While the United States has made it clear that it possesses offensive cyber capabilities to retaliate against cyber attacks, NATO “is not there” yet, said Hans Binnendijk, SAIS senior fellow, at AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference on Tuesday. The alliance is still “thinking about defense,” he said. Though the alliance is focusing heavily on cyber threats, cyber attacks would probably not invoke NATO’s collective defense clause, he said. However, “much of it depends on the nature of the cyber attack,” said Binnendijk.
The Space Development Agency is set to launch 21 Tranche 1 data transport satellites on Oct. 5—its fourth Tranche 1 mission since last fall and the first to carry Northrop Grumman-built satellites.