{"id":49006,"date":"2019-07-11T06:01:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T20:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=49006"},"modified":"2019-07-10T17:25:24","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T07:25:24","slug":"the-west-needs-a-post-5g-technology-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-west-needs-a-post-5g-technology-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"The West needs a post-5G technology strategy\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When I left government in 2018 one of my key concerns was that I didn\u2019t think we fully understood the implications of technology for national security.<\/p>\n

Technology is going to be a core aspect of the future and it\u2019s not just cyber technology. It\u2019s going to be technology writ large. I believe that we can assimilate this. Game-changing technologies with social implications have been a part of human history during our entire existence as a species.<\/p>\n

We tend to think that the time we\u2019re living in is fundamentally different or somehow the toughest. It\u2019s not. There have been game-changing technologies with potential negative second- and third-order effects throughout the history of humanity. We\u2019ve dealt with this before. I believe we can deal with it now. But we\u2019ve got to be willing to sit down and think about it. And we really need to ask ourselves what\u2019s the way forward.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the right answer for the implementation of a technology that will be a fundamental building block for a nation\u2019s economic competitiveness in this digital world that we\u2019re living in?<\/p>\n

5G is emblematic of this, because 5G is not just about, \u2018I\u2019m going to get a better phone service.\u2019 That\u2019s not the heart of it. 5G is going to enable us to radically address latency issues. We\u2019re going to be able to move massive amounts of data at incredible, stable rates that will give our handheld digital devices the kind of capability and functionality that we take for granted today in our laptops and in our mainframes.<\/p>\n

5G is going to underpin all of that, and it\u2019s only one of many foundational technologies that are being developed right now. As I used to say about 5G in our system, \u2018Hey, it\u2019s just the wolf closest to the sled.\u2019 It\u2019s emblematic of a broader set of challenges that we\u2019re going to have to deal with over time.<\/p>\n

The dynamics we\u2019re seeing now with 5G are prompting the question of how that strategy works when the competition isn\u2019t a single foreign company. The competition now is an integrated national strategy in which that foreign company is just one component. How does a single private company compete against the integrated efforts and resources of an entire nation-state?<\/p>\n

A series of technological changes are on the way. They\u2019re going to be so foundational that if we don\u2019t change the dynamic, we\u2019re going to have this conversation over and over again. It\u2019s not about stopping any particular nation or contesting a particular company. This is about ensuring our own and our partners\u2019 competitive ability in the 21st-century digital age. Because, again, you\u2019re going to have to deal with this with other countries and other companies over time. Right now, that happens to be China, Huawei and 5G, but it\u2019ll be something different in the future.<\/p>\n

I think the goal is to make sure that the playing field is level. Once we have a level playing field, then it\u2019s up to our private sector. But the challenge right now is that the playing field isn\u2019t level, and it\u2019s really difficult for the West\u2019s firms to compete. And I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s realistic to expect them to do this on their own. Levelling the playing field is going to take work. It\u2019s also about ensuring agreements are adhered to and that there are consequences for clear breaches.<\/p>\n

In my new report<\/a> for ASPI\u2019s International Cyber Policy Centre I offer up a five-point strategy for western policymakers to prepare for the next wave of disruptive technologies after 5G:<\/p>\n