Re: military strike possible?

[Barry Fitzgerald <bkfsec () sdf lonestar org>]

Meritt James wrote:

> Going from the premptive strike philosophy demonstrated in Mideastern
> countries, what are your thoughts on a military strike against (as yet
> unseen) "cyberterrorists" a'la
> http://www.msnbc.com/news/985295.asp?0si=- if there were extranational
> agents tampering with identified components of the infrastructure to
> the extent that they were risking human life?
>
>  
First and foremost, how do you attack someone when they:

A) Haven't done the deed and thus, are unidentified?

  -and-

B) Haven't done the deed and, by any sane measure of justice, are not 
guilty of anything?

These are the pretenses of the current pre-emptive strike philosophy.  
It's success is, as of yet, in question.  Unless its goal was to create 
an escalating security situation in the middle east and to stir up a 
hornets nest, then it was a massive failure.

That's why the only way that pre-emptive strike works is during the 
first stages of an "attack".  The initial transgression has to be 
entered before a pre-emptive strike can be justified.  Even then, I 
shudder at the thought of military intervention in cyber affairs.  These 
are really criminal matters and thus should be handled by law 
enforcement authorities.  The military is a broadsword, not a scalpel.  
Cyber affairs are, by definition, essentially domestic.  If you were to 
bring the military into this, that would be like making MP's patrol the 
streets replacing police officers.  That's a nice little inroad into 
martial law and martial law is the first step into ensuring the 
existance of a tyrrany.  This has been true throughout history and with 
any exception that I'm aware of.

Basically, no - bad idea, IMHO.  :)

            -Barry






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