Skip to content
SPECIAL

THREATS TO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN IRAN CONFLICT

READ MORE

Only Trump can decide when cyberwar turns into real war

President Donald J. Trump attends the Memphis Safe Task Force roundtable on public safety at Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Tennessee on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Official White House photo by Molly Riley)

By Jessica Lyons

There’s a theoretical red line with cyber warfare. Cross it, and the U.S. will respond with a physical attack like missile strikes. And that line “is whatever the President says it is,” according to former NSA boss retired General Paul Nakasone.

Nakasone, speaking during an RSA Conference keynote on Wednesday with three other former NSA directors and commanders of U.S. Cyber Command, argued that there shouldn’t be a well-defined red line. “The president should have a lot of leeway in which he determines whether or not the nation’s going to respond kinetically.”

Retired US Navy Admiral Mike Rogers, on the other hand, said he thinks there should be a “series of minimums, like loss of life, loss of infrastructure associated with health and well being.”

Read more at The Register

Click to listen highlighted text!