There has been in the past weeks an alarming surge in reports of cuts to undersea cables. In the Baltic Sea, telecommunications links and power lines have been severed. Cables to Taiwan have been sabotaged in recent days, part of a series of incidents that extends back several years.
These attacks — there is no other word — are examples of “gray zone” tactics, or attempts to pressure adversaries that remain below the threshold of war and thus defy a simple or clear response. Difficult to attribute and indirect in effect, these tactics nevertheless impose real costs and can be as destabilizing as an actual military attack. In some cases, they are the precursors of kinetic action.
We have taken for granted the significance of these cables and are only now waking up to their vulnerability. Protecting them is near impossible: There are too many, they are too scattered and they are too difficult to continuously surveil. Still, we must prepare and there are steps that can be taken to reduce the impact of those attacks and improve the chances of deterring them.
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