NATO’s new cyber domain challenge

Cyber has been on NATO’s agenda since 2002, with clear mandates and taskings from Summits and Ministerials on how to develop its capacity in the area. Yet, despite an increasingly cyber-dependent world and visible progress on the Alliance’s civilian side, NATO has had no visible track record on how this change in the way the world does business has had an impact on its key military structure and enabler for collective defence - the NATO Command Structure (NCS). At their July 2016 Summit in Warsaw the NATO Heads of State and Government declared cyber to become an operational domain for the Alliance. The paper argues that in order to cope with the new situation and to deliver on the commitment NATO needs to consider establishing a Cyber Command within the NCS. This is a matter of urgency especially as within the new domain the Alliance will need to face an increasingly challenging cyber threat landscape. In addition, it will also need to live up to its current Strategic Concept by addressing all the three core areas – collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security – in cyber. Last but not least, it would play an increasing role for the Alliance in terms of its deterrence posture.