The United States, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Russia are engaged in Great Power strategic competition below the threshold of armed conflict which has fragmented the internet and rendered inadequate America’s historical preference for an orderly, law-based framework that manages cyber-competition. The U.S. needs to focus on a Relative Power Erosion Framework featuring persistent engagement and a hunt forward posture. USCYBERCOM-led cyber campaigns are necessary in the short-term for effective American strategic cyber competition. In the longer-term, unique American military capabilities for persistent cyber engagement should be replaced with those in selected civilian governmental agencies more befitting of a ‘new normal’ for endemic cyber-competitive interactions among the Great Powers.

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