Creating Cyber Strategists: Escaping the ‘DIME’ Mnemonic

Abstract

This article offers a straw man cyber curriculum designed to initiate discussion on how to educate cyber strategists in the US, stressing the recent advances in technology moving us to the next generation of wearables, drivables, flyables, and scannables. With everything becoming interconnected, there is a need to extend instruction from the instruments of national power associated with DIME (diplomatic, information, military, economic) to a more holistic paradigm when considering cyber issues. This requires developing cyber strategists based on new curriculum components to capitalize on comprehensive views and analytical thought instead of mnemonic devices. It calls on digital and national security experts to reconsider the underlying concepts that will serve as educational guides for cyber strategists as they progress into the next decade.