DOD Applying Lessons Learned in Nuclear Defense to Deter Attacks in Space, Cyber Realms
The Department of Defense is engaged in deterrence to address the challenges of the changing security environment in the cyber and space realm, said Madelyn Creedon, DOD assistant secretary-global strategic affairs. Elements of deterrence in the nuclear defense arena can be applied to cyber and space, she said Tuesday during a Stimson Center event in Washington. Effective deterrence must incorporate denying a benefit by limiting the effectiveness of an adversary’s attack, imposing a cost and encouraging restraint, she said. Encouraging restraint involves convincing an adversary, or a potential adversary, she said, that “an acceptable outcome can be obtained without taking the action that we want them to avoid."
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DOD has ongoing efforts aimed at applying these aspects to space, Creedon said. The agency is trying to “internationalize” norms and enhance stability, build coalitions, increase resilience of its space architectures, and it’s trying hard to be prepared to respond to an attack against U.S. and allied space assets, she said. Being prepared is difficult because “if there is an attack against a space asset, it isn’t visible, you can’t watch it on CNN,” she said. “Unless you're directly affected by the capability that the space asset provides, you're probably completely oblivious that the attack happened,” she said. “It’s clear in space policy documents that an attack on a U.S. satellite is an attack on sovereign territory of the U.S."
DOD works closely with the State Department and international partners to deter attacks on U.S. satellites, which includes clarifying norms of space operations through bilateral space security dialogues and a non-legally binding international code of conduct for space activities, Creedon said. The department is providing input from a working group on sustainability of space activities to international colleagues, she said. The department also is focused on improving space situational awareness, she said. “The more we all know about what’s going on in space, and the more we can all share with each other about what’s going on in space, we establish a deterrent environment so that no one can do something and get away with it.” With increased space situational awareness, authorities can recognize that something has happened and it was not a natural event, she said.
Coalition-building is underway to enhance collective self-defense, Creedon said. Operating in space in a coalition effort bolsters credibility, capability and capacity, she said. The prospect of facing a coalition, rather than just facing the U.S. alone, “hopefully complicates the decisionmaking calculus of a potential adversary,” she said. “Instead of just attacking a U.S. satellite, you're also attacking a satellite that belongs to a coalition.” Through cooperative Wideband Global Satcom efforts, Australia’s buy of the sixth satellite in the WGS constellation increased the overall capacity and blazed a path for other partners, she said. Canada, Luxembourg, New Zealand and other countries agreed to participate in the WGS constellation, she said.
There also are ongoing efforts to bolster resilience, which involves exploring “disaggregation,” Creedon said. DOD funded a technology demonstration of a hosted payload for missile warning and “we're looking at revising our acquisition strategy to make greater use of hosted payloads as well as these commercial and international partnerships,” she said.