NATO to improve cyber defences

From the Global Security Newswire ("Hagel: NATO Must Do More to 'Deal with' Cyber Attacks," GSN, 24 October 2013):

NATO defense ministers agreed this week that they must "do more to deal with cyber threats," U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Wednesday, as the alliance prepared to launch a new cyber-defense center next week.

Cybersecurity was one of the main topics defense leaders from the 28-nation NATO discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday during a two-day ministerial in Brussels. Hagel on Wednesday told reporters that the alliance's new cyber-defense system -- the Computer Incident Response Center -- "is on track to achieve full operational capabilities next week."

"The U.S. supports a proposal for the center to have teams of NATO cyber experts that can be quickly deployed to assist allied nations if they request help in dealing with cyber intrusions or attacks," Hagel added. "It was agreed that the alliance must do more to deal with cyber threats, and this will remain a top priority going forward."

The way I imagine this discussion playing out, the ministers all agree on the need to improve their collective protection against threats such as cyber intrusions -- and then they all stare significantly at Defense Secretary Hagel and his Canadian and British "Five Eyes" counterparts.