U.S. cyberwarfare policies need review, report says

Friday, May 1, 2009

The National Academies of Science (NAS) this week released a report that calls for more public debate about U.S. cyberwarfare capabilities and the development of a strategy for when the nation should go on the offensive against cyberattacks from foreign threats.

The report came out just as a the New York Times broke a story reporting that the Department of Defense has already engaged in cyberwarfare against foreign threats - citing two cases in the last several years in which President Bush directly authorized attacks against al Qaeda websites and the Iranian nuclear program.

The NAS report said government should conduct an unclassified national debate about cyberattack policy to include Congress, the military, intelligence agencies and international officials.

The U.S. government should maintain and build on its cyberwarfare offensive capabilities, the report said. But the government should also consider accelerating defensive capabilities by establishing an institutional structure for immediate response in the event of a cyberattack against the nation, NAS said.

A passive defensive posture would be insufficient to protect the nation's critical infrastructure network security, the report said.

View more news