A Just War in 2020
By Scott F. Owen
At the law school, Scott was the Executive Editor of New York Appeals with Albany Law Review, Volume 84; he was the Vice-President of Business Law Society; and he received the Justinian Society award upon graduation.
Currently, Scott is an incoming associate, July 2021 BAR applicant, and is focusing on civil litigation. In his free time, Scott enjoys hiking, running, playing chess, and playing basketball. He is the proud son of Chris Owen and Claudia Nerreau.
“The utility of cyber is not as a weapon of war but as a weapon short of war.” Cyber-attacks have been used with increasing effect and regularity over the past twenty-five years. Despite this, the international law community—the United Nations' Security Council, the International Court of Justice, among others—have barely analyzed its legality if at all. Cyber-attacks continue to occur unabated globally with no signs of slowing down due to the lack of attention it has drawn.
This paper will discuss the Security Council and International Court of Justice, Article 51 and its history, and cyber-attacks against the United States. Additionally, this paper will address whether the United States could justify an armed attack against a State that conducted a cyber-attack against the United States, and whether the United States would respond to a cyber-attack with an armed attack. Lastly, this paper will analyze what could be done to curtail cyber-attacks in the future, and whether any strategy would be fruitful.
_____________________________
To read the paper, open HERE.
