Decision to Attack

The debate over cyber technology has resulted in new considerations for national security operations. States find themselves in an increasingly interconnected world with a diverse threat spectrum and little understanding of how decisions are made within this amorphous domain.With The Decision to Attack, Aaron Franklin Brantly investigates how states decide to employ cyber in military and intelligence operations against other states and how rational those decisions are. In his examination, Brantly contextualizes broader cyber decision-making processes into a systematic expected utility–rational choice approach to provide a mathematical understanding of the use of cyber weapons at the state level.Discussed:The Key Concepts of CyberThe Motivation and Utility for Covert Action Digital PowerAnonymity and Attribution in CyberspaceCyber and Conventional Operations:The Dynamics of ConflictDefining the Role of Intelligence in Cyberspace How Actors Decide to Use Cyber—a RationalChoice ApproachCognitive Processes and Decision-Makingin CyberspaceFinding Meaning in the Expected Utility ofInternational Cyber Conflict