Abstract

This talk will briefly examine how we imagine and understand security in cyberspace, as it pertains to the US in international affairs. Cyberspace is a disembodied warfighting domain, one in which all citizens also find themselves simultaneously on the battlefield. How we envision this space has important implications for how we act in and securitise the cybersphere. How we identify a ‘cyber enemy’ beyond the border is drawn from security assumptions that frame our conceptions of cyber attacks and ‘cyber enemies of the state.’

Through interviews and fieldwork, my research investigates some of the sites, decisionmakers, warriors, creators and gatekeepers of US cybersecurity paradigms. The complex organisational structure of US cyber defence, and the roles of multifarious actors in how cybersecurity practices are enacted, challenge us to reimagine international security discourses of our present and futures.