Information Warfare

As we approach the dawn of the 21st century, success of our national security strategy will depend greatly on our ability to combat the Information Warfare (IW) threat. Old paradigms regarding conventional warfare must change to incorporate this new form of warfare. Our nation's growing dependency on information and information-based technologies has made IW a legitimate weapon for potential adversaries. The "information" and its support infrastructures are becoming extremely vulnerable to hostile attacks. Adversarial forces can now wage information-based warfare from anywhere in the world, and literally remain anonymous. Thus, our ability to recognize and defend against this new form of warfare is paramount to the survival of our national security infrastructure.The thesis of this research project is predicated upon the following premises: First, the exploitation of "information" as a weapon is changing the nature of warfare. Second, although there is much debate about the reality of the IW threat, this paper postulates that adversarial IW tactics pose a legitimate threat to our national security infrastructure. Finally, the Department of Defense (DOD), the Joint Staff, and the Services must remain actively committed to combating the IW threat in the 21st century.