Cyber threats to the United States’ critical infrastuctures are real and serious. The homeland is no longer a sanctuary. We must update our country’s conception of emergency preparedness to include elements of traditional civil defense.
Past is Prologue: Creating a Civil Defense Mindset to Address Modern Cyber Threats
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The United States must move beyond its current emergency preparedness mindset, which is primarily focused on natural disasters and isolated terrorist attacks. Cyber attacks can disrupt multiple critical infrastructures across the nation in ways that are quite different from natural disasters. For example, it is possible to target key pieces of equipment that are difficult to fix or replace. Adversaries can create cascading failures and alter their tactics to counteract defensive responses. They can also launch attacks over a period of weeks or months, deliberately creating a cascading set of disruptions that may differ from those experienced during a natural disaster. One thing is clear: “The homeland is no longer a sanctuary.” Our nation must update its conception of emergency preparedness to include elements of traditional civil defense.