The Pentagon’s
Information Operations Roadmap is
blunt about the fact that an internet, with the potential for free speech, is
in direct opposition to their goals. The internet needs to be dealt with as if
it were an enemy “weapons system”.
The 2003 Pentagon document entitled the
Information
Operation Roadmap was released to the public after a Freedom of
Information Request by the National Security Archive at George Washington
University in 2006. A detailed explanation of the major thrust of this document
and the significance of information operations or information warfare was
described by me here.
Computer Network Attack
From the
Information Operation Roadmap:
“When
implemented the recommendations of this report will effectively jumpstart a
rapid improvement of CNA [Computer Network Attack] capability.” – 7
“Enhanced IO [information operations] capabilities for the warfighter,
including: … A robust
offensive suite of capabilities to include
full-range electronic and computer network attack…” [emphasis mine]
– 7
Would the Pentagon use its
computer network attack capabilities on the Internet?
Fighting the Net
“We
Must Fight the Net. DoD [Department of Defense] is building an
information-centric force. Networks are increasingly the operational center of
gravity, and
the Department must be prepared to “fight the net.”
” [emphasis mine] – 6
“DoD’s “Defense in Depth” strategy should operate on the premise
that
the Department will “fight the net” as it would a weapons
system.” [emphasis mine] – 13
It should come as no
surprise that the Pentagon would aggressively attack the “information
highway” in their attempt to achieve dominance in information warfare.
Donald Rumsfeld’s involvement in the Project for a New American Century sheds
more light on the need and desire to control information.
PNAC Dominating Cyberspace
The Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was founded in 1997 with many
members that later became the nucleus of the George W. Bush administration. The list
includes: Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, I. Lewis Libby, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul
Wolfowitz among many other powerful but less well know names. Their stated
purpose was to use a hugely expanded U.S. military to project
“American global leadership.” In September of 2000, PNAC published a
now infamous document entitled
Rebuilding
America’s Defences. This document has a very similar theme as the
Pentagon’s
Information Operations
Roadmap which was signed by then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
From Rebuilding America’s Defenses:
“It is
now commonly understood that
information and other new technologies…
are creating a dynamic that
may threaten America’s ability to exercise its
dominant military power.” [emphasis mine] – 4
“Control of space and cyberspace. Much as control of the high seas – and
the protection of international commerce – defined global powers in the past,
so will control of the new “international commons” be a key to world power
in the future. An America incapable of protecting its interests or that of its
allies in space or the ”
infosphere” will find it difficult to
exert global political leadership.” [emphasis mine] – 51
“Although it may take several decades for the process of transformation to
unfold, in time, the art of warfare on air, land, and sea will be vastly
different than it is today, and “combat” likely will take place in
new dimensions: in space, ”
cyber-space,” and perhaps the world
of microbes.” [emphasis mine] – 60
For more on
Rebuilding America’s Defences read this.
Internet 2
Part of the
Information Operation
Roadmap‘s plans for the internet are to “ensure the graceful
degradation of the network rather than its collapse.” (pg 45) This is
presented in “defensive” terms, but presumably, it is as exclusively
defensive as the Department of Defense.
As far as the Pentagon is concerned the internet is not all bad, after all, it
was the Department of Defense through DARPA that gave us the
internet in the first place. The internet is useful not only as a business
tool but also is excellent for monitoring and tracking users, acclimatizing
people to a virtual world, and developing detailed psychological profiles of
every user, among many other Pentagon positives. But, one problem with the
current internet is the potential for the dissemination of ideas and
information not consistent with US government themes and messages, commonly
known as free speech. Naturally, since the plan was to completely dominate the
“infosphere,” the internet would have to be adjusted or replaced with
an upgraded and even more Pentagon friendly successor.
In an
article by Paul Joseph Watson of Prison
Planet.com, he describes the emergence of Internet 2.
“The
development of “Internet 2″ is also designed to create an online
caste system whereby the old Internet hubs would be allowed to break down and
die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide
web. If you’re struggling to comprehend exactly what the Internet will look
like in five years unless we resist this, just look at China and their latest
efforts to completely eliminate dissent and anonymity on the web.”
Conclusion
The next article will examine the Pentagon’s use of psychological
operations or PSYOP and the final article in this series will examine
whether or not there are any limits
to using information operations on the American public or foreign
audiences.
Related Articles
Information
Operation Roadmap Part 1: Full Spectrum Information Warfare
Information
Operation Roadmap Part 2: Maximum Control of the Entire Electro-Magnetic
Spectrum
Information
Operation Roadmap Part 5: Information Warfare Without Limits (December 3)