Warfighting in Cyberspace

Abstract : Our current and potential adversaries clearly understand the military potential of cyberspace and the expansive power of the medium. Terrorists employ the Internet for recruiting, training, motivating, and synchronizing their followers. They can operate essentially unrestrained and are free to innovate, unbound by law, policy, or precedent. Nations such as China and Russia are developing their own ?cyberspace warriors.? China, for instance, has formed cyberspace battalions and regiments, the primary purpose of which is to identify and exploit weaknesses in our military, government, and commercial networks. In November 1999, the PLA Daily stated, "Internet warfare is of equal significance to land, sea, and air power and requires its own military branch," and that "it is essential to have an all-conquering offensive technology and to develop software and technology for net offensives . . . able to launch attacks and countermeasures." The threat from these forces is credible and real. While the time-tested principles of war will ultimately apply in cyberspace, its characteristics are so radically different that they demand significant innovation and changes to the way we organize and conduct military operations and tactics in this domain. Many within the U.S. Government and private sector are beginning to recognize the importance of cyberspace (and operations within it) to national security. The March 2005 National Defense Strategy identified cyberspace as a new theater of operations and assessed cyberspace operations as a potentially disruptive challenge, concluding that in "rare instances, revolutionary technology and associated military innovation can fundamentally alter long-established concepts of warfare."