Contenu du sommaire : Souveraineté et résilience numérique

Great changes are afoot wherever the digital world has an impact upon sovereignty. The rapidity and depth of current developments mean the conventional approach to sovereignty has been greatly weakened, and today we need to seek new approaches which bring together citizens, state and private investment as well as the structures of Europe in order to build true digital resilience.

Data storage and handling now depends heavily on the use of clouds, and yet these clouds are most often operated by essentially American companies. Because of this, we need to develop national, or perhaps European solutions that will enable us to guarantee our own sovereignty and resilience.

Cybersecurity has developed at the level of member states of the EU, and national agencies have improved their competence and capabilities. European cooperation is also improving, with the establishment of mechanisms and means of communication which respect the fundamental values of international law.

Digital resilience is an ever-growing requirement for maintaining our sovereignty in digital matters. Achieving this implies limiting our digital dependence whilst accepting that total autonomy will be impossible. Common sense and anticipation are needed in this developing field.

Activity which involves digital influencing risks harming the sovereignty and resilience of countries like ours. Threats already being posed via the visible face of the cyber world are adversely affecting how our societies function. There is a need to develop strategies to counterthis systemic danger.

Digital financial systems oil the wheels of the economy and shape how our society functions. There is therefore a need to strengthen the cyber defence of these essential structures, which are regularly attacked by unscrupulous elements. A need also for a common response by European nations.

Our local authorities have become favoured targets for cyber-criminal, whose attacks do great damage to their functioning. There is an urgent need to improve the cyber security of these organisations and institutions. The National agency for the security of information systems (Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d'information—ANSSI) is committed to develop and strengthen the sovereignty of these entities.

Cryptography is an age-old science, principally serving nations to guarantee the secrecy of their communications. In the digital world, encryption has become a major stake in sovereignty. France has very sound competence in the field, yet it needs to be boosted to cope with a continually-changing cyber landscape.

Rare earth and critical metals now represent a significant challenge to our sovereignty. Europe depends on them heavily yet has been slow to realise the stakes involved against a background of economic warfare in which China has grabbed the advantage. We need to react, and our reaction should include recycling of these materials.

The much-needed strengthening of our digital sovereignty implies developing loyalty of competences. Human resources therefore represent a major stake in the process and there is a need to review management methods in order to attract and retain qualified and motivated personnel if we are to increase our resilience in cyber space.

The creation of digital sovereignty requires a human resources policy able to respond to continual changes in needs. One of its characteristics concerns the relationship between the individual and the different aspects of IT: the element of interest, and passion for the work must be preserved.

The development of artificial intelligence (AI) depends on the degree of confidence held in systems which use AI in order to function. Effectiveness, security and responsibility are all factors of that confidence, and all need to be improved—the goal being to develop usable AI for military purposes.

Defining a strategy for our defence cannot be improvised in some given period of time in reaction to a changing situation. Quite the contrary: we need to look again at our concepts and expend effort so as not to reproduce fixed plans which lack any real consideration of the future of our geopolitical choices.

Latin America is a largely forgotten area in the global geopolitical environment. Despite its sluggishness and tensions, the South American continent is at a crossroads and needs its member states to commit to structural and economic reforms.

As wars have ended, the trend has been to deal with naval matters inequitably—a reflection of how the Navy is seen to fit into defence policy. In 1945, French maritime ambitions were at a low ebb and rebuilding the Navy took a long time. Today, other powers are making their own ambitions known.

Since the 18th Century, the periods in which the Navy and the Army have found a reasonable balance have been rare. In equipment, organisation and doctrine, the necessary effort has too often been badly directed, on each occasion leading to serious consequences—as in 1870 and 1940.