Cyberspace
Cyberspace as the New Frontier
Cyberspace has been slowly evolving over time throughout the twientieth-century. The basis of cyberspace began throughout the middle and latter half of the century in which the United States lead all nations in the process of using diplomacy to get nations to commit to reducing their nuclear arsenals. This was especially noteworthy during the 1980s in which the United States successfully got the Soviet Union to decrease their production of nuclear weapons before their economy collapsed and turned into Russia. Even though international bodies like the United Nations assists countries through the diplomacy process of negotiating with other nations in regards to a reduction in nuclear weapons, cyberspace has presented itself as the new frontier.
United States and International Peace Treaties
What makes cyberspace so challenging is that it is often something in which you cannot see; however, the aftermath of an attack is something that can been seen by a wide number of populations. One of the major security problems with the concept of cyberspace involves the need to develop extensive international policies witch mandate how nations are supposed to behave during instances of cyberwar or how they are supposed to prevent cyberattacks altogether. In Cyber War, Richard Clarke suggested that the United States should lead in the development of international peace treaties with other nations around the world. However, very few instances of these peace treaties actually exist in any part of the world. Some nations are getting closer in their development of a basis for international peace treaties; in my research paper I studied the interdependency between the United States and Canada and discovered there were national and international policies that existed between the two nations aimed at protecting interdependent critical infrastructures. Clarke, would argue on the other hand that these policies lack teeth in the sense that they do not enforce either nation to commit to only responding to instance of cyberwar in relation to attacks by another nation rather than executing an inciting incident.
Governance
One of the most significant factors lacking in many nation’s attempt to develop international peace treaties would be the lack of enforcement and criminal charges one nation could bring upon another during instances of cyberwar. The concept of governance can be difficult pinpoint in the United States when it is unclear if a state or non-state actor has committed an act of cyberwar within the country, making it difficult sometimes to identify the Department of Homeland Security of Department of Defense’s Cyber Command as the appropriate division to monitor and respond to the specific instances of cyberwar.
Recommendation
I believe that international peace treaties in some form are the next policy progressions to Nuclear Non-Proliferation programs. If it is in the national security interest of all the nations in the world to reduce their nuclear arsenals, I think that as cybersecurity becomes an integral to national policies countries will begin to see the importance of establishing peace treaties that protect nations by getting a commitment from others that they will not engage in instances of cyberwar (or nuclear conflict).