Schriever Wargame 2010 - Air Force Space Command

addresses in cyberspace as well as actors capable of launching
payloads into space and/or operating satellite systems has
increased significantly. Concurrently, the amount of spacecraft
and debris on-orbit has created congestion around Earth that
increases the risks of collisions.
While nations compete for prestige and power through space
and cyber activities, commercial enterprises compete to generate
wealth. There is growing competition over scarce space and
cyber resources. This includes positions in geosynchronous orbit
as well as allocations of radio-frequency spectrum.
Moreover, foreign nations and sub-national entities are pursuing
counter-space and computer network attack capabilities
to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade, and destroy space and cyber
systems. Such weapons are proliferating around the world.
They are spreading through indigenous development, transfers
of goods and services, and transnational collaboration.
Space and cyber assets are held at risk. They are targets of
purposeful interference by both nation-state and non-state actors.
Satellite communications as well as positioning, navigation,
and timing signals have been jammed in peacetime and
wartime. Computers and networks are constantly being probed,
exploited, and infected with malicious data and software.
Hostile acts against space and cyber assets have the potential
to influence our perceptions, corrupt, disrupt, or usurp our decision-making,
and create intended and unintended effects on a
cascading, global scale. Such effects may occur at an exponentially
faster pace than ever experienced, endure for very long
periods of time, and generate large-scale collateral damage on
non-belligerents. In today’s globally interconnected world, an
attack on one nation’s space or cyber networks can be an attack
on all nations.
US dependence upon space and cyber capabilities creates
an asymmetry of value compared to potential adversaries. In
particular, dependence on vulnerable space and cyber assets is
provocative. It may lead to miscalculations about our political
will as well as provide incentives for adversaries to threaten or
attack such capabilities in crisis or conflict.
Counter-space and computer network attack capabilities
pose serious threats to our national interests in space and cyberspace.
An adversary may attack US space or cyber assets
as part of an anti-access/area denial strategy involving either
traditional or hybrid modes of warfare. The objective of such
aggression may be to: undermine our political will, societal cohesion,
and morale; harm our economic vitality; counter our
intelligence capabilities; and reduce the combat effectiveness
of our military forces.
Comprehensive Approach
The nature of the space and cyber domains demands that the
US take a holistic approach to address space and cyber security
challenges. This approach should utilize all elements—diplomatic,
informational, military, and economic—of national power
to create “whole of government” solutions to protect space
and cyber systems, supporting infrastructure, and operations.
Military or hard power will, of course, be an essential tool
for protecting and defending the space and cyber domains. But
military power alone may be too blunt an instrument to deal
with all of the threats to space and cyber security. The US
must be able to blend the right mix of soft and hard power into
smart power solutions tailored for the problems endangering
the space and cyber commons.
The ability to leverage and synchronize all instruments of
statecraft would improve our ability to shape the space and cyber
environments, enhance deterrence, and, if deterrence fails
or fails to apply, control escalation, and terminate conflict on
favorable terms. A “whole of government” approach should
generate greater versatility and agility to deal with the complexity
and speed of crisis and conflict in the space and cyber
domains. It will empower all of the pertinent government departments
and agencies to ready resources, deter or withstand
attack, and provide consequence management, reconstitution,
and recovery.
The US government should work in concert with the private
sector, its allies, coalition partners, and friends in the international
community when it can, or independently when it must,
to advance and protect our interests in the global commons of
space and cyberspace. Consequently, the US “whole of government”
approach should be extended to a “whole of nations”
approach. This would bring the power of many nations and
international partners to bear on the challenges of space and
cyber security.
Such a comprehensive approach will require America to
pursue cooperation and partnerships with allies and friends
based on tangible, mutual benefit to achieve shared objectives.
Purposeful interference or hostile acts against space and cyber
systems demand a coordinated response from governments, the
private sector, and the international community. The US should
be positioned to ensure such a response by taking the lead in
creating an international security framework for space and cyberspace.
Shaping the space and cyber environments and creating
such a framework will require a velvet glove covering a
steel fist. America and its allies should establish international
norms of acceptable space fairing and cyberspace behaviors.
Such norms should encourage respect, safety, and order for the
global, networked commons of space and cyberspace. Norms
should facilitate information sharing and increase transparency
to reduce the risk of misperceptions arising from provocative or
ambiguous behaviors in space and cyberspace. Nations, subnational
entities, and individuals who engage in space or cyber
attacks should face condemnation and other unacceptable consequences.
Even after the onset of hostilities, diplomacy and strategic
communications must be employed and synchronized with
other lines of operations to sustain the political cohesion of a
US-led alliance or coalition and win the battle for world opinion
that is a pre-condition for overall success. In a space and
cyber conflict where global effects can directly impact the lives
of people around the world, public international diplomacy and
strategic communications will be equally important to information
operations and other military arrows in the nation’s quiver.
45 High Frontier