Dr. Randall Whitaker
Adjunct Researcher
Institutionen för Informatik
Umeå Universitet
Revised Version of May 1998
INFORMATION WARFARE
KEYWORDS:
communications security, computer security, COMSEC, COMPSEC, COMPUSEC,
cyberspace, cyberwar, cyberwarfare, electronic warfare, EW, hackers, hyperwar,
information assurance, information dominance, information operations,
information ops, information revolution, information security, INFOSEC,
information superiority, information warfare, IW, IW-D, Military Technical
Revolution (MTR), netwar, network centric warfare, Revolution in Military
Affairs (RMA), third wave war (-fare), warfare
Copyright © 1995, 1998 Randall Whitaker.
Unless otherwise specified,
material from this Webspace may be freely cited, copied, and/or distributed, so
long as the author attribution is included.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in these Web pages are my own, and
should not be taken to reflect the ideas and/or positions of Umeå Universitet,
the United States Air Force, or Logicon.
So What is 'Information Warfare'?
(One) Official Definition:
"Any action to deny, exploit, corrupt, or destroy the
enemy's information and its functions; protecting ourselves against those
actions; and exploiting our own military information functions."
Secretary of the Air Force Sheila Widnall & General Ronald
Fogleman
Cornerstones of Information Warfare, 1995
The Unofficial Definition:
"I'm gonna get post-modern on your ass!"
(Apologies to Quentin Tarantino and Pulp Fiction )
The Information Warfare Mania
The hottest buzzword in the current American military establishment is
information warfare (IW). This term is used as if it were
denotative of something precise and analyzable. A reading of the military and
non-military literature reveals that it is at best a label of loose
connotations. These connotations range from specifically technical tactics
(e.g., hacking) through more subtle manipulations (e.g., psychological
operations) to a broad epochal boundary in techno-military history.
The most obvious (and widely circulated) spin on the IW morass is to focus on
the offensive and defensive manipulation of information systems and networks --
i.e., 'hacking', as that term has come to be misused in the popular press.
Firewalls are the latest consumer items for the fashion-conscious enterprise,
just as email was a few years ago and desktop microcomputers before that. This
Web site will not concentrate solely on that portion of the IW mania. For one
thing, resources addressing computer and information security issues (from both
offensive and defensive perspectives) are abundant. More importantly, this line
of development is little more than a wholesale transfer of the waning industrial
mindset to a new arena. From this vantage, information systems comprise a space
or landscape (e.g., the Internet) with affordances for disruption, encirclement,
and other analogues to conventional contests for territory (or at least
territorial control). The threats and opportunities are tangible -- make no
mistake -- but the attention they receive is symptomatic of the fact that many
people still don't quite 'get it'.
The primary reason this Web site will concentrate on other issues is that I
am confident that the most significant outcomes of the present transformations
will have to do with the 'information' transferred, processed, and otherwise
exploited via information systems, not the systems themselves. Information
systems are still subject to 'territorialization', in both the literal and the
currently trendy post-modernist senses. 'Information', on the other hand, defies
constraint by parameters such as unique locus or finite production. This means
that in the realm of 'information' (as opposed to the realm of the information
systems), the operant 'metaphysics' and dynamics are unlike those of the
physical space. This in turn implies that the means for leveraging one's own
interests (e.g., tools, tactics...) in this information realm will be (or at
least can be) qualitatively different from the means applied to leverage the
physical space.
Another reason for such a focus is that the degree to which 'warfare' becomes
innate to everyday life will be directly proportional to the degree to which
said 'warfare' is conducted exclusively within the 'information realm'. Tactical
maneuvering in this 'information realm' does not require the extraordinary
equipment associated with physical military campaigns (e.g., fighters, tanks).
Moreover, it requires no equipment of extraordinary cost. This opens up the
means for 'warfare' to non-national players such as shadow groups and
individuals anytime and anywhere.
The Categories of IW Foci to Date
This, then, is the state of IW discussion at the time of this
writing -- a conglomeration of viewpoints decomposable into a few basic
categories:
- Third-Wave Warform
- This category subsumes the broad conventional view that the IT Revolution
is having (or will inevitably have...) a correspondingly revolutionary effect
on the means and the manner by which military forces operate. The majority of
the literature to be found in military publications and on the Internet
addresses this vision. From this perspective, IW is a new wrinkle in an
established geopolitical game -- a game presumably to be prosecuted in terms
of the national and transnational architectures already established.
Regardless of one's opinion of this viewpoint's viability, it should be clear
that (at least for the short term) this entrenched perspective will be the one
guiding institutional IW developments.
