010), I announced that the Pentagon had officially recognized cyberspace as an operational domain and went on to describe the military’s cyberstrategy. One year later, U.S. military networks are better defended, the U.S. Cyber Command is fully operational, and we have made progress working with private industry to secure critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Obama administration has committed half a billion dollars to develop advanced defensive technologies, including novel approaches to improving network security. But much remains to be done, and the window for doing it is short.

Περισσότερα Foreign Affairs