Perspective: CyberwarBritain Is “At War Every Day” Due to Constant Cyberattacks, Chief of the Defense Staff says

Published 30 September 2019

The Chief of the U.K. Defense Staff has said that Britain is “at war every day” due to constant cyberattacks from Russia and elsewhere. Russia and China’s “interpretation” of the rules governing international engagement threatened “the ethical and legal basis on which we apply the rule of armed conflict,” General Carter said. “Russia is much more of a threat today than it was five years ago.” He added: “There is still clearly going to be human interaction – warfare is essentially a political function - but it will be a much more sophisticated and will include the new domains [alongside land, sea and air] of space and cyber.”

The Chief of the U.K. Defense Staff has said that Britain is “at war every day” due to constant cyberattacks from Russia and elsewhere.

Distinctions between peace and war “don’t exist any longer” in the modern world, General Sir Nick Carter has warned.

Dominic Nichols writes in The Telegraph that speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival alongside former U.S. General and CIA Director David Petraeus, the head of the armed forces stressed that it is no longer possible to draw a clear line between competition and conflict.

“The changing character of warfare has exposed the distinctions that don’t exist any longer between peace and war,” General Carter said.

“I feel I am now at war, but it’s not a war in the way we would have defined it in the past. And that is because great power competition and the battle of ideas with non-state actors is threatening us on a daily basis”.

Russia and China’s “interpretation” of the rules governing international engagement threatened “the ethical and legal basis on which we apply the rule of armed conflict,” General Carter said.

“Russia is much more of a threat today than it was five years ago.

“The character of warfare is evolving… there’s a debate we need to have about what does the future of warfare look like.”

War is increasingly waged online and in outer space, General Carter said, adding the traditional concept of battle only being on land, sea and in the air is outdated. “The key bit that will give you the edge you need is the way in which information connects [it all] together so we are properly integrated at every level.”

“Information is going to be at the core of so much that we do. Future warfare is going to be very much information-centric.

“There is still clearly going to be human interaction – warfare is essentially a political function - but it will be a much more sophisticated and will include the new domains [alongside land, sea and air] of space and cyber.”