Accession Number:

ADA561641

Title:

21st Century Cyber Security: Legal Authorities and Requirements

Descriptive Note:

Strategy Research Project

Corporate Author:

ARMY WAR COLL CARLISLE BARRACKS PA

Personal Author(s):

• Douglass, Charles W.

Report Date:

2012-03-22

Pagination or Media Count:

34.0

Abstract:

Cyber warfare has risen to the level of strategic effect. Exigent threats in cyberspace are a critical U.S. strategic vulnerability for which U.S. Cyber Command is ill-equipped to confront. The law enforcement, intelligence gathering, and strategic defense authorities as specified in United States Code, neither constitute a single, whole-of-government approach to defending our critical information infrastructure nor posture the United States to be the most dominant global power in cyberspace. This SRP examines the current legal architecture that governs the activities of federal agencies in cyberspace and explains how that architecture enables a thinking and agile adversary to attack and exploit the U.S. industrial information enterprise through this complex domain. The federal regulatory authorities that govern law enforcement, intelligence gathering, and military offensive cyber operations cross many sections of United States Code. But, they have not yielded a genuine whole-of-government approach. This SRP argues that cyber warfare has become a mainstream way for sovereign states to enhance national prestige, pursue national interests, and preemptively address threats. It recommends establishment of a single federal entity that focuses solely on national cyber security.

Descriptors:

• *CYBERWARFARE
• *LEGAL DEFENSE
• *SECURITY
• LAW ENFORCEMENT
• MILITARY STRATEGY
• REQUIREMENTS
• TASK FORCES

Subject Categories:

• Sociology and Law
• Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE