Class III InfoWar: TST Article

[Timothy C. May]

At 8:34 PM 6/4/96, Steven Levy wrote:
>If it's a myth, it's quite an elaborate one. On Saturday night I was
>interviewed by the BBC about this.  The producer read the entire article
>to me, telling me in was on the front page of the Times. (My comments
>were not about the specific story, but the underlying security issues.) I
>don't think he was making it up.

On the substance of Schwartau's claims about "HERF guns," I'm a bit
skeptical that this is a real threat _at this time_. I'll say more on this
later.

On some of the points raised by the article, some things don't compute. At
one point it is claimed that no one who in London (and presumably
elsewhere) would ever dare to comment on threats received or extortion
demands met. If so, how does the author know such threats have actually
been made? (I mean credible threats, not anonymous call-in threats, such as
bomb threats.)

I read Winn Schwartau's book, "Information Warfare," as preparation for
being interviewed for a BBC "Horizon" show called "The I-Bomb."
Coincidentally, a friend of mine who shall remain nameless was doing some
consultation work on this very issue (HERF guns, suitcase impulse sources,
etc.).

Magnetohydrodynamic RF sources--not to be confused with "electromagnetic
pulse" (EMP) from extraatmospheric nuclear blasts--can generate huge RF
fields in small packages, by focussing explosions in conjunction with coils
to launch the pulses.

So, why am I so skeptical? For a couple of reasons:

1. Conventional explosives work perfectly fine for a lot of sabotage
efforts. It is unlikely that a mysterrious van is likely to be parked next
to a London brokerage or computer firm in the City of London, given their
history of terrorism.

2. To be a credible threat, there usually needs to be some form of
"demonstration." I have heard of no such thing. Absent such a public
demonstration, I find it hard to believe that beancounters would OK the
giving away of hundreds of millions of dollars for a threat which is
abstract and hard to understand for laymen.

3. This recent story smacks of hype. I'm not saying Schwartau is hyping his
conferences and his book, and his consulting business, just saying it
strikes me as a hyped threat without direct confirmation.

So sue me. (On second thought, in this litigious society, please don't.)

--Tim May


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Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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