November 21, 2019 ∙ Article

Sanctions are imposed for the purpose of changing behavior or inducing action. They have become popular within the past several decades as a means of leverage, non-military pressure, and imposing conditions upon other states. However, sanctions may cripple another state’s economy and permanently damage its reputation. Nevertheless, there are legitimate bases for using sanctions, such as protecting against national security threats. Cybersecurity risks, in particular, can be very damaging since the United States’ military, defense, and intelligence data are stored using electronic and remote means. Therefore, there is an obligation to protect against this, and such a task falls to the branches of the U.S. government. How far this obligation extends represents a key issue and is the subject of this article.

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