Crime or War: Cyberspace Law and Its Implications for Intelligence
Abstract
Cyberspace is a relatively new dimension in national security that could eventually rival the land, sea, air, and space environments in importance. Since cyberspace is relatively new, existing international law does not directly distinguish between crimes and acts of war for activities in cyberspace. However, making the distinction between crime and war using existing law is essential in determining which of the multiple stakeholders takes the lead in preventing or responding to computer network attacks on United States government or private networks. This paper analyzes six basic sources of cyberspace threats in terms of existing law to determine which threats and their resulting cyberspace activities are matters for law enforcement as opposed to acts of war to be pursued by the Department of Defense. Additionally, the paper describes the implications for intelligence collection and analysis and proposes several imperatives for the intelligence community that result from the legal status and constraints existent in international law interpretations on use of force and armed attacks that can generally be applied to the cyberspace environment.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 11, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA543201
Entities
People
- Bryan D. Decoster
Organizations
- United States Army War College