NATO is considering a “more aggressive” response to Russian cyberattacks, sabotage, and airspace violations. This was stated to the Financial Times by Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, head of NATO’s military committee.
“We are studying everything… In cyberspace, we tend to be more reactive. We are considering being more aggressive or acting proactively rather than reactively,” Dragone said.
Some diplomats, especially from Eastern European countries, have called on NATO to retaliate. However, such a response would be effective in the case of cyberattacks, where many countries have offensive capabilities, but less effective in the case of sabotage or incursions using drones, the FT notes.
Dragone stated that a “preemptive strike” can be considered a “defensive action”, but added that “it differs from our usual way of thinking and behaving”. He added that more aggressive actions could be one of the options, but there remains “the question of the legal and jurisdictional framework, who will do it?”
A top official of the North Atlantic Alliance acknowledged that one of the problems is that NATO and its members have “far more restrictions than our adversary, through ethics, through law, through jurisdiction. That’s a problem. I don’t want to say it’s a losing position, but it’s a more difficult position than our adversary’s.”
The head of NATO’s military committee also said that the most important challenge is to deter any future aggression.
“We need to analyze in depth how deterrence is achieved—through retaliation, through preemptive strikes—because pressure on this may increase in the future,” Dragone added.