Pentagon's top officer says novelist Tom Clancy couldn't have imagined today's threats

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Dan Caine describes 'frothiness' of global security environment

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine briefly touched on the increase in geopolitical incidents, at the Billington CyberSecurity Summit in Washington. Photo: Billington CyberSecurity Summit

Even the late thriller writer Tom Clancy would have struggled to imagine the current volatile geopolitical security situation, according to US Gen Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Gen Caine made the comments while taking part in a fireside chat at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit in Washington.

“Tom Clancy, on his most inspired day, would probably struggle to come up with a number of serious and simultaneous events that are going on in the world right now,” he said, when asked by a moderator about the world security situation.

Gen Dan Caine said the increasingly prolific and diverse global security developments reinforced the need for sophisticated and powerful technology tools.

Gen Caine said that the US was closely following developments on Tuesday as Russian drones entered Polish territory, and then a cascade of other global security issues shortly thereafter.

“We were dealing with an issue in the Pacific, we were dealing with an issue in our own hemisphere, and then, of course, an issue in the Middle East,” he said, after Israel staged an unprecedented air strike on Qatar, targeting Hamas leaders in Doha.

He said the incidents reinforce the need to use something akin to a “global risk algorithm” to better evaluate and measure global risks.

“It comprises many variables, and not all are equally weighted, but nonetheless we see a lot of frothiness right now in the global security environment,” he explained.

The world's dangerous geopolitical moment shows the need for evaluating the “equation of risk” and “equation of response” across government agencies, while not hesitating to include private cyber security firms.

At the Billington CyberSecurity Summit in Washington, Gen Dan Caine said the late novelist Tom Clancy would struggle to come up with the recent developments unfolding in the world. Cody Combs / The National

“Our private sector teammates bring us these great capabilities that we bring into the joint force,” he said, adding that intelligence and cyber security tools help to give the US a schematic advantage.

Those tools, he said, can help cause “dilemmas in the minds of US adversaries”.

Gen Caine described technology implementation as a “seminal component” of fighting battles.

US federal government officials have played a large role at the multi-day cyber security summit.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s leading adviser on cyber security, Sean Cairncross, described China as the “most aggressive” cyber adversary faced by the US, and that Beijing is taking aim at technology infrastructure with “growing competence, sophistication and scale”.

President Trump's cyber director Sean Cairncross didn't mince words about what some have described as nefarious cyber attacks from China. Cody Combs / The National

Despite what Mr Cairncross described as China's continuing cyber attacks, he said he is confident the US can emerge unscathed.

“We will create an enduring advantage over China,” he said. “Today, I seek your engagement and your help together by putting American citizens first and by putting American companies first. We'll put America first.”

China has repeatedly denied accusations by US officials and US cybersecurity experts regarding cyber attacks, cyber crime and attempting to compromise America's technology infrastructure.