ABSTRACT
Western populations are being asked to trust the word of intelligence agencies and world leaders that these unspecified emerging technological threats are real. In recent years, narrative, counter narrative, spin, classified material, and “fake news” have politicized intelligence and cybersecurity discourse in such a way, that official security discourse is potentially contestable. This chapter begins by outlining the recent Five Eyes (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) condemnations of Russian and North Korean cyber policy as a sociological case study to illustrate where and if a technological threat attribution and trust and confidence challenge might be evident. In modern democracies, trust in government is a key indicator of political legitimacy and stability. The producers of national security discourse must acknowledge that these weaknesses exist in their discourse and that it is their responsibility to find ways to mitigate these challenges.
