Making strategic sense of cyber power
Subtitle: why the sky is not falling
By: Colin S. Gray
Contributors: Army War College (U.S.). Strategic Studies Institute; Army War College (U.S.). Press
Publisher: Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press; U. S. Army War College
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Carlisle, PA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 67
ISBN-13: 9781584875642
Subjects: Information warfare; Cyber intelligence (Computer security); Cyberspace; Cyberterrorism; Cyberinfrastructure
Description: Cyber is now recognized as an operational domain, but the theory that should explain it strategically is, for the most part, missing. It is one thing to know how to digitize; it is quite another to understand what digitization means strategically. The author maintains that, although the technical and tactical literature on cyber is abundant, strategic theoretical treatment is poor. He offers four conclusions: (1) cyber power will prove useful as an enabler of joint military operations; (2) cyber offense is likely to achieve some success, and the harm we suffer is most unlikely to be close to lethally damaging; (3) cyber power is only information and is only one way in which we collect, store, and transmit information; and, (4) it is clear enough today that the sky is not falling because of cyber peril. As a constructed environment, cyberspace is very much what we choose to make it. Once we shed our inappropriate awe of the scientific and technological novelty and wonder of it all, we ought to have little trouble realizing that as a strategic challenge we have met and succeeded against the like of networked computers and their electrons before. The whole record of strategic history says: Be respectful of, and adapt for, technical change, but do not panic.--Publisher description.
Notes: "April 2013."

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available online in PDF format from Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) web site.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : the challenge; title: Contexts : cyber in the five domains of war. Context 1 : Strategy's general theory; title: Context 2 : Geography; title: Context 3 : Information; title: RMA theory and cyber; title: Strategic effectiveness. Net assessment; title: Analogy, tactical and strategic; title: Conclusions and recommendations : the sky is not falling.