Cybersecurity in the U.S.-Philippine alliance: mission seep

Abstract

This study examines the integration of cybersecurity within the U.S.-Philippine alliance. The growth of new forms of international conflict, like cybersecurity, occur below the threshold of a traditional armed attack and pose a direct challenge to security alliances designed to rebuff conventional military threats. Using a process-tracing approach, this article investigates the evolution of cybersecurity within the U.S.-Philippine relationship and how it has met this new challenge. It finds that despite mutual concern over cybersecurity, divergent approaches to the digital domain as a policy area has stymied alliance development. This finding highlights how issues like elite political discord, different threat perceptions, and divergent institutional preferences can hinder cyber cooperation between partners and stymie alliance development.

Keywords:

• Cybersecurity
• alliances
• Philippines
• alliance transformation

Acknowledgments

Support for this project was provide by the Pacific Forum through its U.S.-Philippines Alliance – Next Generation Leaders Initiative. The author would like to thank the Pacific Forum, Miguel Alberto Gomez, and Benjamin Bartlett for their support and valuable feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Examples of cybersecurity in other alliances include: Lewis, J. A. (2015). US-Japan cooperation in cybersecurity. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies; Feakin, T., Nevill, L., & Hawkins, Z. (2017). The Australia-US Cyber Security Dialogue. Australian Strategic Policy Institute; Geers, K. (2020), Alliance Power for Cybersecurity. Washington, DC: Atlantic Council; Ruohonen, J., Hyrynsalmi, S., & Leppänen, V. (2016). An outlook on the institutional evolution of the European Union cyber security apparatus. Government Information Quarterly, 33(4), 746–756.

2 The NBI sought help from the United States’ Department of Justice because the site’s domain was bought from a U.S.-based web hosting company. However, the site itself was hosted in Russia.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Pacific Forum.

Notes on contributors

Gregory H. Winger

Gregory H. Winger is and Assistant Professor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati and Faculty Fellow at the Center for Cyber Strategy & Policy.