SINGAPORE: UK's Minister of State for the Armed forces Nick Harvey says cyber warfare could present a 'civilised option' to traditional combat, as Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay warns of the "prohibitively expensive" strategy in times of austerity

Record ID: 858730

  • Title: SINGAPORE: UK's Minister of State for the Armed forces Nick Harvey says cyber warfare could present a 'civilised option' to traditional combat, as Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay warns of the "prohibitively expensive" strategy in times of austerity
  • Date: 4th June 2012
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (JUNE 2, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF CONFERENCE ROOM/ PEOPLE SITTING PEOPLE LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED KINGDOM'S MINISTER OF STATE FOR THE ARMED FORCES, NICK HARVEY, SAYING: "If they believe that they can deliver that effect in the cyber domain, and in doing so would present less of a risk to life, either of your own forces or innocent civilians or indeed, even of enemy forces -- arguably, this is quite a civilised option. And I would've thought responsible governments, as they develop these technologies, would keep that in mind and keep it at their disposal as one of the options they might take." PEOPLE STANDING AT THE SIDE WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL DEFENCE, PETER MACKAY, SAYING: "Certainly cyber is undoubtedly the battlefield of the 21st century, and to ignore technology is to do so at your peril. And, I think, many have referenced over the weekend, that the austerity measures, the reduction in budgets, and while increased technology can bring about efficiencies, it is, in some cases, also prohibitively expensive, in terms of these investments." MINISTERS STANDING AND TALKING AT END OF SESSION
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Singapore
  • City:
  • Country: Singapore
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADYEVEF46Y0TDF7ELPEZI905P6
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: United Kingdom's Minister of State for the Armed forces, Nick Harvey on Sunday (June 2) said cyber warfare could present a "civilised option" with less risk to life than traditional combat during the annual security forum in Singapore.
    "If they believe that they can deliver that effect in the cyber domain, and in doing so would present less of a risk to life, either of your own forces or innocent civilians or indeed, even of enemy forces -- arguably, this is quite a civilised option. And I would've thought responsible governments, as they develop these technologies, would keep that in mind and keep it at their disposal as one of the options they might take," he said.
    Canada's Defence Minister Peter MacKay said the high price of cyber technology may leave some governments unprotected.
    "Certainly cyber is undoubtedly the battlefield of the 21st century, and to ignore technology is to do so at your peril. And, I think, many have referenced over the weekend, that the austerity measures, the reduction in budgets, and while increased technology can bring about efficiencies, it is, in some cases, also prohibitively expensive, in terms of these investments," he said.
    Only in recent months have U.S. officials become more open about the work of the United States and Israel on Stuxnet, the sophisticated cyber-weapon directed against Iran's Natanz nuclear enrichment facility that was first detected in 2010.
    The cyber-attacks provided the United States with an avenue to try to stop Iran from producing a suspected weapon without turning to military strikes against Iranian facilities - all at a time when U.S. forces already were fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sources familiar with former U.S. President George W Bush's administration said.
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