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102. Paradox of Power: Sino American Strategic Restraint in an Age of Vulnerability
- Author:
- David C. Gompert and Phillip C. Saunders
- Publication Date:
- 12-2011
- Content Type:
- Book
- Abstract:
- The United States and China each have or will soon have the ability to inflict grave harm upon the other by nuclear attack, attacks on satellites, or attacks on computer networks. Paradoxically, despite each country's power, its strategic vulnerability is growing. Particularly since September 11, 2001, Americans have sensed this vulnerability. The extent to which the Chinese sense it is unclear. Vulnerability to nuclear attack is familiar to both countries. But the United States and China are also becoming exposed to damage in space and cyberspace because of their growing reliance on those domains for their prosperity and security, as well as each side's increasing antisatellite (ASAT) and cyber war capabilities. For China, economic integration, production, and commerce-and thus, sustained growth and perhaps political stability-depend vitally on data sharing, making networks and satellites as strategic as they are for the United States. All three strategic domains are "offense dominant"-technologically, economically, and operationally. Defenses against nuclear, ASAT, and cyber weapons are difficult and yield diminishing results against the offensive capabilities of large, advanced, and determined states such as the United States and China. Nuclear weapons are patently offense dominant because a single explosion can destroy a city. Moreover, it is easier and cheaper for China to improve the survivability of its strategic missile launchers, to multiply deliverable weapons, and to penetrate U.S. missile defenses than it is for the United States to maintain a nuclear first-strike capability. Though it has yet to admit it, the United States cannot deny the Chinese the second-strike nuclear deterrent they are determined to have. Satellites are inherently vulnerable: conspicuous, easy to track, and fragile. Destroying them or degrading their performance is easier than protecting them. ASAT interceptors are much cheaper than satellites. Likewise, defending computer networks becomes harder and more expensive as the scale and sophistication of the attacker increase. The woes of the cyber defender are compounded by integrated global markets and supply chains for digital components and equipment-in which U.S. and state-affiliated Chinese corporations are leading competitors-increasing the potential for strategic degradation of network infrastructure and disruption of services. In general, strategic offense dominance gives each country an incentive to invest in offense, which in turn spurs the other to keep pace. Apart from offense dominance, the advance of technology has slashed the costs in lives and treasure of strategic attack, as capabilities have graduated from mass invasion to heavy bombing to nuclear weapons to ASAT and cyber war. If one ignores possible deaths resulting from disruption of public services, ASAT and cyber war might even be considered "nonviolent." As the number of expected casualties from strategic attack options drops, so could international opprobrium and the inhibitions of decisionmakers. Absent deterrence, thresholds for war in space and cyberspace could become perilously low as offenses improve.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Security, Foreign Policy, Communism, Intelligence, Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
103. Deterrence and Escalation in Cross-domain Operations: Where Do Space and Cyberspace fit?
- Author:
- Vincent Manzo
- Publication Date:
- 12-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- Warfare has become even more complicated since Richard Smoke wrote this description of escalation in 1977. The National Security Space Strategy describes space as “congested, contested, and competitive,” yet satellites underpin U.S. military and economic power. Activity in cyberspace has permeated every facet of human activity, including U.S. military operations, yet the prospects for effective cyber defenses are bleak. Many other actors depend on continued access to these domains, but not nearly as much as the United States.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Defense Policy, Nuclear Weapons, Science and Technology, War, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- United States
104. Needing to Have A Voice: Linguistic Grouping in the Digital Networked Environment
- Author:
- Han-Teng Liao
- Publication Date:
- 07-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
- Abstract:
- “[T]here isn't an economic internet and a social internet and a political internet; there's just the Internet,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about the U.S.'s Internet freedom agenda, claiming that there should not be “walls that divide the Internet.”
