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Martin Libicki, an information-warfare expert at the National Defense University, also doubts that the U.S. will ever be able to crush an enemy's information system completely. "The bits will get through," he contends. Enemy armies will always find ways to get messages past electronic jamming. With networked microcomputers, cellular phones and video conferencing available, an enemy leader can disperse his command centers to many locations, making it difficult for an attacker to destroy them all. And psy-warriors must compete with a blizzard of electronic media outlets such as commercial television networks, CNN and the Internet for the attention. Cutting off Saddam's telephones and electrical power didn't topple him during Desert Storm.
While there is general agreement that the Defense Department should move aggressively to develop such techniques, many senior Pentagon officers fear that an enemy could just as easily develop the same weapons and use them against the U.S. "When people talk about the tremendous potential of this warfare, they need to take a bite out of the reality sandwich," says Colonel Richard Szafranski, an instructor at the Air Force's Air War College. An infowar arms race could be one the U.S. would lose because it is already so vulnerable to such attacks. Indeed, the cyber enhancements that the military is banking on for its conventional forces may be chinks in America's armor.
The military's microsensors and omniscient rows of video monitors may be expensive, but much of the technology needed to attack information systems is low-cost (a computer, a modem), widely available (a willing hacker) and just as efficient (one phone call). "It's the great equalizer," says futurist Alvin Toffler. "You don't have to be big and rich to apply the kind of judo you need in information warfare. That's why poor countries are going to go for this faster than technologically advanced countries." An infowarrior could be anyone in the checkout line at the local computer store. "It doesn't require huge masses of money," says Donald Latham, a former Pentagon communications czar. "A few very smart guys with computer workstations and modems could endanger lives and cause great economic disruption."
The mischief has already begun. On the fourth floor of a renovated Navy warehouse, just across Arlington National Cemetery from the Pentagon, is the military's Automated Systems Security Incident Support Team. It's the Pentagon's technological 911 force, dedicated to responding to attacks on the military's computational ganglia. In the 18 months ending July 1, the support team received 28,000 calls for help from operators of the U.S. military's worldwide computer network. The team isolates thousands of hacker programs, known as "critters," and then securely cages them for research. Such programs are increasingly powerful and easy to use. No longer do intruders need to know complicated codes and have an intimate knowledge of computer science. "All they need to do," says Pentagon computer-security expert Kenneth Van Wyk, "is point, click and attack."