President Joe Biden has committed to ending America’s forever wars and restoring diplomacy, longtime goals for advocates of a more restrained U.S. foreign policy. Yet he is reportedly pursuing an aggressive approach to cyberspace, despite concerns that this might lead to military escalation and diplomatic friction.
Although this looks like a contradiction, it is not. Restraint looks much different in cyberspace, where competition is primarily an intelligence contest. The implications are counterintuitive. Because a grand strategy of restraint trades knowledge for power, it leans heavily on intelligence. Intelligence agencies scan the horizon for looming threats, giving policymakers time to mobilize defenses. They help to prioritize scarce resources through better assessment. They provide non-military options for protecting U.S. interests abroad and maintain diplomatic channels to friends and rivals alike. Such diplomacy improves the quality of warning and enables joint operations against common threats. And in the event of a crisis, intelligence provides a release valve that reduces the risk of escalation and avoids the need for military action. All of this is less provocative abroad, and much less expensive.
