The Cyber-Nuclear Nexus in a Geopolitical Condition of Competition
Abstract
Most cyber scholars looking at the nexus of cyber campaigns/operations and the nuclear weapons enterprise - command and control, communications, and delivery systems/platforms - focus on scenarios of escalation between nuclear-armed states in militarized crisis or armed conflict. Additionally, this scholarship focuses on the dependent variable of dyadic nuclear strategic stability. If we consider militarized crises and armed conflicts as geopolitical conditions, there is a third geopolitical condition - competition - where the nexus may generate consequences that, although of a different ilk, are no less consequential. Where the immediate consequence of targeting an opponent's nuclear weapons enterprise in militarized crisis and armed conflict could be dyadic nuclear strategic instability between the states involved, the immediate consequence of targeting the same in competition could be global geostrategic instability that would benefit no great power. This should further incentivize nuclear states to arrive at an explicit norm that makes the nuclear weapons enterprise a "no touch" zone for cyber campaigns/operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1223467
Entities
People
- Michael P. Fischerkeller
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses