A Center for Strategic and International Studies report says the Defense Department does not have any plans to create and experiment on the guidelines needed for offensive cyber-weapons, FedScoop reported Monday.Cory Bennett writes the report that was written by Maren Leed, CSIS senior adviser and former senior adviser to the Army chief of staff, said that the government needs “a more explicit plan for robust experimentation†to break the cycle of not having clear definitions and legal guidelines of cyber offense.
According to the report, Pentagon Chief Chuck Hagel should ensure that offensive cyber capabilities are consistent with current laws if operational and tactical commanders decide to use them.
The report added that the DoD should have a department-wide offensive cyber tools experiment where guidelines can be created for use of such tools.
The report also found that legal and policy experts all agree that service specific commanders should possess the cyber offensive responsibility.
However, the report added that since there is a difference of opinion in “areas such as technical feasibility, intelligence equities and capacity and resource requirements, additional experimentation and application is needed, in controlled settings, to enable an informed decision on greater decentralization of attack authorities.â€
