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XVI – Cyber OperationsChapter Contents16.1 Introduction16.2 Application of the Law of War to Cyber Operations16.3 Cyber Operations and Jus ad Bellum16.4 Cyber Operations and the Law of Neutrality16.5 Cyber Operations and Jus in Bello16.6 Legal Review of Weapons That Employ Cyber Capabilities16.1 INTRODUCTIONThis Chapter addresses the law of war and cyber operations. It addresses how law of warprinciples and rules apply to relatively novel cyber capabilities and the cyber domain.As a matter of U.S. policy, the United States has sought to work internationally to clarifyhow existing international law and norms, including law of war principles, apply to cyberoperations. 1Precisely how the law of war applies to cyber operations is not well-settled, and aspectsof the law in this area are likely to continue to develop, especially as new cyber capabilities aredeveloped and States determine their views in response to such developments. 21 See, e.g., United States Submission to the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts on Developments in the Field ofInformation and Telecommunications in the Context of International Security (2014–15), 1 (“But the challenge isnot whether existing international law applies to State behavior in cyberspace. As the 2012–13 GGE affirmed,international law does apply, and such law is essential to regulating State conduct in this domain. The challenge isproviding decision-makers with considerations that may be taken into account when determining how existinginternational law applies to cyber activities. Despite this challenge, history has shown that States, throughconsultation and cooperation, have repeatedly and successfully applied existing bodies of law to new technologies.It continues to be the U.S. view that all States will benefit from a stable international ICT [information andcommunication technologies] environment in which existing international law is the foundation for responsible Statebehavior in cyberspace.”); Barack Obama, International Strategy for Cyberspace: Prosperity, Security, andOpenness in a Networked World, 9 (May 2011) (“The development of norms for state conduct in cyberspace doesnot require a reinvention of customary international law, nor does it render existing international norms obsolete.Long-standing international norms guiding state behavior—in times of peace and conflict—also apply incyberspace. Nonetheless, unique attributes of networked technology require additional work to clarify how thesenorms apply and what additional understandings might be necessary to supplement them. We will continue to workinternationally to forge consensus regarding how norms of behavior apply to cyberspace, with the understanding thatan important first step in such efforts is applying the broad expectations of peaceful and just interstate conduct tocyberspace.”); DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, Department of Defense Cyberspace Policy Report: A Report to CongressPursuant to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, Section 934, 7-8 (Nov. 2011) (“TheUnited States is actively engaged in the continuing development of norms of responsible state behavior incyberspace, making clear that as a matter of U.S. policy, long-standing international norms guiding state behavioralso apply equally in cyberspace. Among these, applying the tenets of the law of armed conflict are critical to thisvision, although cyberspace’s unique aspects may require clarifications in certain areas.”).2 Department of Defense, Office of the General Counsel, An Assessment of International Legal Issues in InformationOperations (2nd ed., Nov. 1999), reprinted in 76 U.S. NAVAL WAR COLLEGE INTERNATIONAL LAW STUDIES 459,994