Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Doesn't Anyone Just Bomb Any More? The US Moves to Militarize Cyberspace

America's military/industrial/civilian warfighting complex must be running out of countries to bang away on.  It's hard on a true warfare state when you run short of wars and begin suffering the pangs of acute Casus Belli Deficiency Syndrome (CBDS).  Just in the nick of time those enterprising war dogs at the Pentagon have found the solution - make up new "acts of war."

According to The Guardian, the Pentagon is moving to make cyber-attacks an act of war.  You bring down America's computers, be prepared to get a giant missile up your ass.

The US government is rewriting its military rule book to make cyber-attacks a possible act of war, giving commanders the option of launching retaliatory military strikes against hackers backed by hostile foreign powers.

The Pentagon has concluded that the laws of armed conflict can be widened to embrace cyberwarfare in order to allow the US to respond with the use of force against aggressive assaults on its computer and IT infrastructure.

The move, to be unveiled in a US department of defence strategy document next month, is a significant step towards the militarisation of cyberspace, with huge implications for international law.

Now, here's the sticky part.   The US considers most cyber-attacks to originate from hackers in China and Russia.   America is also believed to be a big league player in launching cyber-attacks of its own.   So are we apt to see America launch air strikes or cruise missile attacks on China or Russia or the other way around?  Once you start this stuff, how do you stop it?   What about cyber-attacks carried out under a "false flag"?


There's that damned CBDS again.  Calling Dr. Strangelove, calling Dr. Strangelove.

1 comment:

LeDaro said...

Nuclear arm race, cyber-attacks considered act of war, North Korea building ballistic missiles which could reach U.S. US responding to cyber-attacks with missiles attacks including China and Russia - Harold Camping knows something that rest of us are not catching on.