Cyber Warfare- the United States’ kryptonite

In the post cold war era, few would argue the U.S.’s position as the world’s most dominant military nation. Take a look at some reinforcing statistics below:

PERSONNEL
Total Population: 303,824,640 [2008]
Population Available: 144,354,117 [2008]
Fit for Military Service: 118,600,541 [2008]
Reaching Military Age Annually: 4,266,128 [2008]
Active Military Personnel: 1,385,122 [2008]
Active Military Reserve: 1,458,500 [2008]
Active Paramilitary Units: 453,000 [2008]


ARMY
Total Land-Based Weapons: 29,920
Towed Artillery: 5,178 [2001]



AIR FORCE
Total Aircraft: 18,169 [2003]
Helicopters: 4,593 [2003]
Serviceable Airports: 14,947 [2007]


NAVY
Total Navy Ships: 1,559
Merchant Marine Strength: 422 [2008]
Major Ports and Harbors: 10
Aircraft Carriers: 11 [2008]
Destroyers: 50 [2008]
Submarines: 75 [2008]
Frigates: 92 [2008]
Patrol & Coastal Craft: 100 [2008]
Mine Warfare Craft: 28 [2008]
Amphibious Craft: 38 [2008]

LOGISTICAL
Labor Force: 153,100,000 [2007]
Roadways: 6,465,799 km
Railways: 226,612 km


FINANCES (USD)
Defense Budget: $515,400,000,000 [2009]
Foreign Exch. & Gold: $70,570,000,000 [2007]
Purchasing Power: $13,780,000,000,000 [2007]


OIL
Oil Production: 7,460,000 bbl/day [2007]
Oil Consumption: 20,800,000 bbl/day [2005]
Proven Oil Reserves: 21,760,000,000 bbl [2006]


GEOGRAPHIC
Waterways: 41,009 km
Coastline: 19,924 km
Square Land Area: 9,826,630 km




Sources: US Library of Congress; Central Intelligence Agency

Last Updated: 2/12/2009

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In addition to having one of the largest militaries in the world, U.S. weapons technology has been noted as being 5-7 years ahead of everyone else’s. In 2009, the U.S. spent $712 Billion dollars on military expenditures, 46.5% of the total global distribution on military expenditures (see below).

(US spending: Laicie Olson, Growth in U.S. Defense Spending Since 2001, Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, March 11, 2009. Other nations’ spending: SIPRI)

The Question: What will U.S. aircraft carriers, nuclear weapons, tanks, and soldiers do to protect your bank account? Social Security? Utilities? Telecommunications? 401k? Data network? Transportation? Military and Government systems?

Answer: Absolutely nothing.

The U.S. is completely vulnerable to Cyber Warfare. The emergence of the next generation network, cloud computing, social media, and mobile communications is connecting everything to the internet and making us more susceptive to Cyber attacks every day.

What was an obscure idea from the latest Die Hard movie is now a legitimate threat for warfare in the future. SANDS fellow and former CIA operative James Gosler highlights


"You can have vulnerabilities in the fundamentals of the technology, you can have vulnerabilities introduced based on how that technology is implemented, and you can have vulnerabilities introduced through the artificial applications that are built on that fundamental technology," Gosler says. "It takes a very skilled person to operate at that level, and we don't have enough of them." Gosler estimates there are now only 1,000 people in the entire United States with the sophisticated skills needed for the most demanding cyber defense tasks. To meet the computer security needs of U.S. government agencies and large corporations, he says, a force of 20,000 to 30,000 similarly skilled specialists is needed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128574055

We see evidence of this threat every day. How many times have you seen hacking related incidents in the news recently? Imagine the panic created when the financial markets crash, utilities are shut off, transportation is unavailable, and all communications channels are down. How does the U.S. organize and deploy its military resources then?

Making matters worse, China has been developing Cyber Warfare specialists for years. China recognizes the importance of Cyber warfare and actively recruits cyber warriors at early ages. They invest in intelligence programs, certification structures, and education geared toward Cyber Warfare. According to Alan Paller, a SANS fellow and colleague of Gosler’s, “In the most recent round of the International Collegiate Programming Contest, co-sponsored by IBM and the Association for Computing Machinery, Chinese universities took four of the top 10 places. No U.S. University made the list. The Chinese government, in fact, appears to be systematically building a cyber warrior force”. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128574055

How do we fend off the growing Cyber threat of the Chinese?
• Leverage leading U.S. Tech companies (Intel, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco, HP, etc…). These companies already foster huge talent pools of Engineers, all they need are forums for instructors to come in and lead certification programs, teaching the engineers of today how to apply their talent differently.
• Incentivize Cyber Security, DOD, CIA, and related jobs in the U.S.
• Build Cyber Security curriculum into our leading technical school systems (MIT, CM, Cal Tech, etc…)
• Communicate threats related to Cyber Security; motivate the youth to get involved.

The next major war is certain to have a Cyber aspect to it. Will we be prepared?

-Karl Laughton