The United States and the People's Republic of China maintain a unique relationship due to the high levels of interdependence between the countries' political, economic, military, and social functions. This association has been complicated in the past by Chinese industrial cyberespionage (CE) carried out against United States organizations and individuals in pursuit of economic advancement. This paper examines the nature of Chinese-American relations and determines whether its features adhere to Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye's theory of complex interdependence in Power and Interdependence. Further, this paper also explores possible reasons for a decline in Chinese CE beginning in mid-2014 and what impact this could have on the two countries' relations moving forward. / Master of Arts / The purpose of this thesis is to examine whether the United States and China have become interdependent through political, economic, military, and social means. Additionally, China has historically spied on and stolen United States’ secrets electronically for their own benefit. This trend began to slow down in mid-2014 and I offer several possible explanations for why this might have happened. Lastly, I conclude by seeing how this decline in Chinese spying reflects on the interdependent relationship between China and the United States.

A single cyberattack event involving 1 major corporation can cause severe business and social devastation. In this single case study, a major U.S. airline company was selected for exploration of the strategies information technology administrators and airline managers implemented to reduce the financial devastation that may be caused by a cyberattack. Seven participants, of whom 4 were airline managers and 3 were IT administrators, whose primary responsibility included implementation of strategies to plan for and respond to cyberattacks participated in the data collection process. This study was grounded on the general systems theory. Data collection entailed semistructured face-to-face and telephone interviews and collection and review of public documents. The data analysis process of this study involved the use of Yin's 5-step process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding, which provided a detailed analysis of the emerging themes. The findings produced results that identified strategies organizational managers and administrators of a U.S. airline implemented to reduce the fiscal influence of cyberattacks, such as proactive plans for education and training, active management, and an incident response plan. The findings of this study might affect social change by offering all individuals a perspective on creating effective cyberculture. An understanding of cyberculture could include the focus of a heightened understanding, whereby, to ensure the security of sensitive or privileged data and information and of key assets, thus, reducing the fiscal devastation that may be caused by cyberattacks.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / Cyberespionage is a prolific threat that undermines the power projection capacity of the United States through reduced economic prowess and a narrowing of the technical advantage employed by the American military. International attempts to limit hostile cyber activity through the development of institutions, normative patterns of behavior, or assimilation of existing laws do not provide the American national security decision maker with a timely or effective solution to address these threats. Unfortunately, the stove-piped, redundant and inefficient nature of the U.S. counterintelligence community does not deliver a viable alternative to mitigating cyberespionage in an effective manner. Instituting a domestic and international micro-restructuring approach within the Department of Defense (DoD) addresses the need for increased effectiveness within an environment of fiscal responsibility. Domestic restructuring places emphasis on developing a forcing mechanism that compels the DoD counterintelligence services to develop joint approaches for combating cyberespionage by directly addressing the needs of the Combatant Commands. International restructuring places an emphasis on expanding cybersecurity cooperation to like-minded nations and specifically explores the opportunity and challenges for increased cyber cooperation with Taiwan. This approach recognizes that Taiwan and the United States are both negatively affected from hostile cyber activity derived from within the People’s Republic of China.