CDR: army cyberwar mil-fbi-commercial tentacles

[Anonymous]

                 U.S. Army kick-starts
                 cyberwar machine

                  From...



                 by Ellen Messmer

                 (IDG) -- The U.S. military has a new
                 mission: Be ready to launch a cyberattack
                 against potential adversaries, some of
                 whom are stockpiling cyberweapons. 

                 Such an attack would likely involve
                 launching massive distributed denial-of-service assaults,
                 unleashing crippling computer viruses or Trojans, and jamming
                 the enemys computer systems through electronic
                 radio-frequency interference. 

                 An order from the National Command Authority - backed by
                 President Clinton and Secretary of Defense William Cohen -
                 recently instructed the military to gear up to wage cyberwar. 

                 The ability of the U.S. to conduct such warfare "doesnt exist
                 today," according to a top Army official speaking at a
                 conference in Arlington, Va., last week. 

                 "We see three emerging threats: ballistic missiles, cyberwarfare
                 and space control," said Lt. Gen. Edward Anderson, deputy
                 commander in chief at U.S. Space Command, which was
                 recently assigned the task of creating a cyberattack strategy.
                 "Cyberwarfare is what we might think of as attacks against
                 digital ones and zeros."

                 Anderson spoke about the Space
                 Commands cyberwarfare
                 responsibilities at the National
                 Strategies and Capabilities for a
                 Changing World conference. The
                 event was organized by the Institute
                 for Foreign Policy Analysis, Tufts
                 Universitys Fletcher School of Law
                 and Diplomacy and the U.S. Army.
                 The conference attracted military top
                 brass and international diplomats. 

                 Anderson told attendees that the U.S.
                 Space Command, the agency in
                 charge of satellite communications,
                 has begun to craft a computer
                 network attack strategy. This strategy
                 would detail actions to be followed by
                 the Unified Commanders in Chief
                 (CINC) if the president and the
                 secretary of defense order a cyber
                 strike. The CINCs are senior
                 commanders in the Army, Navy, Air
                 Force and Marines deploying U.S.
                 forces around the world. 

                 The information-warfare strategy will
                 be detailed in a defense plan called "OPLAN 3600" that
                 Anderson said will require "unprecedented cooperation with
                 commercial enterprises and other organizations." 

                 Theres no set deadline for completing OPLAN 3600, Anderson
                 told Network World. But he noted that other countries,
                 including Russia, Israel and China, are further along in building
                 their information-warfare capabilities. 

                 Anderson said the U.S. may end up with a new type of
                 weaponry for launching massive distributed denial-of-service
                 attacks and computer viruses. "The Chinese recently indicated
                 they are already moving along with this," he added. 

                 In addition to the possibility of cybercombat between nations,
                 the military acknowledges that terrorists without the backing of
                 any country can potentially use cyberweapons to disrupt U.S.
                 telecommunications or banking systems that are largely
                 electronic. 

                 Thats one reason the U.S. Space Command is joining with the
                 FBI to build an information-warfare strategy. 

                 "This requires a close relationship between military and law
                 enforcement," said Michael Vatis, an FBI official who also
                 spoke at the conference. He noted that the FBI will have to
                 help determine if any cyberattack suffered by U.S. military or
                 business entities calls for a military or law enforcement
                 response. 

                 "The Internet is ubiquitous. It allows attacks from anywhere in
                 the world. Attackers can loop in from many different Internet
                 providers," said Vatis, who noted that a cyberattack can include
                 espionage using computer networks. 

                 "It could start across the street but appear to be coming from
                 China. And something that might look like a hacker attack
                 could be the beginning of cyberwarfare," he added. 

                 Vatis said the growing bullets-and-guns conflict in the Middle
                 East between Israel and the Palestinians, with Islamic
                 supporters elsewhere, is being accompanied by cyberattacks
                 from each side against the other. Its serious enough, he said,
                 that the FBI issued an alert about it to the U.S. Space
                 Command, giving U.S. forces warning that the action on the
                 cyber front could affect them, too.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/11/22/cyberwar.machine.idg/index.html