By Ross Rustici – Warrior Maven Columnist and Senior Contributor –

Rustici Previously Served as a Technical Lead, Intrusion Analyst and East Asia Cyber Lead at the Department of Defense

Militarization of Cyberspace: Is the US acquiescing to the Beijing Cyber Consensus?

Since taking power, the Trump administration has taken several steps to militarize cyberspace. The administration’s actions appear to be broadcasting a single very straight forward message: The United States will have the largest stick, and we are unconcerned with how others wield theirs.

The hollowing out of the United States’ diplomatic and global influence on the spirit of the Internet started with the remodeling of the State department under Secretary Tillerson. The loss of Chris Painter without a successor ever being named greatly undermined America’s ability to adequately prepare for, or succeed in, discussions in such forums as the UN-GGE on cyber or the ITU where Russia and China both have a very large and organized presence focusing on a specific Orwellian view of how information technology can be used to enhance government power.

America’s diplomatic absence left our European allies towing the line in a relatively hostile environment. Trying to build an international coalition of African and Latin American states with England, France and Germany as the leading voices has been problematic to say the least.

A momentary retreat from global leadership on these issues, while damaging, would not be irreversible. However, the administration has doubled down on this approach with two recent moves. The first is the elevation of U.S. Cyber Command to a full combatant command while not separating it from the National Security Agency.

The second is the restructuring of the National Security Council that eliminates the senior most cybersecurity position. These domestic moves send a very strong signal to the rest of the world that cyber is a Department of Defense problem, and it only has one real solution, an arms race for the 21st century.

The systematic removal and marginalization of civilian opinions on the legitimate use of cyber space is already having consequences for how the United States seeks to operate in this domain. General Nakasone, the newly minted Commander of Cyber Command and head of the NSA’s comments about responding to Russia and other potential cyber adversaries during his confirmation hearings notes a far more aggressive tone than either of his predecessors took. Noting that a series of offensive plans have been developed against Russia and that the department can improve cyber deterrence by conducting operations to frustrate the adversary and demonstrate the ability to hold assets at risk. This aggressive posture can be directly tied to the elevation of Cyber Command. Any leader who is dual hatted between a full combatant command, a four-star posting, and the NSA which is a three-star posting is always going to give more energy, effort, and time to the post that is perceived by their organization as being the more important of the two.