Information Operations Begin at Home

摘要

The recent success of network-centric warriors in operation Enduring Freedom has shined the spotlight on information operations. News reports are flush with stories of how allied forces employed information for precise real-time targeting of enemy assets. The results of these operations stand in testimony to their effectiveness: a brutal totalitarian dictatorship overthrown and its terrorist cohorts routed from their places of sanctuary. Make no mistake- a strong offensive capability that is advertised to potential adversaries is a strong deterrent. But deterrence alone is not enough to forestall all attacks from determined terrorists who, like the members of Osama bin Laden's doomsday cult that crashed passenger-filled jetliners into populated buildings, have little regard for the human cost of their operations. The network-centric Free World must expect that its information systems will be considered the soft underbelly of civilization. Accordingly, the hope brought by successful offensive information operations must be tempered by the realization that defensive information operations are just as vital to winning the war on terrorism. And, that home front may be the key battleground for these defensive measures.