While rules of engagement are more developed in air, land, and sea operations, cyber is a relatively new realm to deal with, and even those countries with sophisticated cyber programs are struggling to feel their way forward.
This new type of warfare will make it harder to identify the source of an attack using either unmanned vehicles (land, air or sea) or cyber technology.
We will maintain our military superiority in all areas: air, land, sea, space and cyber".
"We'll keep our military fast, flexible and versatile and maintain military superiority in all areas -- air, land, sea, space and cyber".
Maybe I can hear the distant sound of a badly-tuned radio or the feint echo of young laughter under the virtual tide's hissing swell, a just-audible hint of activity on the edge of the cyber sea.
Of course it's an awkward conversation topic for tech giants if vital institutions and societal norms are being undermined because of your cut-throat profiteering on the unregulated cyber seas.
The United States has very specific and clear policies for defense when it comes to the land, the sea and the air, but cyber represents a fourth domain where U.S. policy is still in development.
"We need a military that is ready and agile so it can meet the full range of threats and operate on short notice on every domain, not just land, sea, air, and space, but also cyber space," Clinton said.
But security issues including North Korea, Syria and the South China Sea are also firmly in the spotlight, as well as cyber espionage and trade rows.
"These points of friction include the East China and South China Seas, the airspace above those seas, and in the rules that govern international behaviour, particularly in the cyber and space domains".
He criticises the American air force for using a "lobbying gimmick" with talk of "cyber" as a fifth domain of warfare, after land, sea, air and space.However much the military brass may hype up the threat, states are in fact highly unlikely to use cyber-weapons against each other, Mr Rid argues.
