[Infowarrior] - AF Wants 'Freedom to Attack' Online

[Richard Forno]

Air Force Wants 'Freedom to Attack' Online
By Noah Shachtman EmailOctober 24, 2008 | 12:43:00 PMCategories: Info  
War

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/in-new-doctrine.html

Gone are the days when the Air Force pledged to "dominate" cyberspace.  
Now, the flyboys just want "freedom of action" online. Oh, and the  
ability to deceive foes, and cyberstrike enemies at will.

That's according to a draft document, "Cyberspace Operations -- Air  
Force Doctrine Document 2-11," obtained by Inside Defense. “Freedom of  
action... can be seen as freedom from attack and freedom to attack,”  
the paper states. But, it adds, “The size and complexity of the domain  
and the extensive collection of networks... can make freedom of action  
difficult and perhaps elusive.”

For years, the Air Force has been trying to ramp up its network war  
plans. But the service has had trouble deciding exactly what it wants  
those cyber battle plans to be. In 2005, the Air Force changed its  
mission statement to read, "As Airmen, it is our calling to dominate  
Air, Space, and Cyberspace." Then the service announced a far-reaching  
effort to set up a "Cyber Command," responsible for that dominance.  
But by August of this year, that project was put on hold, after it  
became painfully obvious that no one was really sure what the new  
command would really do (or even how to define the term "cyber.") Now,  
those network warriors will fall under the purview of Air Force Space  
Command.

According to Inside Defense , the Air Force's new, 70-page document  
uses an awfully broad definition of what could be considered cyber,  
"touching on everything from bombs against enemy network nodes to  
radar-jamming aircraft, computer firewalls and fake e–mails to  
terrorist operatives." Even "rapid software development" and  
"psychological operations" are counted as components of information  
warfare.

     Such operations could include “spoofing” enemy command and  
control systems to “deceive the adversary about friendly intentions.”  
Airmen also could jam crucial enemy equipment under the guise of  
seemingly unrelated, natural events. “Using our knowledge of space and  
terrestrial weather, we can mask our spoofing with ostensible natural  
conditions such as lightning strikes,” the document reads...

     If airmen know the terrorist receives instructions through the  
Internet, they could “destroy, disrupt and/or exploit” the Internet  
link. If the terrorist’s e-mail address is known, officials could  
“send him an e-mail message to influence his behavior.” Finally, if  
airmen know the format in which the instructions are presented, they  
could “send him false taskings that look authentic,” the document reads.

Sounds like a plan.