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Cyber Warfare

Study Guide

International policy and concerns

'Today’s weapon of choice for terrorists remains the AK-47, the car bomb, and the rocket. But terrorists looking for a bigger impact will increasingly turn to weapons of mass destruction and cyberterrorism.' - Ambassador Michael Sheehan, US Coordinator for Counterterrorism

Just how much impact did the Internet have on foreign policy decisions relating the war? It clearly had a part in the political discoursetaking place, and it was exploited by activists seeking to alter foreign policy decisions. It also impacted military decisions. While NATO targeted Serb media outlets carrying Milosovic's propaganda, it intentionally did not bomb Internet service providers or shut down the satellite links bringing the Internet to Yugoslavia. Policy instead was to keep the Internet open. James P. Rubin, spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said "Full and open access to the Internet can only help the Serbian people know the ugly truth about the atrocities and crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Kosovo by the Milosevic regime."2 Indirectly, the Internet may have also affected public support for the war, which in turn might have affected policy decisions made during the course of the conflict.

The new rules of war

Much comment has been made about the ethics of cyber warfare, or disabling an enemy's resources or information through malicious use of a computer. The United States Government is quickly adapting its policy and trying to become a cyber-warfare superpower while also making sure that they don't violate the civil liberties of both citizens and non-citizens. It seems that the definition of the enemy has become blurred. While it is generally accepted that the government is able to spy on any data transmitted over the net, much debate remains over whether this is ethical. September 11th left us all crying for better surveillance against the "bad guys." In order to appease various civil liberties groups in the U.S. dealings in cyber espionage and warfare have been somewhat "under the table," until now. It will be interesting to see whether American's will be willing to forego privacy in the interest of security.

Surveillance and September 11th

Is it ethical for the U.S. to spy on suspected terrorists? Should the U.S. have been able to reconstruct cellular phone calls from that fatal crash on September 11th? Are we glad that we had the ability to do this? Does this scare anyone? Many issues such as this will have to be resolved in order to move forward as a country in the coming months.