Cyberspace Competition Is an Intelligence Contest

U.S. Cyber Command is responsible for operating in cyberspace to defend American security interests. The organization is configured along traditional military lines, with officers reporting up a traditional chain of command. Its operating concepts borrow language from other domains of battle: engagement with adversaries, battlespace maneuvers, direct and indirect approaches, operational effects, munitions effectiveness, and battle damage assessment. While none of this is surprising, it is also peculiar, because most of what goes on in cyberspace has nothing to do with military conflict. Instead, the competition is an intelligence contest in a novel technological domain. This talk will describe the characteristics of such a contest and explain how it is playing out in cyberspace. It will conclude with implications for operations and analysis.

Joshua Rovner is a political scientist specializing in intelligence, strategy, and U.S. foreign policy. Rovner is the co-editor of Chaos in the Liberal Order: The Trump Presidency and International Politics in the 21st Century (Columbia University Press, 2018), which brings together leading historians, political scientists, and policymakers to shed light on an extraordinary moment in world affairs. His first book, Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence (Cornell University Press, 2011), won the International Studies Association's best book award for security studies, and the Edgar S. Furniss Book Award. In addition to his academic writing, he writes a monthly column for the War on the Rocks website. Rovner is managing editor of H-Diplo's International Security Studies Forum and deputy editor of The Journal of Strategic Studies. He previously taught at SMU, the U.S. Naval War College, and Columbia University. In 2018 and 2019 he served as a scholar in residence at the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command.