Belgium wants better interoperability in cyber defence, defence minister says

Europe’s armed forces that want to cooperate must make sure their cyber-defence technologies and methods are compatible, Belgium’s Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder warned on Wednesday (17 January).

“The interoperability of European armies is today more than ever conditioned by their interoperability in cyberspace,” Dedonder said at an event with the bloc’s cyber ambassadors and commanders in Brussels.

“The cyber threat is worrying,” Dedonder told reporters including Euractiv, when asked whether the current geopolitical situation and Belgium’s abilities compared to the US, China and Russia, were of concern.

According to the interoperability principle, defence equipment – ammunition, tanks, radios and others – between national armed forces that work together should easily work and be used together, to be more efficient on the battlefield.

The constant introduction of new technologies, software, and methods in the cyber landscape makes it more and more difficult to create interoperability between all users, as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank underlines in a study.

“It is essential today to transpose the principle of the interoperability of our armed forces’ equipment in the cyber dimension,” Dedonder said in her speech, as she highlighted that high technology “equips today all of our systems of arms and communication”.

“We have to act,” Dedonder urged.

Technologies “can be a way for potential adversaries to weaken us, to attack us”, Dedoner told Euractiv, emphasising that “everything [about this is] linked to disinformation, manipulation of public opinion.”

“We’re going to have elections, so there’s really special attention being paid to that, she also said, about both European elections in June and the national votes taking place at the same time.

“Cyber defence is no longer just a military issue, it has become a societal issue,” she also said in front of a panel of military officers. “To build the fortress of European resilience will protect our democracies against attempts at disinformation and cyberattacks.”

An EU diplomat with knowledge of the issue said that the need for better cyber defence was also showcased by the war in Ukraine, which showed that both traditional and technology-based weapons were used by both parties.

EU missing in action

But EU work on cyber defence has so far remained marginal.

The European Commission proposed a cyber defence strategy in autumn 2022, with a cyber technology roadmap, calling for additional investments and a cyber defence training programme. However, member states have shown little interest.

The idea of establishing a ‘Cyber Shield’ dates back to the cybersecurity strategy of 2020 and that of a cyber-army was abandoned.

The EU’s first military strategy, the Strategic Compass, includes a wish to “further develop the EU Cyber Defence”, without offering a further explanation of how this is meant to be done.

Belgium’s Cyber Command and the future cyber component of the national army “are the driving force behind this vision [for enhanced civil-military cooperation and the working with partners] of unifying national defence efforts with those of the EU to form a cyber shield,” Dedonder said in her speech.

Some EU member states have worked together in joint military projects under the bloc’s Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) to develop a few cyber-related projects for joint exercises and information sharing.

Asked how Brussels’ way is discussed with partner countries and on plans to give the topic a highlight under the Belgian presidency of the Council, Dedonder told Euractiv that the Belgian cyber command had “a lot of exchanges” with other countries, and the topic of cyber defence is a presidency “priority”, even if it is already “constantly touched upon” in discussions at the EU level.

[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]

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