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How is War Fought in the Gray Zone?

And what can the U.S. do about it?

The Chinese ship, the bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is anchored and being monitored by a Danish naval patrol vessel in the sea of Kattegat, near the City of Granaa in Jutland, Denmark, on November 20, 2024. (Photo by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

Beth Sanner is a principal member of The Cipher Brief’s Gray Zone Group, a gathering of experts focused on raising awareness of adversarial activities that are carried out below the threshold of war. 

EXPERT PERSPECTIVE / OPINION – In talks to business groups about geopolitics in recent months, I’ve been asking whether they believe we are at war. Most in the audience have voted yes. But if you asked the National Security Adviser, I’m fairly certain he would disagree, at least in the technical sense. This is in part political, because only Congress has the authority to formally declare war and, as hard as it is to believe, they haven’t done so since World War II.

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