- Topic:
- Environment, Globalization, Science and Technology, Communications, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States
105. Government Transparency: Six Strategies for More Open and Participatory Government
- Author:
- Jon Gant and Nicol Turner-Lee
- Publication Date:
- 03-2011
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the last several decades, local, state and federal government entities in the United States have steadily moved toward more openness and transparency.By definition, openness and transparency allow stakeholders to gather information that may be critical to their interests and offer channels of communication between stakeholders and elected officials. Aided by legislative mandates and public policy decisions, most government entities are now required to make a minimum amount of information available to citizens, operate in the “sunlight” and not behind closed doors, and actively engage citizens in the policy-making process.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Education, Government, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and America
106. The Second Wave of Wireless Communications: A Game Changer for Global Development?
- Author:
- Banning Garrett and Patrick Degategno
- Publication Date:
- 02-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The world is about to experience the emergence of a second wave of wireless technology. It will be a "disruptive technology" globally and could contribute to accelerating the socioeconomic development trajectories of the world's poorest countries, according to a presentation made by Jeffrey Reed of Virginia Tech and James Neel of Cognitive Radio Technologies during a workshop entitled "The Second Wave of Wireless Communication - A New Wave of Disruptive Technology."
- Topic:
- Development, Globalization, Science and Technology, and Communications
- Political Geography:
- United States
107. US Declaratory Policy and Striking Back in Cyber Conflict
- Author:
- Jason Healey
- Publication Date:
- 09-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- If you pull a knife on a gunslinger, don't be surprised if you get shot. This is one of the messages of the president's International Strategy for Cyberspace. Some media outlets have taken to extreme headlines, such as OBAMA RESERVES RIGHT TO NUKE HACKERS, or HACK US AND WE'LL BOMB YOU. These headlines, although perhaps intended as hyperbole, highlight the routine misunderstandings that take place when applying national security concepts to the technical domain of cyberspace. This issue brief will analyze the relevant part of the Strategy, especially focusing on whether, and how, the United States might respond to cyber attacks, and under what circumstances, if any, such responses would be nuclear.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
108. National Security and the Commercial Space Sector: Initial Analysis and Evaluation of Options for Improving Commercial Access to Space
- Author:
- Guy Ben-Ari, Brian Green, Joshua Hartman, Gary Powell, and Stephanie Sanok
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- Over the past decade, CSIS has consistently reported on concerns about the state of the space industry. During that same period, the United States has experienced an ever-increasing reliance on space in the daily lives of its citizens and, significantly, in national security. This report assesses the interrelationship between the commercial space sector and national security. Understanding the current state of the commercial space sector is integral to identifying and evaluating national security concerns and to developing options for improvement.
- Topic:
- Security and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
109. Global Cyber Deterrence Views from China, the U.S., Russia, India, and Norway
- Author:
- Andrew Nagorski(ed.)
- Publication Date:
- 04-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- EastWest Institute
- Abstract:
- In the wake of the financial crisis, organizations everywhere have looked to the third revolution in information technology to upgrade their infrastructure and spur a new round of growth. The damage caused by cyber crimes and cyber attacks, however, is at the same time growing increasingly serious. As we face a looming “cyber cold war” and a “cyber arms race,” vital individual, business, and even national interests are threatened. At the same time, faith in information technology and information networks continues to slip. As a result, seeking effective ways to counter cyber threats has become an urgent priority across the globe.
- Topic:
- Security, Globalization, International Cooperation, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, China, India, and Norway
110. Do Developed and Developing Countries Compete Head to Head in High Tech?
- Author:
- Robert Z. Lawrence and Lawrence Edwards
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
- Abstract:
- Concerns that growth in developing countries could worsen the US terms of trade and that increased US trade with developing countries will increase US wage inequality both implicitly reflect the assumption that goods produced in the United States and developing countries are close substitutes and that specialization is incomplete. In this paper we show on the contrary that there are distinctive patterns of international specialization and that developed and developing countries export fundamentally different products, especially those classified as high tech. Judged by export shares, the United States and developing countries specialize in quite different product categories that, for the most part, do not overlap. Moreover, even when exports are classified in the same category, there are large and systematic differences in unit values that suggest the products made by developed and developing countries are not very close substitutes—developed country products are far more sophisticated.
- Topic:
- Development, Emerging Markets, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Science and Technology, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- United States