The Structure of Strategic Environments

Abstract

Security in and through cyberspace rests on a distinct definition of security that differs from the dominant security paradigms associated with nuclear and conventional weapon environments—deterrence and warfighting. Cyber persistence theory posits that a core structural feature of interconnectedness, a core condition of constant contact, and the reinforcing structural features of macro-resilience and micro-vulnerability in combination form the basis of a distinct strategic environment, one supporting the logic of exploitation rather than coercion. To achieve security in this strategic environment, States must engage in initiative persistence, continuously setting and maintaining the conditions of security in their favor, measured as the relative balance between being cyber vulnerable to exploitation and being able to exploit the cyber vulnerabilities of others. Whereas conventional security rests in the presence of war and nuclear security rests in the absence of war, cyber security rests in an alternative to war.