[Image] Number 28, May 1995

What Is Information Warfare?

Author: Martin C. Libicki, Senior Fellow

Note:

Conclusions

Background For This Discussion

DISCUSSION

Is Information War (IW) a nascent, perhaps embryonic art, or simply the
newest version of a time-honored feature of warfare? Is it a new form of
conflict that owes its existence to the burgeoning global information
infrastructure, or an old one whose origin lies in the wetware of the human
brain but has been given new life by the information age? Is it a unified
field or opportunistic assemblage?

Since March 1993, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Memorandum of Policy
Number 30 (MOP 30) has set forth definitions and relationships that have
guided the joint community in its thinking about the related concepts of
information warfare and command and control warfare. As these seminal ideas
have evolved, their definitions and relationships have changed as well. MOP
30 is under revision, and both higher level policy documents for the
Department of Defense and doctrinal publications of the Joint Staff and
Services are either in draft form or under revision.

In light of the unformed state of these concepts, alternative definitions
and taxonomies for twenty-first century warfare are proposed:

  1. command-and-control warfare [C2W];

  2. intelligence-based warfare [IBW];

  3. electronic warfare [EW];

  4. psychological operations [PSYOPS];

  5. hackerwar software-based attacks on information systems;

  6. information economic warfare [IEW] war via the control of information
     trade; and

  7. cyberwar [combat in the virtual realm].

To appreciate each on its own merits, the centerfold figure defines each
form, lists their subforms, and assesses their use as weapons of war.

What Is Information Warfare?(Graphic Illustration)

Certain aspects of IW are as old as history: striking at the enemy's head,
deception of all sorts, and psychological operations in general. Others,
notably electronic warfare, reached prominence in World War II. The more
recent automation of the command center has created more vulnerable targets
reachable via iron bombs, and, against penetrable systems, through
malevolent software. If societies evolve in the virtual dimension, the
significance and frequency of hackerwar against civilian systems, economic
information war, and cyberwar would be greatly increased. Psychological
operations would also be greatly transformed.

Will Information War prove to be America's sword or a paper machâ shield?
The U.S. military clearly profits more from information systems than others
do; it also understands their weaknesses better. Both provide a decided edge
at information-based warfare, electronic warfare, and command-and-control
warfare. We also know information media. However, the United States, within
and beyond the military, is also far more dependent than others on
information systems. Thus we are more vulnerable to hackerwar and cyberwar.
Our culture may be spreading overseas, but that success makes it harder for
us to speak to other cultures in their own language.

With information war embracing so many disparate activities, few
generalizations cover the entire field. However, three themes recur:

   * One side's information systems may be better (more powerful, robust,
     and reliable) than another's. Yet, information dominance is not like
     naval dominance where one side's fleet can keep the other bottled up
     (although information dominance can support dominance in specific
     physical media). With rare exceptions (e.g., jamming, competition for
     media share), information is not a zero-sum enterprise. Mastery of IW
     does not preclude an adversary from doing the same. We cannot suppress
     its progress.
   * Forming an information corps to conduct information warfare should not
     be undertaken until the corpsmen understand that their primary purpose
     in life is not to fight their counterparts on the other side.

   * Information war is extremely difficult to conduct without precise and
     reliable knowledge of the other side's architecture: from how news and
     information media influence its decisions, to the bureaucratic
     structure of command, to a nation's communications infrastructure, and
     even to the details of their information systems' software.