A newly declassified Department of Defense document shows that the U.S. military is looking to develop ways to “fight the net” (Internet), betraying its continuing lack of understanding of how the Internet functions and its strategic and tactical value.

The declassified document, (PDF) entitled “Information Operations Roadmap,” shows that the military is developing an Information Operations capability, that is, the ability to operate on the Internet. But the approach they’ve taken has some serious flaws.

Before I go into that, though, I should mention that many are making a big deal out of the military’s use of psychological operations (PSYOPS) and how propaganda used by the military in, for instance, foreign press makes its way back to the U.S. (Example: BBC) That’s a big story in and of itself, and it was bound to happen precisely because of the inherent misunderstanding of what the Internet is and how it’s changed everything, and because of the laws and executive orders which govern the military’s use of propaganda. Unfortunately, it’s not something I can get into much depth in here, mainly due to lack of time and resources. . . .

Anyway, on to the bigger stupidity here. The report’s summary conclusions “identified three matters of key importance that require immediate attention:”

• (C) We Must Fight The Net. DoD is building an information-centric force. Networks are increasingly the operational center of gravity, and the Department must be prepared to “fight the net.” . . .
• (U) We Must Improve PSYOP. . . .
• (U) We Must Improve Network and Electro-Magnetic Attack Capability. To prevail in an information-centric fight, it is increasingly important that our forces dominate the electromagnetic spectrum with attack capabilities. . . .

The report goes on to say that the Internet should be treated as an enemy weapons platform.

Okay, “fighting the net” is extremely stupid. You may as well fight the air, or the ground, or the ocean. Perhaps, though, I speak too soon: the military has developed area denial weapons and tactics which are tantamount to the same thing. So perhaps this is just a pointless semantic quibble. But to put it in naval terms, the ocean is not the enemy weapons platform; those are on the enemy’s ships!

Wherever it is, the Internet is as much critical infrastructure as the phone lines, the power lines, the rivers and lakes, and any other natural or man-made thing which can be used by one side or the other in a conflict to strategic or tactical advantage. It should be treated as such. Indeed, elsewhere in the same report, it acknowledges the Internet is on par with the air, ground and water:

(U) Objective: IO [information operations] becomes a core competency. The importance of dominating the information spectrum explains the objective of transforming IO into a core military competency on a par with air, ground, maritime and special operations.

So they’ve almost got it. Almost. While it develops IO, the military is strongly advised to treat the Internet not so much as an enemy weapons platform, but as part of the battlespace itself. It is of greatest advantage to those who understand its value and can leverage it to their own ends.

For instance, in its recommendations on CND (computer network defense), the report says that DoD should “fight the net” (again) as though it were a weapons system. But it isn’t a weapons system; it’s the battlespace. The attackers are using the real weapons systems, on which DoD should focus.

The rest of the CND recommendations simply lay out an information architecture which businesses and others who have had regular experience with hackers and malicious parties and trying to keep them out of their systems already know. And it’s about damn time, too. Military computer networks are about as secure as Swiss cheese, which is in essence what’s behind the blacked-out parts in that section of the report. They have been for as long as I can remember.

Almost everything regarding CNA (computer network attack) remains classified and blacked-out, but options in the areas of CNA and EW (electromagnetic warfare) range from simple, such as breaking into a foreign server to obtain intelligence, or jamming enemy radio signals, all the way up to destroying critical infrastructure such as fiber-optic lines between countries, or the electromagnetic pulse weapon, which could destroy the electronic infrastructure of an entire region. Such a weapon could turn even the most advanced civilization we know into a Third World country overnight.

Before I go, a word about those electromagnetic pulse weapons the military doesn’t confirm it has. In this information age, use of one is nearly the same thing as using a nuclear weapon: even if it killed no one, it would devastate the landscape for years to come. They should be treated with as much gravity, and authority to use them vested with the President alone, on par with nuclear weapons.

(Thanks to Free Talk Live.)