This study turned the tables on a conventional understanding of the four instruments of national power (diplomacy, information, military and economic measures/D.I.M.E.) to see how potential adversaries could use these against the national security interests of Canada and the United States. Moreover, this particular work focuses on qualitative research regarding cyber threats that have continually beleaguered these nations by malevolent actors mostly over the last five years. This study also affords consideration to how nefarious individuals, non-state actors, or nation states can implement the instruments of national power through the application of a new model named the York Intelligence Red Team Model-Cyber (YIRTM-C) using sources guided by the Federal Qualitative Secondary Data Case Study Triangulation Model to arrive at results.

John Michael Weaver (DPA, University of Baltimore) is Associate Professor of Intelligence Analysis at York College of Pennsylvania (USA). Benjamin T. Johnson is a PH.D. candidate in the field of political science at York University in Toronto (Canada).