Computer Network Operations and U.S. Domestic Law: An Overview

• Author: Robert M. Chesney
• Position: Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law
• Pages: 218-232

International Law Studies 2013

218

C

Computer Network Operations and

U.S. Domestic Law: An Overview

Robert M. Chesney*

I. INTRODUCTION

omputer network operations (CNOs) famously give rise to a number

of international law complications, and scholars have duly taken note.

1

But

* Charles I. Francis Professor in Law, University of Texas School of Law.

1

. This was, of course, the primary subject of the conference of which this article was

a part. See U.S. Naval War College International Law Departme nt, 2012 ILD Conference:

“Cyber War and International Law,” http://www.usnwc.edu/ ILDJune2012. It was also

the subject of the International Law Department’s 1999 conference, “Computer Network

Attack and International Law.” The papers resulting from that conference may be found

in COMPUTER NETWORK ATTACK AND INTERNATIONAL LAW (Michael N. Schmitt &

Brian T. O’Donnell eds., 2002) (Vol. 76, U.S. Naval War College International Law Stu d-

ies). For a sampling of the considerable literature focused on the international law ques-

tions raised by CNOs, see Oona A. Hathaway et al., The Law of Cyber-Attack, 100 CALI-

FORNIA LAW REVIEW 817 (2012); Hannah Lobel, Note: Cyber War Inc.: The Law of War Im-

plications of the Private Sector’s Role in Cyber Conflict, 47 TEXAS INTERNATIONAL LAW JOUR-

NAL 617 (2012); Matthew C. Waxman, Cyber-Attacks and the Use of Force: Back to the Future of

Article 2(4), 36 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW 421 (2011); Michael N. Schmitt,

Cyber Operations and the Jus ad Bellum Revisited, 56 VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW 569 (2011); Eric

Talbot Jensen, Cyber Warfare and Precautions Against the Effects of Attac ks, 88 TEXAS LAW

REVIEW 1533 (2010); Herbert S. Lin, Offensive Cyber Operations and the Use of Force, 4 JOUR-

NAL OF NATIONAL SECURITY LAW AND POLICY 63 (2010). See also TALLINN MANUAL ON