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Abstract: Since 2000, Australia has re-positioned itself from having scant recognition of cyber warfare to a nation with limited capability, and the political intent to launch pre-emptive strikes against cyber criminals. Subcultural dominance of continental defence has hindered the development of a robust cyber warfare capability, with the focus towards national infrastructure security. Australia has grown its cyber warfare capability from acknowledgement of a non-military cyber security threat in its 2000 Defence White Paper, to a fledgling organisation in 2017. The creation of formal structures for the Australian Defence Force follows the 2016 public acknowledgement of employment of an offensive cyber capability on operations, and 2017 threats to employ offensive capability against offshore cyber criminals. This rise lags the global evidence base and is consistent with the recent transition from the dominance of continental defence to a more dominant forward defence strategic subculture. This paper provides a descriptive policy review of the formation of Australian cyber warfare capability through a fourth-generation strategic culture lens. The paper adds to the body of knowledge regarding the influence of strategic culture on cyber warfare capability and ongoing predictive work will be of benefit to strategists and norm entrepreneurs.
Keywords: strategic culture, cyber warfare, information warfare, Australia
1. Introduction
Development of a robust and responsive cyber warfare capability has been hindered by Australia's strategic culture, which has been dominated by a continental defence subculture since the 1970s. Evidence of the use and potential impact of cyberspace as a domain for conducting warfare has been present since the late 1990s. The body of evidence over the past 20 years demonstrates the transition from simple computer viruses to the incorporation of cyber warfare into military strategic campaigns by those nations with more offensive strategic cultures than Australia, including the United States, Russia and China.
The application of strategic culture theory is a descriptive and predictive lens for policy analysis. Cyber warfare, like any military capability, is subject to the influence of strategic culture. Using a broad definition of cyber warfare, incorporating cyber security through to offensive capabilities, this paper examines policy statements released by the Australian government over the last 20 years to examine how strategic culture may have influenced cyber warfare development.
The paper considers publicly available Australian cyber...