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Just a regular American
Interesting discussion on the ramifications of cyber warfare and its relation to physical attacks. A cyber attack like we conducted on Iran is an attack but does it rise to the same level as an Israeli missile attack on nuclear sites in Iran?
Although a cyber attack may or may not inflict personal injury against citizens it still damages the countries assets and causes potential harm their security and financial resources. A cyber attack could drop a whole countries electrical system or water supply, possibly cause a meltdown or shutdown of nuclear reactors and a myriad of other possibilities. The potential of a massive disruption and resulting casualties are very real. Yet it is a surgical strike that is more refined than previous methods.
A missile or bombing raid is a blunt force tool that destroys infrastructure and inflicts casualties and inherently damages the area and people surrounding it, and some of these attacks go awry and hit non targeted areas.
Of course cyber war is harder to detect who attacked whom. It was thought the cyber attack on Iran was Israel yet leaks in the US confirmed that it was the US in conjunction with Israel. It is now clear that we conducted an attack on Iran, so where is the counterattack from Iran? It is an interesting contrast between the two methods.
The Japanese conducted a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. It is believed the Chinese conducted a surprise attack on the US using cyber war. The US conducted a cyber attack on Iran.
It appears that the International community is categorizing cyber warfare as a category of non-warfare conduct and it is an acceptable form of competition between states. Yet congress seems to think it is a form of war.
Although a cyber attack may or may not inflict personal injury against citizens it still damages the countries assets and causes potential harm their security and financial resources. A cyber attack could drop a whole countries electrical system or water supply, possibly cause a meltdown or shutdown of nuclear reactors and a myriad of other possibilities. The potential of a massive disruption and resulting casualties are very real. Yet it is a surgical strike that is more refined than previous methods.
A missile or bombing raid is a blunt force tool that destroys infrastructure and inflicts casualties and inherently damages the area and people surrounding it, and some of these attacks go awry and hit non targeted areas.
Of course cyber war is harder to detect who attacked whom. It was thought the cyber attack on Iran was Israel yet leaks in the US confirmed that it was the US in conjunction with Israel. It is now clear that we conducted an attack on Iran, so where is the counterattack from Iran? It is an interesting contrast between the two methods.
The Japanese conducted a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. It is believed the Chinese conducted a surprise attack on the US using cyber war. The US conducted a cyber attack on Iran.
It appears that the International community is categorizing cyber warfare as a category of non-warfare conduct and it is an acceptable form of competition between states. Yet congress seems to think it is a form of war.
The Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war — but it's silent on cyberwar.
That's causing consternation on Capitol Hill in the wake of a New York Times story Friday detailing how President Barack Obama joined forces with Israel to launch secret cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear program. For some lawmakers, it's further evidence that the White House has taken too much war-making power from Congress.
“When we see the results it’s pretty clear they’re doing it without anybody except a very few people knowing about it, much less having any impact on whether it’s happening or not,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.).
McDermott is troubled because “we have given more and more power to the president, through the CIA, to carry out operations, and, frankly, if you go back in history, the reason we have problems with Iran is because the CIA brought about a coup.
Read more: Can the White House declare a cyberwar? - Jennifer Martinez and Jonathan Allen - POLITICO.com
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