The Age of Digital Conflict: A Review Essay
José de Arimatéia da Cruz
2014
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A ccording to Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, and Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas and an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Internet is among the few things humans have built that they do not truly understand. The Internet is a network of networks, a huge and decentralized web of computer systems designed to transmit information using specific standard protocols. Nations and individuals rely on the Internet on a daily basis to conduct business,
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... ct with friends, and even find love. To state the Internet is an integral part of our way of life is not an overstatement. The Internet allows for friendships, alliances and enmities between states to be extended into the virtual world, adding a new and intriguing dimension to traditional statecraft. As the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army General Martin E. Dempsey stated, "the spread of digital technology has not been without consequence. It has also introduced new dangers to our security and our safety." 1 Three books will be reviewed here which highlight the addition of the Internet to an already complex international system in which combat takes place not only in the physical domain but also now in the cyber domain. The Department of Defense designated cyberspace a new domain of warfare in 2011. This elevation in strategic importance makes cyberspace comparable to land, sea, air, or outer space as a new battle frontier. The US Government and its Armed Forces recognize the importance of cyberspace as a potential future battleground. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta stated "cyberspace is the new frontier, full of possibilities to advance security and prosperity in the 21st century. And yet, with these possibilities, also come new perils and new dangers." 2 The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey, stated "the Department of Defense is adding a new mission: defending the nation, when asked, from attacks of significant consequence-those that threaten life, limb, and the country's core critical infrastructure." 3 For international jihadists the Internet has become the most cost-effective means of delivering its messages worldwide, and coordinating attacks. The Internet allows jihadist organizations to recruit without leaving the confines of their safe havens. Jihadist groups and terrorist organizations are using the Internet as a tool to carry-out their "cyberplanning" without fear of retaliation and in secret. Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas, an analyst at the Foreign Military Studies Office in Fort 1 Claudette Roulo, "DOD Must Stay Ahead of the Cyber Threat, Dempsey Says," US Department of Defense, http://www.defense.gov/news/newsartcle.aspx?id=120379.
doi:10.55540/0031-1723.2733
fatcat:qsrjgfomrvd5daguvt5hd554i4