Former intel chief: Mutually assured destruction has come to cyberspace

Rising international conflicts in cyberspace are producing a state of deterrence that resembles the Cold War strategy of mutually assured destruction, a former U.S. intelligence official said Tuesday.

Dennis Blair, the former Director of National Intelligence, suggested that the standoff will place limits on the threats posed by cyberwarfare.

Blair made his comments during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo.

“Military communication and civilian communication are intertwined,” Blair said, according to Stars and Stripes.

“Once you break the message in little bits, they all go on the same satellite links among countries, and it becomes very difficult to conduct a military cyberattack without having large collateral damage.”

The remarks reflect growing discussion about the U.S. posture in cyberspace against adversaries like China and Russia.

Government officials, lawmakers and private industry leaders have argued that U.S. cyber forces should go on offense more often as a way to deter hackers that try to disrupt American networks around the clock.

Blair, a retired admiral, said that while cyberwarfare tends to favor nations that go on offense, this approach comes with the risk of unintended consequences to everyday people.

Using GPS as an example, he noted that military and civilian systems are intertwined, according to IDG News Service.

“Should a nation state take action against the GPS system in another country in a major scale, there’s no telling which way the damage would fall,” Blair said.