Information Warfare/Information Assurance
Project Chair: William H. Webster
Project Director: Arnaud de Borchgrave
Task Force Chair: Pat Gallagher, NSA (ret.)
Task Force Director: Frank J. Cilluffo, CSIS
Task Force Assistant: Stephanie M. Lanz, CSIS
Modern societies have eagerly embraced information technologies -- capitalizing on the many economic, societal and military opportunities they offer. This electronic web (composed of computers, information systems, and the underlying infrastructure that links them together) permeates virtually every aspect of our daily lives and continues to grow at near-exponential rates. Unfortunately, there is also a dark-side. Along with the clear benefits come risks. Our dependence coupled with the availability of advanced technologies and information warfare techniques leave us vulnerable to both electronic and physical attacks that may impact national and economic security and emergency prepared.
America's adversaries recognize this dependency and are developing weapons of mass disruption. In his commencement address to the Naval Academy in May, 1998, President Clinton outlined the magnitude of the information warfare threat and revealed that "Intentional attacks against our critical systems are already underway."
In a government-industry partnership effort, the task force is assessing the threats to, and interdependencies and vulnerabilities of, our most critical infrastructures (including telecommunications, electric power, finance and banking, transportation and emergency services).
Adding to the challenge from a defensive perspective, is that information warfare can be pursued across the spectrum of conflict, from nations to terrorists to organized crime to disgruntled employees to 14 year old ‘hackers.' Currently the U.S. does not have the capability to determine whether the source of a particular intrusion was a foreign intelligence service or a teenager, or perhaps a teenager unwittingly doing the bidding for someone with more hostile intentions. As information warfare extends the battlefield to incorporate all of society, U.S. adversaries increasingly view computers as a target, tool and a weapon. For terrorists, information warfare offers a means to deny service and maximize disruption; for criminals computer intrusion techniques can be exploited for fraud, theft, espionage and abuse.
The task force is addressing a range of legislative, technological, and organizational recommendations and processes to better protect information systems, mitigate risks, and minimize the potential impact of hostile attacks upon our critical infrastructures. Task force findings can be found below.
Information Warfare/Information Assurance Membership
Lara Baker, Galaxy Computer Systems Inc. Stewart Baker, Steptoe & Johnson Tom Baxter, New York Federal Reserve Al Bayse, Oakridge National Laboratory Office Jeff Benjamin, National Intelligence Council Douglas Bigelow, America On Line Roger Callahan, U.S. Department of Defense Robert Carpenter, Advanced Information Strategies Inc. Mark Centra, National Communications Systems Jim Christy, Information Protection Task Force Guy Copeland, Computer Science Corp. Kenneth de Graffenried, National Security Research Dorothy Denning, Georgetown Univeristy Thomas Firnhaber, FinCEN Marty Ferris, U.S. Department of Treasury Curt Gergely, Booz-Allen & Hamilton Capt. William Gravell, Joint Chiefs of Staff (J6K) Capt. Brent Greene, President's Commission on CIP John Grimes, Raytheon E-Systems Patricia Hammer, U.S. Department of Transportation Mike Higgins, SAIC David Jones, President's Commission on CIP David Keyes, Federal Bureau of Investigation John Kimmins, Bellcore |
Hank Kluepfel, SAIC Ltc. Bernard Krauss, DISA William Marlow, SAIC Lynn McNulty, RSA George Mitchell, Data Protection Solutions Robert Mullen, Independent Consultant Capt. Richard O'Neil, U.S. Department of Defense (C3I) Rodger Pajak, U.S. Department of Treasury John Parks, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Peter Probst, U.S. Department of Defense (SO-LIC) Rich Ress, Federal Bureau of Investigation Jim Savage, U.S. Secret Service Glen Schlarman, OMB Jim Settle, Federal Bureau of Investigation (ret.) James Steckert, U.S. Department of Defense Peter Tasker, MITRE Corp. Rick Tracy, Telos Corp. Michelle Van Cleave, Feith & Zell Linton Wells II, Deputy to the USD for Policy Dr. Daniel Wiener II, Unisys Federal Systems Division Joan Winston, Trusted Information Systems John Wood, Telos Corp. Stanley Young, Defense Intelligence Agency |