Grand Strategy for Information Age National Security Information Assurance forthe Twenty-first Century

摘要

The Information Age brings enormous benefit to the United States; however, USdependence upon technology results in a new strategic threat aimed at the information systems that control key aspects of our military, economic, and political power. New Strategic Threat Overwhelming US conventional military might suggests that future competitors may embrace grand strategies that avoid directly attacking US defense forces and focus on undermining our national will to fight by exploiting our reliance upon information systems, present technological vulnerability, and the democratic method of governing. This threat would be most effective in situations where US force application is discretionary and the desirability of its employment is not clear-cut. Though it will never equate to the strategic threat of physical occupation by conventional military forces, it is a potent coercive policy weapon. We believe the current US grand strategy for national security is obsolete because: (1) It is based upon industrial age threats and defenses that have limited information age applicability. (2) It fails to defend against structured information attacks threatening US centers of gravity. (3) It is still reliant upon DOD as sole provider of national defense.