There are those who will suggest that a MAD policy for cyberspace is a bad idea. Just as arms manufacturers in the 1960s opposed MAD because it called for not building the weapon systems needed to defend against a Soviet attack, cyber-security firms will oppose a cyber MAD policy. Cyber security is big business. The media also thrives on the sordid details of high profile cyber intrusions. However, it is time we set such concerns aside and take a new look at an old problem. What we are currently doing is not working.

Colonel Robert Spalding, PhD (USAF) was an Air Force Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and flew the B-2 bomber. Dr. Adam Lowther was a petty officer in the U.S. Navy and serves as a research professor at the Air Force Research Institute.

Image: Flickr/Georgia National Guard