Legality In Cyberspace: An Adversary View - Softcover

U.S. Army War College Press; Strategic Studies Institute

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1505819210 ISBN 13: 9781505819212

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

The United States and its allies are in general agreement on the legal status of conflict in cyberspace. Although key principles remain unresolved, such as what precisely constitutes an armed attack or use of force in cyberspace, overall there is a broad legal consensus among Euro-Atlantic nations that existing international law and international commitments are sufficient to regulate cyber conflict.This principle is described in multiple authoritative legal commentaries. But these can imply misleadingly that this consensus is global and unchallenged. In fact, China, Russia, and a number of like-minded nations have an entirely different concept of the applicability of international law to cyberspace as a whole, including to the nature of conflict within it. These nations could therefore potentially operate in cyberspace according to entirely different understandings of what is permissible under international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, and other legal baskets governing conduct during hostilities.U.S. policymakers cannot afford to underestimate the extent to which Russian concepts and approaches differ from what they may take for granted. This includes the specific question of when, or whether, hostile action in cyberspace constitutes an act or state of war. Recent Russian academic and military commentary stresses the blurring of the distinction between war and peace, and asks to what extent this distinction still exists. This suggestion of a shifting boundary between war and peace is directly relevant to consideration of at what point Russia considers itself to be at war and therefore subject to specific legal constraints on actions in cyberspace.This book explores the Russian approach to legal constraints governing actions in cyberspace within the broader framework of the Russian understanding of the nature of international law and commitments, with the aim of informing U.S. military and civilian policymakers of views held by a potential adversary in cyberspace. Using a Russian perspective to examine the legal status of various activities in cyberspace, including what constitutes hostile activity, demonstrates that assumptions commonly held in the United States may need to be adjusted to counter effectively—or engage with—Russian cyber initiatives.

About this title

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

KEIR GILES is the director of the Conflict Studies Re­search Centre (CSRC), a group of deep subject matter experts on Eurasian security formerly attached to the United Kingdom (UK) Ministry of Defence. Now op­erating in the private sector, CSRC provides in-depth analysis on security issues affecting Russia and its relations with overseas partners. After beginning his career working with paramilitary aviation in the for­mer Soviet Union and Ukraine immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union, Mr. Giles joined the BBC Monitoring Service (BBCM) to report on political and military affairs in the former Soviet space. While at­tached from BBCM to CSRC at the UK Defence Acad­emy, he wrote and briefed for UK and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) government agencies on Russian defense and security issues. Uniquely, he is a double Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of In­ternational Affairs (Chatham House) in London, UK, as well as a regular contributor to research projects on Russian security issues in both the UK and Europe. Mr. Giles’s work has appeared in academic and military publications across Europe and in the United States.
 
ANDREW MONAGHAN is a Research Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and Academic Visitor at St Antony’s College, Oxford, UK. Additionally, he is the Founder and Director of the Russia Research Network, an independent orga­nization for the generation of information and exper­tise on Russian politics, security, and economic issues based in London. In this capacity, he has served as an expert witness to the House of Commons Foreign Af­fairs Select Committee. Until late 2012, Dr. Monaghan directed Russia related research in the Research Divi­sion of the NATO Defense College in Rome. In this role, he was also the senior researcher on energy secu­rity matters. Prior to that, he held positions as a Senior Research Associate at the Advanced Research and Assessment Group, part of the Defence Academy of the UK, and a Visiting Lecturer in the Defence Stud­ies Department of King’s College, London, the civil­ian academic arm of the Joint Services Command and Staff College at the Defence Academy. Dr. Monaghan holds an M.A. in war studies and a Ph.D. in Russian foreign policy (Russian perspectives of Russia-Euro­pean Union security relations) from the Department of War Studies, King’s College.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1505819210
• ISBN 13: 9781505819212
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 52