The defender’s dilemma: Defining, identifying, and deterring gray-zone aggression

Elisabeth Braw
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Key Points

Gray-zone aggression takes place in the gray zone between war and peace and is used to weaken another country using means short of war.

Using it is advantageous to the attacker, as it involves far smaller risks and expenses than armed aggression does, and to date results in scant punishment.

Russia and China are today’s main practitioners of gray-zone aggression against the West, each using a different combination of means of aggression.

Because gray-zone aggression exploits open societies’ vulnerabilities, any country can use the opportunity and can create new means of aggression.

As it does not involve the sustained use of force and targets civil society, defense and deterrence must include all parts of society.

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