Unfortunately, the longer we gazed up at the sky, procrastinated, and let this Chinese surveillance craft collect and send important information to China, the worse it was for our global reputation, vital national security, deterrence for future military engagement, and priceless sovereignty and freedom. That balloon should have been found, shot down, and caught in real time off the Alaskan coast, not days later after traversing our country and so near our capital. This has been a national embarrassment and has presumably damaged vital global security interests.
Iran is not alone in using Malachi Crunch tactics, as Russia itself employs Belarus as another front from which to stage its war, missiles, and attacks against Ukraine. As we know, when surrounded by multiple fronts, an adversary takes an unfair advantage to pummel their opponent in the middle (similar to what Israel’s nation-state enemies did to them in the wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973). When the time comes to take out Iran’s nuclear weapons and, hopefully, their drone production and storage facilities as well, we can be sure that Hamas and Hezbollah will use the Iranian Malachi Crunch to fire barrage after barrage of deadly missiles from the North and South at the heart of Israel’s civilian population.
So, in addition to the threat of Iran’s nuclear weapons, Israel needs to make sure that Hamas and Hezbollah don’t set them up for the feared and violent “crunch.” Israel needs to avoid being positioned in the middle of the attack that is sure to come and threaten the entire country simultaneously. Instead, Israel will have to take out the enemy with strategic pinpoint attacks that disable their terror rockets and missiles. When the evil Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah are all dealt a staggering blow of epic proportions, then there will be “happy days” for Israel and the rest of the world, and please G-d, true peace and the coming of Mashiach.
Israel is a small, but powerful nation that wants to stop attacks before they get to their door, and indeed, their lives depend on that. We can learn from Israel’s military doctrine of deterrence through overwhelming strength, unity, and disincentivizing the attackers to inform other security issues, such as ransomware attacks. I believe that the answer lies in a public-private security partnership financially backed by the government.
First, companies voluntarily join a public-private security partnership in which they adhere to higher security standards and oversight as well as pledge not to pay ransomware. Additionally, these companies are placed on a public list and given a badge or seal of approval/logo like Brink’s Home Security or ADT to display that indicates they are “fortified,” and in this case, that they won’t pay any ransom, and are backed by the government.
Second, the government provides an incentive for companies to participate in the public-private partnership and not to pay ransomware. The incentive provided is that the companies are backstopped (insured) by the government in the event of a ransomware attack to them. This is similar to ransomware insurance, but the difference is that the cost to companies would be a fraction of what they would otherwise have to pay. The benefit to the taxpayer is that the market for ransomware dries up with companies that have pledged not to pay. As the program become universal, there is no one left for the ransomware attackers to target.
andyblumenthal 
