While war is still a prevalent phenomenon in this modern world, the battlefield, much like it has all throughout history, is evolving to incorporate a new domain. The world has seen this type of evolution before, whether it be when the world went from spears to guns or when the world added the air as a fighting area in the 20th century.
Now, in these modern times, the world has added the cyberwarfare arena, which with every day that passes becomes more and more prominent and effective in damaging nations. Cyberwarfare can attack the United States specifically in several distinct ways; for example, it can target nation’s abilities to respond to threats they face in domains outside of cyberwarfare, harm national security infrastructure and negatively impact our treasured democratic elections by being an avenue for foreign influence on U.S. domestic politics.
The nations who are most adversarial to the United States in the global arena are the key players in this emerging yet already solidly established cyber battlefield. The Chinese, Russians and Iranians in particular have all had a hand in trying to gain a strategic advantage over the U.S. utilizing the cyberwarfare tool in their arsenal; this truly illustrates the severity of the exponentially growing problem, as the enemies who the U.S. might yet still face in a conflict that costs human lives, are using this new weapon to play an international game of one upmanship.
The federal government has responded in kind to this threat, as the budget for the fiscal year of 2021 allocates $8.7 billion to “cybersecurity programs across the country”. In addition, it is proposed in the budget for the fiscal year 2022 that those funds increase even more to $9.8 billion (White House Allocation of Funds to Cybersecurity).
Furthermore, the federal government centralized the authority and polished the organization of the cybersecurity community with the creation of a new position called the Office of the National Cyber Director which will assist in streamlining the policy making of cybersecurity.
Moreover, the White House passed an executive order in May dedicated purely to improving the state of affairs as it relates to cyberwarfare in its entirety (White House Executive Order on Cybersecurity).
In closing, it can be observed that the cyber arena is a battlefield that is growing even more powerful as the days pass, but there are appropriate steps being taken to mitigate the threats the nation faces.
Works Cited
Actions, Presidential. Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. 12 May 2021. Website. 16 October 2021.
Mitchell, Billy. White House allocates $9.8B to cybersecurity in 2022 budget request. 28 May 2021. Website. 16 October 2021.
Protecting the databases the United States holds their most secret and encrypted information makes a lot of sense. After all, the best defense is the best offense. I’m surprised to see the budget for the Cybersecurity department increase next year. From the sounds of everything in the media, everything revolves around the COVID-19 relief bill and tax cuts (somehow, because I don’t understand how the government can give more money to people yet make them pay less in taxes). I’m satisfied that the government focuses on the prevalent issues surrounding the nation and not just the ones within. How do you think the other departments reacted to the budget increase for cybersecurity? Who got their budgets cut? Interestingly enough, I found an article discussing statements made by a Pentagon official regarding cybersecurity in the United States. It’s a good read! https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-official-quit-saying-us-cybersecurity-no-match-china-2021-10
Cybersecurity is definitely a growing threat for national security. When I first read your post, I immediately thought back to the cyberterrorism attack which held that pipeline ransom temporarily back in spring of 2021. Even non-governmental entities can be threatening through these means to cause panic and even potentially gain access to user data. Domestic threats are also an issue. Of the billions dedicated to cybersecurity, how much do you think is devoted to dealing with other nations versus domestic threats? This article lists the many, many cyber attacks made internationally in just the past two years https://www.csis.org/programs/strategic-technologies-program/significant-cyber-incidents. I think it may be interesting to consider when discussing this as a threat to America because there have been almost no reported attacks recently from foreign governments on the United States.
I really liked the structure of your introduction, it really captured my attention, while also informing me of what you were going to talk about. I think it is crazy that our society and technology has developed so much that we now have the arena of cyberwarfare. It is good that the United States takes cybersecurity so seriously, and I bet it is an always evolving field. Great work on this blog post, it was very interesting and informative!