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SINGAPORE: Technology is moving from “just a tool” to an “actor in its own right”, giving rise to more powerful digital weapons in a time of increased uncertainty and contestation, said Permanent Secretary for Defence Joseph Leong on Monday (Jul 20).<\/p>\n
Speaking at the official dinner of the 4th Digital Defence Symposium in Singapore, Mr Leong said the digital domain has transformed from a support function into a strategic domain where “advantage is built, trust is contested, and decisive actions can be taken before a single shot is fired”.<\/p>\n
He added that advances in artificial intelligence (AI), particularly agentic AI, were allowing systems to evaluate, decide and execute at machine speed and scale.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, Singapore, as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) chair in 2027, will work with the bloc’s defence establishments on a consensus to collectively implement the 11 United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (UN GGE) cyber norms – which look at responsible state behaviour in cyberspace.<\/p>\n
Singapore will also host the inaugural ASEAN Regional Cyber Exercise on the sidelines of the 5th Digital Defence Symposium to advance practical regional cyber cooperation.<\/p>\n
“The stakes are high. The contested terrain in this digital realm includes our critical digital infrastructure, and the very hearts and minds that hold our nations and societies together,” said Mr Leong.<\/p>\n
“AI agents are already hunting malware, monitoring network endpoints, and analysing millions of log entries autonomously,” he added, citing Anthropic’s Mythos and OpenAI’s GPT-5 as examples of frontier models driving this shift.<\/p>\n
“What once took months and teams can now be done in minutes\u00a0by a single individual with access to these models,” said Mr Leong.<\/p>\n
“Machines cannot carry responsibility – people and institutions must. In the military domain, if we lose control, we risk chaos.”<\/p>\n
In addition, with a more contested and uncertain geopolitical environment, fighting is being waged increasingly “below the threshold of armed conflict” – across digital systems, critical infrastructure and information ecosystems, said Mr Leong.<\/p>\n
Falsehoods were also being weaponised to erode trust in institutions and divide communities, while the lines between peace and conflict, military and civilian, and state and non-state actors were becoming increasingly blurred, he said.<\/p>\n
“Information warfare has become a permanently operating front. It is slow-drip and its cumulative effect on a population can be more significant than conventional force,” Mr Leong warned.<\/p>\n
“We are heading in a direction of ever more powerful digital weapons, in a time of ever more uncertainty and contestation.”<\/p>\n
Underlining the need for international rules and institutions, Mr Leong noted that cyber and information capabilities create a “strategic dilemma”.<\/p>\n
“Each side has incentives to develop and employ them to the greatest advantage, but unconstrained competition risks escalation, proliferation and mutual harm,” he said, adding that the risks have to be reduced through dialogue, confidence-building and shared norms.<\/p>\n
This was why Singapore convened the Digital Defence Symposium, he said. “While competition is a reality, we need to communicate and engage enough.”<\/p>\n
However, he warned that the event must not be just a “talk-shop”. Instead, it needs to be a platform where militaries, defence officials, academia and industry come together to “share challenges, ideate solutions and build trust”.<\/p>\n
There also has to be a consensus on shared rules and norms, as well as how to put them into practice, he said.<\/p>\n
To this end, Singapore will also strengthen the ADMM Cybersecurity and Information Centre of Excellence (ACICE) as an open and inclusive cyber and information node for ASEAN.<\/p>\n
“We want ACICE to be a bridge for practical cooperation that will be open, inclusive and impactful,” said Mr Leong.<\/p>\n
“The digital future will not wait for us to be ready. We will need to adapt quickly, uphold human accountability, and keep escalation under control.”<\/p>\n
This year’s symposium, held at the Raffles City Convention Centre, is co-hosted by the ACICE and the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. More than 300 senior defence officials, academics, industry experts and partners from 35 countries from ASEAN and other regions are attending the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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