{"id":24855,"date":"2016-02-25T16:59:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T05:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=24855"},"modified":"2016-02-25T17:01:16","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T06:01:16","slug":"matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The much-anticipated launch of the 2016 Defence White Paper presented the Australian government with an opportunity to set out a clear understanding of how it views the current and future cyber threat environment. It was also a chance to answer questions about what kind of defence force and capabilities will be required to respond to such threats, and how much government is prepared to invest to make its vision a reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

During Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull\u2019s opening remarks, he mentioned \u2018cyber\u2019 a number of times, stating that Australia faces the threat of \u2018increased malicious cyber activity\u2019, that as a nation Australia needs to be \u2018more resilient in cyberspace\u2019, and that the White Paper will \u2018considerably strengthen our cyber capability\u2019. Clearly \u2018cyber\u2019, as an area of defence capability, was viewed as an important focus point, and rightly so. Turnbull\u2019s words are re-enforced by the White Paper itself:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The security environment of the future, both in peacetime and during armed conflict, will feature increased threats from offensive cyber and spacebased capabilities\u2026State and non-state actors now have ready access to highly capable and technologically advanced tools to target others through internet-connected systems and we are seeing greater use of offensive cyber operations. This trend is likely to continue.\u2019<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The White Paper also highlights the fact that while major conflict is unlikely between the US and China, cyberspace is a \u2018point of friction\u2019. In fact, in the White Paper\u2019s list of potential relationship flare points (p.43) between the geo-political heavyweights, cyberspace is only preceded by potential unrest in the South and East China Seas. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was evident that malicious threats in cyberspace was a key theme in the launch and messaging of the White Paper. But is the rhetoric backed up with cash?<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, this White Paper is impressive, presenting a costed spending plan to fund the commitments made. A positive step is that \u2018cyber security\u2019 has its own dedicated spending line, with a commitment to spend $300\u2013$400 million. At first glance, that sounds remarkable, but when you take into consideration that it\u2019s extrapolated out over a 10 year period, the cash injection amounts to a mere $30\u2013$40 million per annum. There will be money invested in future cyber threat and capability R&D from the $730 million larger pool of funds for threat research, but it\u2019s not clear how much will be allocated to cyber research. Compared to other identified threat areas the cyber investment seems to be lacking.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a commitment to grow Defence\u2019s cyber workforce, with 800 new jobs to be created for \u2018enhancements to intelligence, space and cyber security capabilities\u2019, and a further 900 ADF positions required to fulfil the same enhancements. However, those 900 positions will be spread across supporting \u2018information requirements of the Joint Strike Fighter, surveillance aircraft and navy ships as well as supporting special forces and cyber security.\u2019 1,700 bodies across such a multitude of complex and important tasks will result in a thin spread.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to ask where these new human resources will come from. At present there\u2019s already a shortage of qualified individuals to fill the broader cyber security skills gap in Australia\u2014although hopefully the upcoming Cyber Security Review will have more to say on this topic in the near future. At today\u2019s launch, the PM employed strong rhetoric about a \u2018truly visionary White Paper\u2019. But I\u2019d suggest that it\u2019s simply robust, rather than revolutionary. While there are positive moves to actually cost the commitments, the White Paper offers no significant changes to Defence\u2019s cyber policy position from the 2009 White Paper and in some respects, actually says less on some key issues including the development of norms and the application of international law in cyberspace.<\/span><\/p>\n

To have been \u2018truly visionary\u2019, or at least to keep pace with the defence policies of other advanced nations, the 2016 Defence White Paper would have to have engaged in a more holistic discussion across the spectrum of cyber capabilities. A cursory glance at the American, British, Chinese, French and Dutch defence-related strategies, for example, reveal a great deal more about how those nations deal with cyber both offensively and defensively.<\/span><\/p>\n

When increased spending and developments in cyber capability are placed within a framework that is at once exceedingly clear, measured and explanatory, it lowers suspicion and the potential confrontation in cyberspace. It may also induce others within our region to develop their capabilities in a similarly restrained and transparent manner.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately the language in the 2016 Defence White Paper hasn\u2019t kept up with the pace of change in this area. Indeed, the White Paper tells us very little about how Australia considers military cyber capability as part of its broader state power or how Australia will fund, structure and posture its capabilities to deal with cyber threats.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The much-anticipated launch of the 2016 Defence White Paper presented the Australian government with an opportunity to set out a clear understanding of how it views the current and future cyber threat environment. It was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":24857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[531],"tags":[33,52,391,1636,1623],"class_list":["post-24855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber-security-2","tag-capability","tag-china","tag-cyber","tag-defence-white-paper-2016","tag-funding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMatching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The much-anticipated launch of the 2016 Defence White Paper presented the Australian government with an opportunity to set out a clear understanding of how it views the current and future cyber threat environment. It was ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-25T05:59:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-25T06:01:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1066\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tobias Feakin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tobias Feakin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1066},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/\",\"name\":\"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-25T05:59:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-25T06:01:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/84f461839f3f37e79509040ae4eeedcd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/84f461839f3f37e79509040ae4eeedcd\",\"name\":\"Tobias Feakin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8346dd3562a4d00483b16ff7e8b8df6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8346dd3562a4d00483b16ff7e8b8df6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tobias Feakin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/tobias-feakin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist","og_description":"The much-anticipated launch of the 2016 Defence White Paper presented the Australian government with an opportunity to set out a clear understanding of how it views the current and future cyber threat environment. It was ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2016-02-25T05:59:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-25T06:01:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1066,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Tobias Feakin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tobias Feakin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/CcBWEyIUUAAV10Y.jpg","width":1600,"height":1066},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/","name":"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-02-25T05:59:08+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-25T06:01:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/84f461839f3f37e79509040ae4eeedcd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/matching-rhetoric-with-action-cyber-and-the-2016-defence-white-paper\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matching rhetoric with action: cyber and the 2016 Defence White Paper \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/84f461839f3f37e79509040ae4eeedcd","name":"Tobias Feakin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8346dd3562a4d00483b16ff7e8b8df6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8346dd3562a4d00483b16ff7e8b8df6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tobias Feakin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/tobias-feakin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24861,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24855\/revisions\/24861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}