- Virtual Porticulli
- This category (which is not mutually exclusive with 'Third-Wave Warform')
subsumes those perspectives, approaches, and tactics which reduce all of IW to
a unimodal defensive posture -- i.e., addressing all cyberspace risks through
armoring / guarding / patrolling those systems (computers, LANs, etc.) within
one's own zone of control. The point is not to claim that defensive IW
(COMPSEC, COMSEC, INFOSEC) has no place in the grand scheme of things. Rather,
it is to highlight the fact that considerable interest in the politicomilitary
potential of cyberspace has devolved into planning and acquisition focused
narrowly on the integrity of specific nodes or regions within that realm.
While attention to own-force assets is certainly prudent, attention to
only one's own 'back yard' may lead to a blindered and
short-sighted isolation -- a condition increasing, rather than decreasing,
own-force vulnerabilities in the broad context of the Net.
- Free-Form Hype-Pretext
- This catch-all category subsumes all those who are merely waving 'IW' and
related terminology about to attract attention to their products and services.
The military industrial complex is working overtime to append 'information
warfare' to descriptions of threats, solutions, and procurements. Owing to the
fluid and ill-defined nature of the IT Revolution, it is all too easy to wrap
the IW label around peripheral or conventional issues to extend their 'shelf
life'. Furthermore, a number of consulting firms are milking the IW label for
profits -- invoking cyberwar as a bogeyman to stimulate sales of (e.g.)
security products and services. As a result of all this label-exploitation, IW
is now invoked in the same breath as topics ranging from corporate
intelligence gathering to advertising to hardware-level encryption support.
- Samurai Semiotics
- This category subsumes the view that the IT Revolution is perhaps a
symptom of broad changes being wrought in all arenas -- social, cultural, and
political. This viewpoint prioritizes the manipulation of symbolic information
in accordance with 'postmodern' foci on language, signs and signification. The
primary potential of IW is framed with respect to information itself, rather
than with respect to information systems operant within the established
architecture of nation states and their alliances. In the long term, this
perspective is likely to be of greater significance than the one above, if for
no other reason than that it augurs a complete rethinking of what we mean by
'warfare'.
This is not to say that all IW work falls neatly into one or another of these
categories. Much of the core literature splits between the first and the third
categories, while the second is primarily represented in IW theory papers and
that body of literature lying outside the circle of the military and its
attendant industrial base. We will have to wait and see how things sort
themselves out eventually. In the mean time, I suggest you track the evolution
of thinking on 'third-wave warforms', consider reasonable protection without
betting your future on 'virtual porticulli', bear in mind the prospect of
'samurai semiotics', and take care to avoid undue influence from the 'free-form
hype-pretext'.
The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) |
The broad impact of IT on the military is generally termed a
Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) , and this phrase has
become an icon for whatever it might be that's occurring. Attempts to
delineate and analyze the RMA are largely associated with the notion of
IW as a third-wave warform -- i.e., an emerging variation
on established military themes and elements. This set of pages gives an
overview of the RMA and the key themes underlying its canonical
delineation. |
Click here to go read about the RMA
|
Information Warfare Glossary |
As is the case with most military areas, IW is rife with
jargon and buzzwords. This Web page contains a compilation of the more
common terminology one must wrestle with in exploring the IW literature.
The Glossary is an evolving product, attempting to address
continual terminological drift and to incorporate elements from an
ever-increasing set of relevant sources.
Major Revision / Upgrade: May 1998 |
Click here to go explore the Glossary
|
Information Warfare Bibliography |
The IW literature base is growing quickly. Besides this
rapid growth, the duplication of materials among diverse venues (both
print and electronic) makes it difficult to track the field. This Web
page provides a compilation of reference materials identified from these
venues. The Bibliography is an active document affording
you some direct access as well as descriptive listings. In-print books
can be accessed directly via Amazon.com (Earth's Biggest
Bookstore), and WWW-accessible materials can be accessed by
following the provided 'hot-links'.
Major Revision / Upgrade: May 1998 |
Click here to go explore the Bibliography
|
Guide to Internet Resources |
This is a summary listing of relevant WWW "nexus" sites on
the subject of information warfare. There is a great deal of redundancy
to be found in WWW resources on IW, and this listing is quite sufficient
to get you started. Each of the sites has been explored, reviewed, and
assessed to be worthwhile. Sites judged to be short on actual content,
limited in demonstrated scope and/or depth, or too proprietary to be of
much use to the interested IW researcher have been filtered out.
Major Revision / Upgrade: May 1998 |
Click here to go explore the Internet Resource Guide
|
