{"id":69326,"date":"2025-02-03T11:35:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T11:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:07:40","slug":"severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/","title":{"rendered":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MILAN \u2014 The increased frequency of underwater infrastructure damage across Europe has raised legal challenges related to the jurisdiction and ownership of undersea cables, which may limit NATO\u2019s ability to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you go outside territorial waters, in principle there\u2019s not much regulation \u2013 this makes the area attractive for those who want to operate outside the jurisdiction,\u201d Capt. Niels Markussen, director at NATO\u2019s Maritime Centre for Security of Critical Underwater Infrastructure, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arctictoday.com\/nato-official-warns-of-growing-undersea-threats-infrastructure-vulnerabilities\/\">said<\/a> at the recent Arctic Frontiers conference in Norway, as reported by Arctic Today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matters become even more complex in having to determine and prove whether damage is accidental or deliberate. In addition, unlike when a crime is committed above the surface, where authorities can rely on fingerprints and DNA as evidence, attributing responsibility under water is tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/content-series\/hybrid-warfare-project\/international-law-doesnt-adequately-protect-undersea-cables-that-must-change\/\"><u>report<\/u><\/a> by the Atlantic Council highlighted that different laws are applicable to assess who is responsible for sabotage depending on where the severed cables are laid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, it noted that coastal states like Norway or Sweden possess sovereign rights in their territorial waters, according to Article 21 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and may further exercise that authority to repair and maintain submarine cables in their exclusive economic zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Things get murky, however, in cases of undersea infrastructure damaged in international waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf cables are willfully or accidentally damaged by a ship or person, the jurisdiction to determine appropriate punishment for the perpetrator lies with the state under whose flag the ship operates or that of a person\u2019s citizenship,\u201d the document said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another element to consider is that much of the underwater communication infrastructure is now owned by private firms, including big telecommunication carriers or content-delivery providers, that often band together to operate cables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the network monitoring platform Kentik, companies like Google, Meta and Amazon have increasingly invested in the development and installation of new cables, leaving only about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kentik.com\/blog\/diving-deep-into-submarine-cables-undersea-lifelines-of-internet-connectivity\/\"><u>only<\/u><\/a> 1% of submarine cables fully or partly owned by governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a joint press conference in January, Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO\u2019s Norfolk, Virginia-based commander for concepts and transformation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=jN_IFAj3N5Y\"><u>outlined<\/u><\/a> his plan for the alliance\u2019s unmanned surface vessel initiative \u2013 in essence, having drones keep tabs on undersea infrastructure in hard-to-reach places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The idea will entail deploying a fleet of naval drones as part of NATO\u2019s maritime patrol mission in the Baltic Sea for the constant surveillance of the strategic area. These systems, as noted by the official, will operate alongside other drones to be provided by member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will bring some new vehicles at the speed of light in less than a few weeks, as well as the eight Baltic Sea states will give to NATO their own drones, and we will federate into a single network all the pictures and videos to spread [information] out to all stakeholders,\u201d Vandier said on Jan 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"7":{"categories":["your-navy","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,46,11,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3487],"class_list":["post-69326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DMR4KNJCTRBA7PNL4GY76WO7V4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 506,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Europe\",\n\t                \"Global\",\n\t                \"Naval\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/03\\\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Global\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"global\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Europe\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"europe\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 4,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO - Defense News","description":"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO","og_description":"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00","author":"Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO","datePublished":"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Daily News Roundup","Europe","Global","Naval","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/","name":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-03T11:35:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T01:07:40+00:00","description":"The majority of critical undersea infrastructure is located in international waters, which means would-be saboteurs can take advantage of oversight gaps.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/02\/03\/severed-undersea-cables-raise-legal-challenges-for-nato\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Global","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/","ad_zone":"global"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Europe","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/","ad_zone":"europe"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Severed undersea cables raise legal challenges for NATO"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-695501024.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69334,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69326\/revisions\/69334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69326"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=69326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}