Biblio

Crafting a national cyber strategy is an enormous undertaking. In this article we review the process by which the Cyberspace Solarium Commission generated the Solarium Commission Report, developed the strategy of layered cyber deterrence, and strategized for legislative success in implementing its recommendations. This is an article about the development of a whole-of-nation strategy. Once the production of the strategy of layered cyber deterrence is explained, the article goes on to elaborate on implementation strategies, the challenge of escalation management, and future efforts to ensure that the work of the Solarium Commission becomes entrenched in U.S. national cyber strategy and behavior. We review the work left undone by the Solarium Commission, highlighting the enormous effort that went into the process of building out a strategy to defend a nation.11It takes a village; we thank the entire Solarium Commission team, as their efforts generated the final Commission Report and the legislative successes that followed. In some ways, this article seeks to chronicle the process of building a strategy that was developed through the efforts of hundreds of people. This work reflects the process that we went through to construct the Solarium Commission report, which is particular to our experience; others may have had different recollections of the events under consideration. Brandon Valeriano is also a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and a Senior Advisor to the Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Benjamin Jensen is also a Scholar in Residence at American University and the Research Director for the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The advent of the cyber domain has introduced a new dimension into warfare and complicated existing strategic concepts, provoking divergent responses within different national contexts and strategic cultures. Although current theories regarding cyber deterrence remain relatively nascent, a comparison of U.S. and Chinese strategic thinking highlights notable asymmetries between their respective approaches. While U.S. debates on cyber deterrence have primarily focused on the deterrence of cyber threats, Chinese theorists have also emphasized the potential importance of cyber capabilities to enhance strategic deterrence. Whereas the U.S. government has maintained a consistent declaratory policy for response, Beijing has yet to progress toward transparency regarding its cyber strategy or capabilities. However, certain PLA strategists, informed by a conceptualization of deterrence as integrated with warfighting, have advocated for the actualization of deterrence through engaging in cyber attacks. Regardless of whether these major cyber powers' evolving strategic thinking on cyber deterrence will prove logically consistent or feasibly operational, their respective perspectives will certainly shape their attempts to achieve cyber deterrence. Ultimately, cyber deterrence may continue to be "what states make of it," given conditions of "cyber anarchy" and prevailing uncertainties regarding cyber conflict. Looking forward, future strategic stability in Sino-U.S. cyber interactions will require mitigation of the misperceptions and heightened risks of escalation that could be exacerbated by these divergent strategic approaches.