Only Trump can decide when cyberwar turns into real war

rsac 2026 There's a theoretical red line with cyber warfare. Cross it, and the US 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 US 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." Rogers served as the head of the NSA under President Obama in 2014 when North Korean state-sponsored goons hacked Sony Pictures , stole massive amounts of private information, and then deployed data-wiping malware to destroy files and IT infrastructure. "I remember sitting down with President Obama in the aftermath of Sony and North Korea doing a destructive attack against the US company and talking about the criteria for an offensive act," Roger said. Sir, if this had been a Tomahawk missile and had created the same effect, we'd be having a totally different discussion "Because the analogy I used was, sir, if this had been a Tomahawk missile and had created the same effect, we'd be having a totally different discussion," he continued. "My concept was, sir, this is the beginning. You're going to see more of this over time. So what is the criteria we're going to use? Is it cost to repair? Is it time to repair? Is it value - in this case, freedom of speech? Is it a loss of life? Is it a movie? What is the criteria that we're going to use to define what is an offensive act, and therefore permits an offensive response?" All of the retired military officials on stage "have been through this," Rogers said. "We just never could get to a well-defined red line." This means that US President Trump, a convicted felon who has said he is only guided by his "own morality," not international law or legal constraints, gets to define that red line in cyber - a thought that should be way more terrifying than a swarm of AI agents starting the robot apocalypse. Nakasone also lamented the country as a whole becoming "numb" to cyberattacks and crime. Ransomware infections and extortion continue to plague enterprises and governments, increasing in speed and costliness. Chinese government spies like Volt and Salt Typhoon have been embedded in US networks for years. America's lead cyber-defense agency hasn't had a boss in more than a year while a third of its employees have either been fired or left voluntarily . Public-private partnerships vital in disrupting China's Typhoons, says RSA panel with no government speakers Claude attacks were 'Rorschach test' for infosec community, scaring former NSA boss 'Four horsemen of cyber' look back on 2008 DoD IT breach that led to US Cyber Command RSAC 2026: Uncle Sam backs out, and AI agents are everywhere "I think we've become numb to it," Nakasone said. "I go back to 2008 when we discovered Russian malware in our classified networks. It was all hands on deck. We continue to see these different intrusions, and intrusions have gotten to a size that the scale is just incredible. We are out of balance in terms of being able to keep up with the adversary, whether or not it's ransomware, or deep fakes, or the brain drain within our government - we need more work on this." The four former NSA chiefs' keynote happened midway through a conference notably absent of current federal-government speakers. Despite this - or perhaps because of it - the four men made the pitch for increased public-private collaboration on all things security-related, and especially AI. "AI, there we're going, is a civilizational challenge that our nation be the lead," retired General Keith Alexander said. "Because whoever's the lead will be the future superpower, and that AI includes robotics, drones, biotech, cybersecurity, and the foundations upon which it's built. It's the public and private sector working together. It will be both the government and you all helping to protect this country, to ensure that we live through it, and AI will be a big part." ®